Creating new impetus for women entrepreneurs.

Building on the positive results of Project 939, Hai Phong continues to implement Project 2415 for the period 2026-2035 to expand entrepreneurial opportunities for women.

Women entrepreneurs' booths showcased their businesses at the launch conference for Project 2415, organized by the City Women's Union.

Opening opportunities for women

From being an ordinary worker, Vu Thi Xoan's life in Ha Bi village, Yet Kieu commune, fell into hardship when her husband was diagnosed with cancer. Despite selling their house to pay for treatment, her husband did not survive. The four of them had to move in with her maternal grandparents.

During her most difficult time, Ms. Xoan was connected by the Women's Union of Yet Kieu commune to borrow 100 million VND from the Social Policy Bank for near-poor households and 20 million VND from the clean water program to renovate her fish pond. The Women's Union also provided 10 million VND to help her open a tea shop and sponsored one of her children with a monthly support of 500,000 VND to continue their education.

Thanks to selling tea combined with raising fish, the family's income gradually stabilized. She boldly borrowed more money to build a small house for herself and her four children. To date, her family has escaped near-poverty, and life has become less difficult. Ms. Xoan shared that without the support of the Women's Association, she doesn't know where to start over.

In addition to supporting Ms. Xoan's case, the Women's Union of Yet Kieu commune also coordinated with credit institutions to facilitate members' access to capital for economic development. Currently, the total outstanding loan balance is over 163.8 billion VND with 1,189 borrowing households. Of these, 256 women starting businesses received loans totaling over 48.8 billion VND; and more than 70 women accessed capital from the Tinh Thuong Microfinance Limited Company (TYM) to expand their businesses, develop services, and livestock farming.

According to Tran Thi Siem, Chairwoman of the Women's Union of Yet Kieu commune, through the implementation of Project 939, the union has helped 18 women successfully start businesses, and 46 households headed by women have risen out of poverty and near-poverty sustainably, contributing to reducing the commune's poverty rate from 2.23% in 2021 to 0.93% in 2025.

Building on the achievements of Project 939, the implementation of Project 2415 for the period 2026-2035 is not only a continuation of policy but also opens a new phase of development with a more modern, systematic, and long-term approach. The project identifies women as the central focus, innovation as the driving force, and digital transformation and green transformation as the main methods, aligning with the city's development orientation in the coming years.

According to the plan, during the period 2026-2035, the city aims to raise awareness of entrepreneurship among over 90% of its female members; and to provide training to 100% of its full-time female officials to support women entrepreneurs. The city also aims to provide legal support to 45,000 businesses, cooperatives, and household businesses owned by women; assist 11,000 units in accessing preferential capital; improve business skills for 5,500 women; guide 2,250 household businesses in transforming into enterprises; and provide in-depth support to 55 exemplary startup models.

Building a friendly startup ecosystem.

In the coming period, the City Women's Union will continue to innovate the content and methods of its activities, improve the capacity of its staff, and focus on replicating exemplary women's entrepreneurship models.

At the conference launching the implementation of Project 2415, Mr. Vu Tien Phung, Member of the Standing Committee of the City Party Committee and Vice Chairman of the City People's Committee, requested the City Women's Union to leverage its central role in connecting with departments, localities, and social resources to support women's entrepreneurship. The Union needs to truly be a bridge between women and policies, markets, capital, and technology; continue to innovate its content and methods of operation, improve the capacity of its staff, and focus on replicating exemplary women's entrepreneurship models.

According to the Vice President of the Ho Chi Minh City Women's Union, Dang Thi Phuong Lien, in the coming time, the union will focus on fostering the entrepreneurial spirit and legitimate aspirations of women to become wealthy; developing an ecosystem to support entrepreneurship by strengthening connections with the government, businesses, experts, and investors. At the same time, the union will provide comprehensive support to women, from training and consulting to refining ideas, accessing capital, markets, and building brands; promoting digital transformation, applying technology, and continuing to advise on improving mechanisms and policies to support women's entrepreneurship.

Deputy Director of the Department of Science and Technology, Pham Thi Sen Quynh, proposed that the city should shift from traditional vocational training to applied digital skills training. The Department will coordinate with the City Women's Union to organize in-depth training courses on cross-border e-commerce, optimizing AI tools in digital management and marketing, and professional livestreaming sales; while also providing knowledge on intellectual property and supporting the registration of trademarks and industrial designs to enhance the competitiveness of products owned by women.

NGUYEN THANH

Source: https://baohaiphong.vn/tao-dong-luc-moi-cho-phu-nu-khoi-nghiep-544346.html