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COVER STORY

prises being female-owned by 2020. Vietnam policies to support SMEs, such as delaying about how to put them to best use.
was making swift progress towards that target, tax collections, reducing land rentals by 15 The report also mentioned, however, that
but the pandemic then hit and left its mark. per cent, slashing government fees and despite the challenges that women entrepre-
Women-owned enterprises fell to 26.5 per charges, lowering interest rates by 2 per cent, neurs face, they displayed more resilience
cent last year, which was still second-highest cutting administrative procedures and costs and better leadership during the pandemic.
in ASEAN after the Philippines, with 27.1 per for entrepreneurs, and expanding credit limits, “Women entrepreneurs are more flexible in
cent, and higher than Singapore, Thailand, according to the 2020 United Nations Eco- adapting to changing business models, more
Indonesia, and Malaysia, according to the nomic and Social Commission for Asia and willing to embrace technology to shift to new
2020 Mastercard Index of Women Entrepre- the Pacific (UN ESCAP) report. business models, and have established women-
neurs (MIWE) report. “Businesses that relied on cash flows found led platforms to mentor and monitor young
it most difficult to survive during the pan- female entrepreneurs,” Dr. Maheshwari said.
Policy support demic, as they were short of the finances Dr. Binh, meanwhile, said that women-
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) needed to cover basic operational costs and owned businesses face the same barriers as
received $20.2 million in 2019 from the faced a shortage of working capital,” Dr. their male counterparts. Access to land, credit,
Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative Maheshwari said. “But a smaller proportion resources, markets, and businesses oppor-
(We-Fi) to support approximately 5,000 of women-led SMEs surveyed mentioned tunities are among the most oft-mentioned
women-led SMEs in Vietnam and the Pacific, shortages of working capital, with most con- constraints. They also both face regulatory
and recently, in December, the bank and the cern relating to canceled orders. This suggests and legal risks, excessive administrative pro-
Vietnamese Government signed a $5 million that women-led SMEs are more robust, which cedures, and bureaucracy.
grant agreement funded by We-Fi to support was also supported by the survey results, Women-owned businesses tend to employ
women entrepreneurs whose financial access wherein women-led SMEs showed more opti- a higher percentage of female workers than
weakened due to the pandemic. This is a mism, with only 6 per cent saying they believe is the case with businesses owned by men,
major initiative taken by the government to they will go bankrupt if Covid-19 lasted to with 43.4 per cent vs. 36 per cent, according
fully tap into women’s capabilities, as they the end of 2020, while the figure was 10.5 per to the General Statistics Office (GSO). The
contribute a substantial proportion of the cent for male-led SMEs.” pandemic has apparently put greater pressure
workforce and this will enable continued eco- Broad-based policies have therefore been on women-owned businesses to maintain
nomic growth. implemented to strengthen the social status, jobs for female workers, due to the higher
The government also introduced measures capacity, and confidence of women, enabling density of such workers in their employ.
quickly during the early days of the pandemic them to seize business opportunities when The Law on Gender Equality, Dr. Binh
and adopted a number of fiscal and monetary they knock. “Women’s economic empowerment said, requires that the gender dimension be
has been integrated in social economic devel- integrated into all regulations, laws, and
opment strategies and plans,” said Dr. Binh. policies. “This stipulation needs to be imple-
“This has helped promote entrepreneurship mented in a more effective manner,” he believes.
among women and create myriad household “Broad-based polices in all fields, like education,
businesses and micro and small enterprises healthcare, culture, labor, and women’s entre-
in cities and rural areas over recent years.” preneurship should promote women’s empow-
The Law on Enterprises has boosted entre- erment and get them better prepared not only
preneurship among Vietnamese people overall for employment but also for seizing business
by liberalizing the freedom to do business. Dr. opportunities to become entrepreneurs.”
Binh observed that Vietnamese women were Specific action plans and projects to support
fast in seizing this opportunity. As soon as the women-owned businesses and women entre-
law was released, about two decades ago, hun- preneurship are also needed. No such action
dreds of thousands of women-owned businesses plans have been introduced under the Law
were incorporated. Many have grown into on SME Support, however, and this vacuum
major conglomerates, with markets covering should be addressed shortly at both the
Vietnam and eyes firmly fixed on the world. national and provincial level. More effort is
necessary to integrate support for women-
Existing barriers owned business and women’s entrepreneur-
Despite the government’s efforts in providing ship in development projects and programs.
support to women-led businesses, according “Especially at the provincial level, innovative
to Dr. Maheshwari, the difficulties continue in and pragmatic approaches like integrating the
terms of finances, digital literacy, fear of failure, dimensions of promoting women-led businesses
and lack of family support, various research and women’s entrepreneurship into ratings of
studies in the country have found. the quality of local economic governance and
The pandemic, she said, has only added to the performance of local government, as has
these difficulties, with female-owned businesses been effectively implemented in Son La and Lao
being more vulnerable. Per the MIWE report, Cai provinces, with support from the Australian
80 per cent of businesses in Vietnam owned Aid-funded GREAT project, should be promoted,”
by women were exposed to the most impacted he added. “It is important that women’s entre-
sectors, compared to 60 per cent of male- preneurship be institutionalized into the day-
owned businesses. Few enterprises accessed to-day economic governance of local government
State support in credit, fiscal, and labor policies, agencies. Such a local approach would improve
according to the UN ESCAP report, as cum- the long-term effectiveness of policies and pro-
bersome procedures and a lack of clear instruc- grams to support women-owned businesses and
tions made SMEs of all persuasions unsure women entrepreneurs in Vietnam.” %
PHOTO: VIET TUAN

MARCH 2021 | VIETNAM ECONOMIC TIMES | 19