Ha Noi, 26 July 2022 - The most innovative social impact businesses in agriculture and tourism sectors will get 6-month coaching services and VND100 million as seed funding to test and refine their creative models and realize their impact potential.

This was announced by the Agency of Enterprise Development (AED) under the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI), the Global Affairs Canada (GAC), and the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in an event today to announce "The Social Impact Businesses of the COVID-19 Adaptation Programme 2022” and to honor the Board of Judges. The coaching programme and 3 incubators who will accompany SIBs to refine business models and develop new products/services that adapt to COVID-19 situation, were introduced at the event.

Despite a vibrant and diverse ecosystem for Social Impact Businesses (SIBs), Vietnamese SIBs are facing multiple challenges to balance between making profits and creating social impacts in developing the sustainable business models. The challenges have further increased due to COVID-19. In April, the “Leveraging Viet Nam’s Social Impact Business Ecosystem in Response to COVID-19”- ISEE-COVID project launched the COVID-19 Adaptation Programme to support SIBs in the agriculture and tourism industries, focusing on the SIBs led by women and vulnerable groups. Over 150 SIBs submitted their Expression of Interest, and as a result, 29 SIBs from across Viet Nam were selected to receive a six-month 1:1 coaching service and VND 100 million as seed funding to identify, build and test prototypes or new business models. Of them, 20/29 SIBs are led by women, 4/29 by persons with disabilities.

“The selected SIBs of the COVID-19 Adaptation Programme have inspiring stories and effective business solutions to convince the Board of Judge. We hope that this flagship support will provide them with necessary support to experiment and implement innovative ideas that benefit a wider population, especially vulnerable groups.” - said Head of Cooperation, Embassy of Canada to Viet Nam, Brian Allemekinders.

Addressing the event, General Director of MPI’s Agency for Enterprise Development Le Manh Hung shared: “In the implementation of sustainable development goals, Social Impact business (SIB), are essential component not only in making a contribution to the economic development but also in creating positive impacts on the society and environment via creating jobs and providing products and services for disadvantaged groups in society. Closely following the guidelines and policies of the Government and the Prime Minister, the COVID-19 Adaptation Program is such a meaningful, necessary, and comprehensive support both financially and technically in order to help SIBs overcome challenges of the COVID-19 epidemic and to restore production post pandemic. In the upcoming months, the selected SIBs will receive financial support and participate in the 1:1 coaching program with three incubators to solve specific problems in management, business, and product development, thereby contributing to the improvement of SIB's capacity to recover and further develop".

“Inspiring to see such a diversity of ideas from women-led businesses, ranging from the high-quality made-in-Viet Nam products to new innovative ideas such as using larva to turn leftover foods into organic fertilizer, and a new rice cultivation method that saves costs, circulates nutrients and reduces greenhouse gas,” said UNDP Resident Representative in Viet Nam Caitlin Wiesen. “With the re-opening of Vietnamese tourism, I  hope that creative models such as ‘dining in the dark’, innovative community tourism, and the application of reducing waste in the tourism sector will grow quickly. The ISEE-COVID project is building a critically important ecosystem for such social impact businesses to succeed and scale.”

Three inspiring incubators – BizCare, Wise, and Angle4Us -  will be working closely with the selected SIBs in the next six months to (i) identify critical challenges faced by the SIBs due to Covid-19; (ii) design new business models or develop new products/ services to adapt to the pandemic; and (iii) build and test prototypes of products/services with the seed funds. It is expected that the new products and business models are sustainable, scalable, and relevant to adapt to the challenges of COVID-19 and the selected SIBs will become key stakeholders to foster the Social impacted business ecosystem in Vietnam. 

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About the ISEE-COVID project 

The project “Leveraging Viet Nam’s Social Impact Business Ecosystem in Response to COVID-19” (ISEE COVID project), with sponsorship from Global Affairs Canada, is co-implemented by UNDP and Agency of Enterprise Development (AED), Ministry of Planning and Investment. The project aims to enhance the resilience of social impact businesses (SIBs) in Viet Nam and contribute to reducing the impact of COVID-19 on vulnerable groups, especially women and girls. The ISEE COVID project has two primary objectives: (i) improving the effectiveness of SIBs, especially those led by women and vulnerable groups, to address the social and gendered impacts of COVID-19 and accelerate the achievement of the SDGs; and (ii) strengthening the regulatory environment for SIBs to be more gender-responsive, inclusive and transparent, thereby supporting the resilience of SIBs to COVID-19 impact, with a particular focus on SIBs that are led by women and other vulnerable groups. 

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Media contact

Nguyen Ngoc Anh, ISEE-COVID Project Communication Consultant, Email: nguyen.thi.ngoc.anh@undp.org

Nguyen Hoai Thanh, ISEE-COVID project Focal point personnel, Enterprise Development Agency, Ministry of Planning and Investment, Email: nguyenhoaithanh9831@gmail.com

More Information about program: please email: iseecovid.vn@undp.org/ iseecovid.aed@gmail.com