International investors at the Investor Conference 2023 organised by VinaCapital. An expanding array of foreign venture capital funds are showing interest in the Vietnamese market. — Photo tuoitre.vn

 HÀ NỘI — Economists have emphasised that Vietnamese small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) need to enhance their management capabilities and refine their business strategies in order to attract investments from both domestic and international funds, which collectively hold hundreds of billions of US dollars.

The funds are able to provide SMEs with effective financial solutions, they said, elaborating instead of investing in financial tools, they are targeting unlisted companies and listed ones who are planning to withdraw their stocks from the market to engage in the firms’ management and business growth.

The funds commit at least five- to ten-year investment, experts said.

Last month, the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) received a delegation of 14 world and region’s leading multi-national investment funds who came to seek investment opportunities.

Amidst established entities like VinaCapital and Mekong Capital, an expanding array of foreign venture capital funds are showing interest in the Vietnamese market.

However, most of the Vietnamese firms have not been well aware of the funds while their poor management and foreign language proficiency as well as limited understanding of the financial market’s potential are hindering them in seeking investment, according to Trần Thanh Hải, a specialist from Bắc Á Commercial Joint Stock Bank.

Besides, the SMEs need to prove their capacity, technology and business vision. Once getting long-term capital from investment funds, they will have motive to invest in long-term values like digitalisation in management and business and automation in production, Hải said. — VNS