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COVER STORY

Businesses around the world are engaged formation, such as being diligent and detail- Meanwhile, in order to support women-
in digital transformation efforts, including oriented. “Women are also more likely to owned small and medium-sized enterprises
many women-owned concerns like Be Group empathize with customers, businesses, service (SMEs) in the future, the VWEC has proposed
and Grab. According to Ms. Nguyen Thi My providers, and employees, and I always pay that the government issue specific policies
Hanh, Country Head of Global Liquidity and attention to the needs of customers and and programs to create the environment and
Cash Management at HSBC Vietnam, emerg- drivers and respond in the best way possible,” favorable conditions for their digital trans-
ing trends, supported by government direc- she added. “Be Group has built up its own formation when promoting the building of
tions, have laid down a strong foundation for strengths in technology, and my responsibility an e-government, a digital society, and a
digital transformation in Vietnam to pick up is to turn those advantages into products that digital economy featuring transparency and
the pace in the years to come. “Because new customers expect and successfully compete equality. The government also needs to intro-
technologies are changing consumer behavior in the market.” duce specific programs and solutions to sup-
and shaping their expectations, this evolution Ms. Van, meanwhile, said there is still port women-owned SMEs in digital trans-
requires corporates continually innovate to both conscious and unconscious gender biases formation efforts, such as training on digital
meet ever-growing demands,” she said. that stymie women’s growth both personally skills and providing them with free digital
and professionally, but it is encouraging to technology platforms. It is also important to
Advantages in transforming see that the roles of women in leadership encourage the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce
Women-owned businesses possess many have become more prominent, with a growing and Industry (VCCI) and similar associations
of the conditions necessary for digital trans- number of women running successful busi- to take advantage of domestic and international
formation. According to the VWEC, Vietnam nesses. “At Grab, diversity and inclusion are resources to support women-owned SMEs
has built a relatively complete legal framework part of our core values, so we don’t let gender in digital transformation and participation
for promoting the task. The Prime Minister and cultural differences get in the way and in global value chains. Finally, there should
issued Decision No. 749/QD-TTg last June give everyone an equal chance to join Grab be policies on tax support for digital businesses
approving the National Digital Transformation and contribute to our mission of driving in the first five years of operations. “I hope
Program to 2025 with orientations towards Southeast Asia and Vietnam forward,” she that with guidance from the government, the
2030, to realize the diverse goals of developing added. “For those women who are striving support of VCCI and other business associa-
digital government, a digital economy, and a for success, occasionally you may feel social tions, together with their own efforts and
digital society. There are also legal documents pressure that men may not. Yes, you may determination, that businesswomen will not
regulating and guiding areas relating to digital have it harder, but that will make success be ‘left behind’ in the digital economy,”
transformation, such as e-government, e- even more satisfying.” Ms. Minh said. %
commerce, non-cash payments, the sharing
economy, artificial intelligence (AI), smart Overcoming obstacles
city development, information safety, and net- Though there are many advantages in
work security. “This is an important foundation transforming digitally, it is nonetheless a
for conducting activities to promote digital tough and challenging task that requires busi-
transformation in Vietnam,” Ms. Minh said. nesses maintain their nerve. “Digital trans-
She added that Vietnam is viewed as having formation forces businesswomen to change
posted sound digital economic development their outlook and business thinking,” said
within ASEAN, with good telecommunications Ms. Minh. “Social distancing caused by Covid-
and information technology infrastructure. 19 was also a time when many businesses
The Vietnam Digital 2021 report from We slowed down, repositioned themselves,
are social and Hootsuite showed that 70.3 restructured markets, redefined business
per cent of Vietnam’s population are internet plans, considered and selected new technology,
users and 72 million of its 100 million people and trained or retrained employees, to prepare
use social networks. Mobile phone subscrip- resources and identify a gradual transition
tions total 154.4 million. roadmap that suited the company’s circum-
The appearance of Covid-19 gave the digital stances.” Women-owned businesses in Vietnam have
transformation process a big push forward, Ms. Phuong said that in the context of made great contributions to job creation and
with the physical economy shifting faster digital transformation, the greatest challenge GDP and introduced a host of initiatives, tak-
towards the digital economy. “Digital trans- is satisfying the needs of Vietnamese con- ing the lead in activities to support the com-
munity and fulfilling their social responsibil-
formation brings major benefits to Vietnam’s sumers, which will help Be become an integral ity. The growth in the number of Vietnamese
business community in general and women- part of people’s daily lives. businesswomen over recent years demon-
owned businesses in particular, such as facil- Given the challenges, according to Ms. strates the government’s efforts and deter-
mination in improving the business and
itating commercial transactions, reaching Tran Thi Hong Minh, Director of the Central investment environment and facilitating
more customers, shortening geographical dis- Institute for Economic Management at the Vietnamese startups and developing busi-
tances and time, and reducing costs such as Ministry of Planning and Investment, a nesses, especially SMEs and women-owned
operating costs, warehousing costs, site rentals, range of policies are needed to develop busi- enterprises. Digital transformation is not
just a trend; it is becoming a development
and labor costs, which result in increased nesses and especially women-owned busi- reality for economies around the world,
profits for businesses,” she went on. “A devel- nesses. There are now 200,000 women- including Vietnam. Businesses in general and
oped digital economy and digital society will owned businesses in Vietnam and over half women-owned businesses in particular pos-
sess many favorable conditions for rapid
contribute to creating a more favorable and of the 5 million business households in the digital transformation.
transparent business environment for busi- country are women-owned, so women
nesses, including women-owned businesses.” clearly play an important role in economic MS. NGUYEN THI TUYET MINH,
As a female leader, Ms. Phuong said that development. Training them to be fully Chairwoman of the Vietnam Women En-
trepreneurs Council (VWEC)
women hold certain advantages that can help capable of applying information technology
their business find success in digital trans- is of the utmost importance.

MARCH 2021 | VIETNAM ECONOMIC TIMES | 17