Econ
Start-ups with the objective of sustainable development
While many see the biggest challenge of start-ups on the way toward sustainable development is its capability in accessing capital and knowledge of legal policies, experts said it is not often the case in reality.
According to a study on Vietnamese business community of the Misison for Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) of Asian – Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), the start ups in Vietnam still has large potential for development.
As such, 40% enterprise founders are under 40 years of age; 88% has not had working experience or get to study and working abroad; 21% has not had accessed to any supporting services; 75% start ups participated in the study said they progress in profession by interacting with colleagues or leading enterprises in the same sector; only 5% sofar has applied financial technologies. Clearly, these above mentioned number if are improved will open new doors of opportunities for start-ups in general.
However, the capability of accessing capital and deep understandings of legal procedures are often seen as biggest obstacles of start-ups. In which, the most comnon concern of start-ups a a sea of policies and administrative procedures. If start-ups cannot join in this legal flow to adjust their operation right at the beginning, these enterprises, even when becoming SME or micro enteprises (MSME) can be pushed into the underground economy and seen as unofficial economic entity in the eyes of administrative agencies.
In particular, discussion at conference on start-ups in APEC’s region still shows another warning. With this being said, some experts believed start-ups in APEC’s region are quite similar in case they are facing difficulties in mobilizing social resources. This is credible suppliers, experienced partners, high qualified human resources and loyal customers to accompany enterprises in the beginning.
After overcoming difficulties in the beginning, the road ahead of start-ups are not often straigthforward, but may be a matter of survival with attractive offers, which in reality is the fight against being acquired by big companies and investors.
However, there are cases when start-ups only care for profits and sell their enterprises for the biggest offer from time to time. But for other start-ups, the success of an enterprise is not only measured by profit, but also the ambition to establish a long standing brand such as other famous enterprises in the world.
A young founder of Emerald Digital marketing Thi Anh Dao, who is named as one of the top 30 young entrepreneurs under 30 years of age by Forbes Vietnam, said “if start-ups just sell the company for profit, they will never have a strong company with big brand”. 3 times facing the survival question of whether to sell or keep the company, at the end, Emerald had chosen a partner with the same vision for long term development.
From experience of other start-up, General Director of online supermarket Chopp.vn Nguyen Truong said, most investors approaching start-ups do not want to invest when they know the founder want to maintain that investment for at least 10 years before divestment. “Agricultural products in Vietnam has high potential and we do not intend to sell the company, at least in this period” – Truong said.
After the first phase of “start”, young Vietnamese start-ups then move to the next phase of “up”, and one of the foundation for this ambition is the start-up incubator model of Vietnam Silicon Valley, which is under the management of the Ministry of Science and Technology. While other start-up incubator under state management, for example incubators in Ho Chi Minh city, which has not up to role of being the bridge connecting start-ups with investors (only 1/10 start-ups in these incubators successfully call for investment), Vietnam Silicon Valley has proved its efficiency in organizing tailored programs for fast growing companies. As such, start-ups from all over Asia can find opportunities here. In the context of limited financial resources and investment funds in Vietnam, Vietnam Silicon Valley has been an efficient bridge to allow the cooperation between foreign investors and start-ups.
Founder of Vietnam Silicon Valley Thach Le Anh said, we have 26 out of 40 enterprises successfully mobilized capital – positive result for any incubator managed by state agency. Instead of training for start-ups, Vietnam Silicon Valley also train investors in the role of mentor for start-ups, with an aim to get start-ups closer to social resources.
The Vietnam Startup Ecosystem with 3 elements of Start-up, investment and support.
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However, the capability of accessing capital and deep understandings of legal procedures are often seen as biggest obstacles of start-ups. In which, the most comnon concern of start-ups a a sea of policies and administrative procedures. If start-ups cannot join in this legal flow to adjust their operation right at the beginning, these enterprises, even when becoming SME or micro enteprises (MSME) can be pushed into the underground economy and seen as unofficial economic entity in the eyes of administrative agencies.
In particular, discussion at conference on start-ups in APEC’s region still shows another warning. With this being said, some experts believed start-ups in APEC’s region are quite similar in case they are facing difficulties in mobilizing social resources. This is credible suppliers, experienced partners, high qualified human resources and loyal customers to accompany enterprises in the beginning.
After overcoming difficulties in the beginning, the road ahead of start-ups are not often straigthforward, but may be a matter of survival with attractive offers, which in reality is the fight against being acquired by big companies and investors.
However, there are cases when start-ups only care for profits and sell their enterprises for the biggest offer from time to time. But for other start-ups, the success of an enterprise is not only measured by profit, but also the ambition to establish a long standing brand such as other famous enterprises in the world.
A young founder of Emerald Digital marketing Thi Anh Dao, who is named as one of the top 30 young entrepreneurs under 30 years of age by Forbes Vietnam, said “if start-ups just sell the company for profit, they will never have a strong company with big brand”. 3 times facing the survival question of whether to sell or keep the company, at the end, Emerald had chosen a partner with the same vision for long term development.
After the first phase of “start”, young Vietnamese start-ups then move to the next phase of “up”, and one of the foundation for this ambition is the start-up incubator model of Vietnam Silicon Valley, which is under the management of the Ministry of Science and Technology. While other start-up incubator under state management, for example incubators in Ho Chi Minh city, which has not up to role of being the bridge connecting start-ups with investors (only 1/10 start-ups in these incubators successfully call for investment), Vietnam Silicon Valley has proved its efficiency in organizing tailored programs for fast growing companies. As such, start-ups from all over Asia can find opportunities here. In the context of limited financial resources and investment funds in Vietnam, Vietnam Silicon Valley has been an efficient bridge to allow the cooperation between foreign investors and start-ups.
Founder of Vietnam Silicon Valley Thach Le Anh said, we have 26 out of 40 enterprises successfully mobilized capital – positive result for any incubator managed by state agency. Instead of training for start-ups, Vietnam Silicon Valley also train investors in the role of mentor for start-ups, with an aim to get start-ups closer to social resources.
