Business start-up support increases

Better support will help entrepreneurs develop

Initial successes

Young companies established under the supported business start-up model have gradually developed in recent years and partially contributed to domestic socioeconomic development. These companies have been vastly improved in terms of production, trading and investment since the Ministry of Science and Technology deployed a technology commercialization project in accordance with the US Silicon Valley model in Vietnam.

For example, the Astro Telligent JSC has been successful with its professional recruitment model applied at the Vietnam International Bank under a US$20,000 contract, beating out domestic and foreign competitors including Oracle and VCCorp. The Lozi Company has saw success while attracting two million visitors a month who want to share their culinary experience and about 200,000 users, hitting monthly revenue of US$7,000.

Vietnam has signed many free trade agreements and therefore must respect standards and criteria established by developed countries. The establishment of highly competitive and high value-added companies is essential. These companies are pioneers in the future domestic socioeconomic development, said Minister of Science and Technology Nguyen Quan.

More support is necessary

According to the Ministry of Science and Technology, young companies established under the supported business start-up model face difficulties in terms of investment, especially venture capital investment. So the government should encourage private investors to set up venture capital and private funds or the state should provide investors in business start-up model corresponding capital to support these companies.

Entrepreneurs are facing difficulties in raising capital and attracting talented people into their companies, commercializing their products and expanding their market, said Pham Kim Hung from the TechElite Inc.

The Ministry of Science and Technology is preparing the framework for the national innovative entrepreneurial ecosystem support program in Vietnam towards 2020, with the intention of establishing science and technology development funds that can be able to financially support young companies to compete in the domestic and foreign markets.

This is good news for people establishing domestic businesses who will be further facilitated to turn their dreams of becoming successful companies like Facebook, Uber, YouTube and Dropbox.

Quynh Nga