Advancing Women's Economic Participation and Empowerment

 

The Vietnam Association for Women Entrepreneurs is a voluntary social - professional organisation of Vietnamese women entrepreneurs engaged in production, business and service. The purposes of the association are to gather, unite, promote talent and intelligence of women entrepreneurs in economic development; serving as a centre that connects women entrepreneurs, organisations representative of women entrepreneurs to help improve the efficiency of production, business and service to contribute to development of the business community and the entrepreneurs force in the cause of national industrialisation and modernisation and international integration; and meet the goals of gender equality and advancement.

 

The association operates on a national scale, covering production, business and service of Vietnamese women entrepreneurs. The association is administered by the Ministry of Planning and Investment and other ministries related to the association's activities in accordance with the law.

 

The association's philosophy is Dedication - Intelligence - Reliability.

 

Set up nearly two years ago though, the Vietnam Association for Women Entrepreneurs has organised various practical and specific activities to help Vietnamese businesswomen to develop business operations together, improve managerial capacity to lead their businesses to move forward steadily in the process of deeper integration into global and regional economies.

 

- Connect and develop the women entrepreneur community: The association regularly organises exchange programmes, includes members to join annual meetings; hosts meetings and exchanges for member units and organisations across the country; holds the "Women entrepreneurs in Ho Chi Minh era" art exchange programme, "Vietnamese women entrepreneur talent" contest in north, south and central regions and nationwide. Particularly, through forums, conferences and workshops on "Enhancing competitiveness in the new era" programme and "MOIT in connection" themed "Vietnamese women entrepreneurs with integration and development", "Leadership and corporate governance in the context of free trade agreements, and many other activities with the participation of hundreds of businesswomen across the nation each event have created opportunities for women entrepreneurs all over the country to meet, share information and exchange, cooperate for joint development, thus encouraging and developing women entrepreneur community.

 

- Support for trade promotion: In 2015, the association cooperated in sending member companies to join business delegations led by the Ministry of Industry and Trade to South Korea to attend the "Typical Vietnamese Goods Show" in Lotte Mart Group's supermarkets and Trade Connections Conference for Vietnamese and South Korean enterprises; combine distribution system surveys, capture consumer trends in South Korea to obtain preferential advantages specified in Vietnam - South Korea Free Trade Agreement. Besides, every year, the association informs all women entrepreneur members of trade construction delegations to some countries led by the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

 

In the country, the association also collaborates with the Departments of Industry and Trade and local women entrepreneur associations to organise supply - demand matching conferences for women-led enterprises, consumer enterprises employing many female workers. The association also creates conditions for women-owned companies to introduce products, seek partners and sign purchase contracts, and set up long-term sustainable cooperation in the future, and play a role in developing domestic markets and implementing the "Vietnamese give priority to Vietnamese goods" campaign.

 

- Training and supporting policy information: Every year, the association organises training courses and training workshops for female entrepreneurs such as "Administrative capacity building in the new era", "Leadership and corporate governance in the context of free trade agreement (FTA)", "Sharing information on market and supply chain and updating international standards", and "Sales, distribution and branding skills" for women entrepreneurs across the country. Through training courses and training workshops, women entrepreneurs updated new information on markets, international trade laws, standards and market requirements and corporate governance, thus supporting women entrepreneurs to enhance competitiveness in both domestic and foreign markets.

 

Along with domestic training, in 2015, the association sent women entrepreneurs to training courses on "Food distribution management programme" in Japan, hence helping women entrepreneurs access new knowledge and skills and expand the scope of exchanges, connectivity and cooperation of their enterprises.

 

Regarding legal policy support information, the association has collaborated with the Interdisciplinary Steering Committee for International Integration and Economy to organise a conference on dissemination of international economic integration information for women executives and women entrepreneurs; coordinated with the Ministry of Industry and Trade to organise a training workshop on "Competition law, trade defence and protection consumer interests" for women entrepreneurs.

 

In addition, the association has organised consultative workshops on business laws and seminars on establishing and strengthening public-private partnership (PPP) with the Ministry of Industry and Trade and local women entrepreneur associations to strengthen fruitful cooperation relations between State authorities and businesswomen.

 

- Nguyen Thi Nga - President of Southeast Asia Commercial Joint Stock Bank

- Ms Thai Huong - President of TH Group and CEO of Bac A Bank

- Ms Cao Thi Ngoc Dung - President and CEO of Phu Nhuan Jewellery Corporation

- Ms Nguyen Thi Hong Hanh - Former General Director of Sabeco Corporation

 

And, there are many other typical businesswomen who are not only excellent leaders of their businesses in the era of international economic integration, big contributors to national economic development but also benefactors of many philanthropic programmes like "VAWE with millions of hearts" launched by the Vietnam Association for Women Entrepreneurs in a bid to support and help women workers living in hardship with more motivations to try more for a better life.

 

The 26th Global Summit of Women, scheduled to take place in Poland in June 2016, is the largest annual international women forum gathering women leaders from many different fields in the world. The summit is held with the aim of connecting women leaders and women entrepreneurs in the world with a mission of ensuring gender equality, improving women's role and status in society and promoting global economic and social cooperation.

 

In that sense, the participation of the high-level delegation of Vietnam in this meaningful event is very important to share information and initiatives in development cooperation and policymaking, advancing women's participation in building a sustainable economy and increasing women's installations in management and leadership positions. This is an opportunity for Vietnam to share difficulties and challenges and propose solutions and initiatives. This is also a great opportunity to learn experiences and initiatives from other countries.

 

Vietnam has seen a constant growth in the Vietnamese women entrepreneur force, from 65,000 women business leaders in 2010 to 91,000 people 2015. Particularly, the presence of Vietnamese women entrepreneurs in the shortlist of the most powerful businesswomen in Asia shows that women-led businesses have a very important role in economic development, both domestically and internationally. They also importantly contribute to the ongoing development of women entrepreneur force.

 

In the context of deeper international integration, Vietnam has signed or acceded to many trade agreements. And, more than ever, women entrepreneurs need to work hard, dynamically, creatively and devotedly to lead their businesses and make contributions to national and international economies. Governments meanwhile need to strengthen their supports for women in general and female entrepreneurs in particular to facilitate their effective engagement in the process of social and economic construction, development and fulfil their social missions and family tasks at the same time.