Vietnam expands major entrepreneurship program to unlock opportunities for women nationwide

 More than 118,000 women have received support from the Women’s Entrepreneurship Support Program during 2017–2025 to launch new businesses, Vice Chairwoman of the Vietnam Fatherland Front and Chairwoman of the Vietnam Women’s Union Nguyen Thi Tuyen reported on November 30.

At the program’s closing conference, also known as Project 939 and the launch of its successor, Project 2415, Tuyen said the result is nearly six times higher than the original target.

Her report noted that around 130,000 newly established women-led enterprises received consulting and business development support, surpassing the goal by 130%.

The program also helped establish more than 1,600 cooperatives and over 6,000 collaborative groups led or managed by women, exceeding the initial target by more than 6.6 times.

More than VND2.4 trillion (US$91 million) in capital was mobilized through banks, support funds and microfinance institutions. More than 1,800 competitions and women’s startup festivals were held, attracting over 41,000 innovative ideas.

Many of the winning projects expanded into international markets, particularly in clean agriculture and One Commune One Product (OCOP) goods.

During its eight years of implementation, Project 939 mobilized nearly VND443 billion (US$16.8 million) from the state budget and VND211 billion (US$8 million) from social sources to support women-led startups.

Tuyen said the program raised awareness, ignited ambition and inspired a strong national movement for women entrepreneurs.

She added that the program supported women with capital, knowledge and skills, enabling hundreds of thousands to start or expand their businesses.

“The quality of women-led startup projects has increased significantly, with many growing into sustainable enterprises and cooperatives that create jobs for tens of thousands of women,” she said.

Calling women’s entrepreneurship “a courageous journey,” Sovico Group Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao emphasized the importance of the new 2026–2035 Women’s Entrepreneurship Support Program (Project 2415).

She announced long-term commitments from Sovico, Vietjet, HDBank and Vikki Digital Bank to support the program through expanded access to capital, training in digital and financial skills and development of a supportive startup ecosystem for women.

The companies will also assist disaster-hit regions with recovery funding and livelihood support, Thao said.

At the conference, 61 collectives, 84 individuals and 50 women-led cooperatives were honored for their achievements in entrepreneurship and economic empowerment.

Target broader opportunities for women-led businesses

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said that despite strong progress, challenges persist such as uneven support across regions, incomplete digital transformation and gaps in management capacity and business skills.

Women in remote areas and ethnic minority communities continue to face barriers in accessing finance, land, technology and markets, he said.

The prime minister urged the Vietnam Women’s Union to propose mechanisms and policy solutions that remove institutional bottlenecks, help women access green credit, support funds, venture capital, land, technology and markets and expand international cooperation.

He also called for stronger support to help women green and digitize their businesses and enter global value chains.

Prime Minister Chinh emphasized that the achievements of Project 939 form a foundation for the next phase of development.

According to him, with the launch of Project No. 2415 for 2026-2030, Vietnam aims to support and advise 50,000 women-led businesses, cooperatives and households in securing preferential credit and startup funds and help 12,500 women-led household businesses convert into registered enterprises.

The goal is for women to account for 30% of all business owners and cooperative leaders. From 2031 to 2035, the program aims to support 75,000 women-led economic units, assist 25,000 household businesses in enterprise conversion and raise the proportion of women-led enterprises and cooperatives to 35%.

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