Model of hydroponic vegetable growing in Yen Minh town, Yen Minh district, Ha Giang province with direction towards the development of high-tech agriculture.(Photo: VNA)Thenumber of COVID-19 cases in Vietnam is decreasing but the adverse effects ofCOVID-19 on businesses, especially those led by vulnerable groups, are stillprolonged and damaging.
AUNDP study in August last year showed that household businesses and micro,small and medium enterprises found their revenue declined sharply, forcing themto cut back operations and lay off workers.
Enterprisesin tourism, restaurants, hotels and passenger transportation were those hardesthit. This impact is exacerbated among female-headed households.
“Thissupport package will contribute to helping SIBs remove the above bottlenecksand difficulties through concrete actions, such as sending experts andintermediary organisations to accompany SIBs for six months to solve specificproblems in management, business, and product development,” said Le Manh Hung, Directorof the MPI’s Agency for Enterprise Development.
Especially,the COVID-19 Adaptation Programme also provided seed funding of 100 million VND(nearly 4,350 USD) for each enterprise to build and test new business models.This was a very valuable resource for SIBs amid difficult access to financialresources, he added.
UNDPResident Representative in Vietnam Caitlin Wiesen commended Vietnam for itsrapid and equitable roll-out of the vaccination programme, bringing the countryback to normal life. However, she is concerned about the adverse effects ofCOVID-19 on businesses.
“Ourbaseline assessment showed that nearly 47 percent of interviewed social impactbusinesses had their revenue reduced due to COVID-19. Businesses with thehighest percentage of revenue reduction belonged to the groups employing peoplewith disabilities, ethnic minorities, and cooperatives,” said Wiesen.
Wehoped that the programme would provide the necessary technical and financialsupport for the SIBs to realise their innovative ideas to solve their ownchallenges, thus benefiting vulnerable groups, she added.
Asthe flagship support for SIBs in the “Leveraging Vietnam’s Social ImpactBusiness Ecosystem in Response to COVID-19”- ISEE-COVID project, the Covid-19Adaptation Programme is expected to help SIBs to identify critical challengesdue to COVID-19; design new business models or develop new products andservices to adapt to COVID-19; and build and test prototypes of products andservices with the seed funds.
Theprogramme will support 30 SIBs in the agriculture and tourism industries thisyear, focusing on the SIBs led by women and vulnerable groups. Each selectedSIB will receive a six-month coaching service and funding of 100 million VND toidentify, build and test the prototypes or new business models.
TheAED, GAC, and UNDP encourage eligible social impacted businesses to submitexpressions of interest to participate in the programme.
Allsocial enterprises, impact start-ups, co-operatives, and small and mediumenterprises that work with or work for the vulnerable groups, in theagricultural and tourism sectors, are welcome to apply for the programme.
Thereis no restriction on population group, occupation, or geographical location aslong as the businesses support vulnerable groups and the proposed businessmodels, and new products and services are innovative, sustainable, scalable,and relevant to adapt to the challenges of COVID-19./.
VNA
