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Insight On Women Ownership Of SMEs In Vietnam

   September 23, 2020  1 Comment

Vietnam, a fast-growing emerging economy in South East Asia has more than 600,000 active businesses, of which a large percentage are Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SME’s). In fact, SMEs in Vietnam, which is an important factor in driving the economy, make up 98% of the total active businesses.

Every year the growth of SMEs in Vietnam gives rise to over one million new jobs and contributes more than 40% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Statistics show that the SME sector in Vietnam has the largest women ownership in business, and according to the 2018 Mastercard Index of Women Entrepreneurs, Vietnam 1st in Asia and 6th in the global ranking of women business ownership. This is due to the fact that women-led SME’s account for more than 25% of the total number of enterprises, and this is equivalent to more than 100,000 women-owned businesses, mainly in the SME sector. However, despite the government’s involvement in boosting women entrepreneurship through policies targeted at getting more women to start their own business, social settings in Vietnam, such as traditional values as well as socialist ideals bordering on gender inequalities still thrive thus hampering governmental drive.

As a result, women’s entrepreneurial orientation is vital for improving the organizational performance of women-owned SMEs. Entrepreneurial orientation is an organization-level strategic positioning that embodies its strategy-making practices, managerial philosophies, and organizational behaviors that are entrepreneurial in nature. The World Bank Country Director for Vietnam asserts that the participation of women in SME ownership has positive impacts on social productivity, socio-economic development, and poverty reduction. Still, in reality, the percentage of women who own businesses in Vietnam is not equivalent to that of women taking part in the labor force, hence, when benchmarked with the untapped potential, there is a minimal contribution of the women to the Vietnamese economy (Ousmane, 2017). Increasing women’s involvement in SME ownership has the potential to speed up the developmental drive in Vietnam, more so, as the government has set a target for this year 2020 in which the country will have one million enterprises, of which 350,000 should be women-owned enterprises. This is a huge goal for women-owned SME’s in Vietnam

  1. Kieu. V. (2018). Women-owned businesses face many challenges. Retrieved from: https://enternews.vn/doanh-nghiep-do-phu-nu-lam-chu-con-gap-nhieu-thach-thuc-130655.html
  2. Hampel-Milagrosa, A., Pham, H., Nguyen, Q., & Nguyen, T. (2010). Gender-Related Obstacles to Vietnamese Women Entrepreneurs. Vietnam: United Nations Industrial Development Organisation and Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry
  3. Ousmane D. (2017). Vietnamese women contribute significantly to economy. The voice of Vietnam. Retrieved from: https://english.vov.vn/economy/vietnamese-women-contribute-significantly-to-economy-360030.vov
  4. Saigoneer. (2017). Mastercard Index of Women Entrepreneurs. Retrieved from: https://saigoneer.com/vietnam-news/13414-vietnam-ranks-1st-in-asia,-6th-of-53-in-female-business-ownership
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