Seminar looks into startups and sustainable development

Experts and youngsters gathered at a seminar in Hanoi, on June 15, to discuss fostering social impact startups and business in Vietnam.

Startups with social impacts are the best models to solve social challenges. (Image for illustration)
Startups with social impacts are the best models to solve social challenges. (Image for illustration)

Held by the United Nations Development Programme in Vietnam (UNDP), the Citi Foundation and the Ministry of Science and Technology, the diagnostic workshop targets to grow startups with social impacts in the Southeast Asian nation, as well as addressing social issues in order to provide sustainable impacts to the community.

Addressing the event, Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Tran Van Tung said that sustainable development is one of the most important orientations in the country's socio-economic development, in which social enterprises both generate profit and create a positive snowball effect in the community.

With an adaptive capacity and rapid replication, these innovative enterprises are the best models for solving social challenges, creating positive motives and accelerating the progress of achieving sustainable development, he affirmed.

UNDP Country Director for Vietnam, Caitlin Wiesen, emphasised that UNDP would like to see that young people with the highest levels of creativity and innovation are supported as much as possible in order to be able to start a business and bring positive and lasting effects to society. She expressed UNDP’s willingness in assisting and receiving innovative startup ideas for sustainable development. The selected youth groups will be involved in an incubator programme, the UN official added.

At the seminar, speakers focused on discussions related to young social innovators, and developing social innovation and an entrepreneurial spirit for young people in Vietnam, as well as sustainable investment, and startup ecosystem analysis - the key to the success of startup ecosystems with social impacts.

The programme will also select the innovative ideas with the most potential for incubation.

The diagnostic workshop is part of the Youth Co:Lab Vietnam 2018 series of activities, which aims to support young entrepreneurs in designing and implementing ideas and business models for sustainable social impacts in their communities. It also seeks to accelerate the implementation of the SDGs in Vietnam through cross sector collaboration for social innovation and in building a thriving impact startup ecosystem.

The next workshop on the same theme is scheduled for Ho Chi Minh City on June 26.