Deadline: 9-May-22
The Agency of Enterprise Development (AED) under the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI), Global Affairs Canada (GAC), and the UN Development Programme (UNDP) have jointly launched the “COVID-19 Adaptation Programme” for Social Impacted Businesses (SIBs) to increase their capacity and refine business models to address the challenges they are facing.
UNDP Resident Representative in Viet Nam Caitlin Wiesen commended Viet Nam for its rapid and equitable roll-out of the vaccination programme, bringing the country back to normal life. However, she is concerned about the adverse effects of COVID-19 on the businesses.
SIBs are understood as “organizations that have both trading activities and a commitment to positively impacting society/environment as the two central tenets of their strategic operations. This balancing of their social/environmental aims with a commercial model allows them to sustainably solve social and environmental challenges.
The COVID-19 Adaptation Program is expected to help SIBs to:
- Identify critical challenges due to Covid-19;
- Design new business models or develop new products/ services to adapt to Covid-19; and
- Build and test prototypes of products/services with the seed funds.
Funding and Duration Information
The support package includes:
- Seed capital of VND 100,000,000 for each SIB to build and test new business models, products and services.
- 6 months of 1:1 training with professional incubators to identify key challenges posed by COVID-19 and assist businesses in designing and transforming new business models or developing products / new services to adapt to the Covid-19 situation
Eligibility Criteria
- The AED, GAC, and UNDP encourage eligible Social Impacted Business to submit Expression of Interest to participate in the Programme.
- All social enterprises, impact startups, cooperatives, and small and medium enterprises that work with or work for the vulnerable groups, in the agricultural and tourism sectors, are welcome to apply for the programme.
- There is no restriction on population group, occupation, or geographical location as long as the businesses support vulnerable groups and the proposed business models, and new products/ services are innovative, sustainable, scalable, and relevant to adapt to the challenges by COVID-19.
For more information, visit https://www.vn.undp.org/content/vietnam/en/home/presscenter/pressreleases/new-covid-19-adaptation-programme-for-social-impact-businesses.html