Children with disabilities at a vocational training centre in the northern province of Bắc Ninh. Photo courtesy of the Association in Support of Vietnamese handicapped and Orphans (ASVHO)

HÀ NỘI — Lack of capital, information, business management capacity and a sustainable market for their products were among the major challenges facing social impact businesses (SIBs) in Việt Nam, said policymakers and international experts.

According to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), about 4 per cent of all businesses, or more than 22,000, in the country qualified under the SIB category. The UN defined SIBs as organisations that prioritise doing work that consciously, systemically and sustainably serves or attempts to solve a local or global community need.

The vast majority of SIBs in Việt Nam was run and owned by some of the most vulnerable groups including women, ethnic minorities, people with disabilities and gender-diverse individuals, according to a UNDP report.

Even before the pandemic, Vietnamese SIBs had been systematically marginalised and suffered from a lack of governmental support, unable to connect and integrate into the economic ecosystem.

Ramla Khalidi, UNDP Resident Representative in Việt Nam, said it's high time the country stepped up its support in order to create a more capable and sustainable SIB community, especially in post-pandemic economic recovery.

She said many SIBs have proven they were capable of sustaining and adapting to changes but governmental support may still play a crucial part in helping them grow in the future.

During the pandemic years, the Ministry of Planning and Investment, in collaboration with UNDP and Global Affairs Canada, implemented the COVID-19 Adaptation Programme for Social Impact Businesses to aid the most vulnerable SIBs, especially those owned and operated by women and young females.

The programme has since continued to provide SIBs with capital, and training to improve business management skills, bolster links among SIBs and enhance government officials' ability to provide support to SIBs.

Shawn Steil, Canadian Ambassador to Việt Nam, said a key objective of the Canadian government was to encourage private funds to participate in sustainable and inclusive economic development, in particular, to support poverty eradication and small-to-medium-sized businesses.

Vietnamese SIBs were to play a key part in realising such objectives, as well as numerous other benefits to the local communities including job creation, improvements to gender equality, living standard and protection of vulnerable social groups.

The programme, part of a larger effort to help leverage Việt Nam SIBs ecosystem in response to COVID-19 (ISEE-COVID) will continue to run through 2023 and 2024. VNS