Social enterprises and sustainable development
Viet Nam has issued a number of policies to support the business sector to create social impact, however, these policies need to be complemented by activities to promote implementation.
Viet Nam has issued policies to help the business sector to create social impact, however, these policies need to be accompanied by actions, an expert has said.
The statement was made by Catherine Phuong, United Nations Development Programme's (UNDP)'s Assistant Country Director at a conference held in Ha Noi yesterday.
The event aimed to support social enterprises and enhance the social responsibility of Vietnamese enterprises.
At the same time, the conference hoped to spread information to organisations and individuals on the mission of sustainable development and propose ways to hit sustainable development goals via dialogue between policymakers and enterprise.
The concept of social enterprises is new in Viet Nam but it has developed significantly in recent years around the world.
Currently, Viet Nam has about 200 organisations considered full social enterprises. In addition, there are thousands of organisations and businesses with some characteristics of social enterprises.
These social enterprises operate quite effectively, contributing to solving social and environmental issues such as vocational training for children of poor families, ethnic minorities and people with disabilities.
However, social enterprises face many difficulties like poor access to financial resources, limited management capacity and the lack of support and capacity enhancing services.
In addition, communication and brand development for social enterprises faces many difficulties due to limited public awareness about this type of business.
According to Phuong, Viet Nam has an impressive start-up ecosystem and allows for rapid development.
For businesses to create a sustainable social impact, the UNDP proposed policies to support access to financial resources, support market development and business expansion to create social impact, and building capacity and strengthening co-ordination.
The event was organised by Economy and Forecast Review, under the Ministry of Planning and Investment in co-operation with the Institute for Brand and Competitiveness Strategy. — VNS
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