HÀ NỘI — The northern province of Vĩnh Phúc called on its youth yesterday to join the national startup wave and contribute to promoting socio-economic development.

Đỗ Thị Thanh Hương, secretary of the provincial Youth Union, said the northern province had more than 300,000 young people aged between 16 and 30, accounting for 30 per cent of the population and 47 per cent of the labour force.

“We call on every young person in Vĩnh Phúc Province to nurture the entrepreneurship spirit, be creative and actively prepare for launching businesses,” Hương said at the event. “There will be difficulties and challenges. Persevere and be determined.”

Lê Duy Thành, deputy chairman of the provincial People’s Committee, said the private sector was identified as an important engine of the economy, and favourable conditions would be provided to promote its development and enhance the economy’s competitiveness.

Thành said it was a good time to launch startups in Vĩnh Phúc Province where the local authorities were aiming to provide support in terms of capital, land and policies to encourage the youth.

“Both the youth and enterprises play very important roles in the province’s development and the combination will certainly bring better results,” Thành said.

Vĩnh Phúc currently has some 7,000 businesses and the figure is expected to increase rapidly in the future, according to Thành.

According to Phạm Ngọc Tuấn, deputy head of the National Startup Programme’s Organisation Board, the Government of Việt Nam was striving to build a startup ecosystem with the issuance of a resolution in June last year.

In 2017, the National Startup Programme will focus on connecting startup businesses to venture capital funds, associations and incubators to help them overcome initial difficulties.

At the event, a council of startup mentors were introduced, which aimed at selecting feasible startup projects and nurturing ideas to build a young entrepreneur community in the province.

In addition, Vĩnh Phúc Province also launched the first startup competition on Tuesday. — VNS