Stronger support needed for women entrepreneurs to join supply chains

Although women make up almost half of the world's population, they contribute to only 37 per cent of the global GDP.

If women can participate in the economy on an equal footing with men, as much as US$28 trillion could be added to the global GDP by 2025.

That was the message from Nguyễn Quang Vinh, deputy chairman of the Việt Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) who was speaking at a forum held in Hà Nội on Wednesday, on supporting women-owned businesses to join supply chains through sustainable development tools.

The event, jointly organised by the Việt Nam Women Entrepreneurs Council (VWEC) under the VCCI and the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), attracted more than 100 delegates and representatives of ministries, embassies, international organisations, financial institution, and enterprises.

It formed part of the "WE RISE Together" programme, which creates equal market opportunities for women by advancing supplier diversity through gender-responsive procurement in Việt Nam, supported by the Australian Government through the Mekong - Australia Partnership.

He said currently in Việt Nam, more than 20 per cent of owners of small- and medium-sized enterprises are women while 51 per cent of Vietnamese enterprises have women in their leadership, higher than in other countries.

However, most women-owned firms operate at the lowest levels of supply chains in many industries and face difficulties in meeting procurement requirements of large companies.

Caroline T. Nyamayemombe, country representative of UN Women in Việt Nam, reckoned that the application of sustainable development tools such as gender-responsive procurement policies and women's empowerment principles (WEPS) is one of the smart choices to help businesses make a difference and grow sustainably.

The forum provided latest updates on the roadmap for enterprises to implement Việt Nam's sustainable development goals, solutions to support businesses to meet national and international sustainable development standards, along with policies and programmes to enhance market access and financial and non-financial support for women-owned and led enterprises.

Delegates at the event pointed out bottlenecks to women's access to capital and market such as a lack of business support networks for women, the shortage of training programmes and mentoring opportunities to hone skills for women entrepreneurs, the burden of domestic care work and stereotypes about women's entrepreneurial abilities.

Also at the forum, 22 Vietnamese enterprises signed a commitment agreement to supporting the WEPS. Organisers also launched the WEPS Awards 2024, an initiative of UN Women introduced in 2020.