First ever white book on women-owned SMEs in Vietnam launched

The report, named "Facilitating Entrepreneurship Growth by Lifting Barriers: A White Book on Women-owned Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises in Vietnam", was developed by the ADB in partnership with the MPI’s Agency for Enterprise Development. It is an integral part of the "Women Accelerating Vibrant Enterprises in Southeast Asia and the Pacific" (WAVES) programme, funded by the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi).

MPI Deputy Minister Tran Duy Dong said that women-owned businesses have a crucial role to play in Vietnam’s efforts to achieve inclusive and sustainable development.

He expressed his hope that this publication will provide more significant insights into the untapped opportunities and remaining challenges facing women-owned SMEs in the country and provide a foundation for further research and policy-making initiatives to foster the continued growth and development of the sector.

“Women-led small- and medium-sized businesses can be a key driver of economic growth in Vietnam as well as across Asia and the Pacific,” said ADB Director General of the Southeast Asia Department Winfried Wicklein. “For ADB, promoting gender equality and advancing women’s economic empowerment is a top priority, so we are very pleased to have developed this study with the Ministry of Planning and Investment on promoting women-led SMEs and entrepreneurship in Vietnam.”

The study draws on a large body of knowledge and international best practices to produce a series of measures that can unleash the untapped potential of women-owned SMEs in Vietnam. These include establishing gender-disaggregated databases, incorporating women-owned SMEs more integrally into legislation like the Law on Gender Equality, exploring gender-specific measures to support implementation of the SME Support Law, and placing greater emphasis on knowledge dissemination and awareness-raising activities that will promote women entrepreneurship and women role models.