Ho Chi Minh City develops startup ecosystem with $1.3 mln fund

Ho Chi Minh City has earmarked VND30 billion ($1.3 million) for a startup investment fund which is expected to provide local entrepreneurs with the funds they need to develop their products, services and technologies.

US Investors Invest in Ho Chi Minh City

The fund, which has been raised from individual and institutional investors, is projected to grow to VND100 billion by 2020.

Vietnam is aware that in order to maintain economic momentum, it cannot afford to fall behind in the technology race.

Under increasing pressure to modernize the economy, the Vietnamese government has adopted a series of reforms. In recent years it has encouraged the private sector, in collaboration with state-sponsored sources, to set up venture capital funds so that domestic businesses have more funding options to turn to when they need capital.

IT companies, for example, those developing mobile and web-based applications or those applying advanced technology in agriculture, are welcome to apply for loans from the city’s investment fund, said Truong Ly Hoang Phi, head of the city's startup support center.

Phi added that the fund will be prioritized for those working in the city’s key industries.

This is the city’s first startup investment fund aimed at promoting technological innovation among the city’s business community, said Pham Hong Son, president of Ho Chi Minh City’s Youth Union.

The fund was co-founded by the state-owned Ho Chi Minh City Finance and Investment Company and the Saigon – Hanoi Commercial Bank with the aim of offering incentives to help entrepreneurs develop their ideas.

Source: E.vnexpress

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Vietnam sees record new business in 2016

A man welds a steel bed at a furniture factory outside Hanoi. Photo by Reuters/Kham

The new 110,000 businesses could create nearly 1.3 million jobs.

Vietnam saw a record number of business openings in 2016, shedding hopes for robust growth and strong investment in the near future.

A new report from the Ministry of Investment and Planning said the past year saw 110,000 new businesses open, up 16.2 percent from 2015. Registered capital increased 48 percent to more than VND891 trillion ($39 billion).

These new companies are expected to create nearly 1.3 million jobs, independent of the nearly 26,700 firms who suspended operations during tough times only to resume operations in the past 12 months.

Vice Minister Dang Duy Dong described the numbers as “lively.”

“With such energy and investmentopportunities, the market will surely be more competitive and the economy will leap strongly,” the government report quoted Dong as saying.

More than 36,000 new businessescame online in Ho Chi Minh City and nearly 23,000 in Hanoi.

New openings in the real estate sector increased almost 84 percent from last year, while education and healthcare openings increased 43 and 52 percent, respectively.

Arts, entertainment and agriculture businesses all dropped from last year.

But the ministry’s report also revealed a dark side of the boom.

Bankruptcies surged 32 percent to nearly 12,578, including in both agriculture and real estate.

Vietnam hopes to see over one million businesses in operation by 2020, which means an average of 100,000 openings every year.

Source: Bao Vnexpress

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Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City listed as foreign investment magnets

Vietnam received an estimated $18.1 billion in new FDI pledges from January to November this year.

Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi have been ranked 10th and 17th respectively out of the top 25 emerging market cities on the fDi 2016/17 Global Cities of the Future listing, a global investment service provided by the Financial Times.

Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi listed as foreign investment magnets

Chinese cities dominated the ranking with Shanghai and Beijing claiming the top two places.

Thailand’s Bangkok was the other Southeast Asian city named on the list, placed above Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi in 9th.

In the top 25 overall ranking, which included emerging and developed countries, Singapore kept its position at the top of the table as the Global City of the Future 2016/17, with London holding strong in second place and Dublin displacing Hong Kong to rank third.

 The ASEAN Investment Report 2016 showed that Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam (CLMV) recorded a combined 38 percent jump in FDI inflows to $17.4 billion last year from the year before. Their share as recipients of the investment flowing into the region rose from 10 percent in 2014 to 14 percent in 2015.

Leading the CLMV group, Vietnamattracted FDI inflows of $11.8 billion in 2015, a 28 percent increase year-on-year, said the report.

Vietnam received an estimated $18.1 billion in new FDI pledges from January to November this year, down 10.5 percent from a year ago, according to the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

However, the investment ministry said foreign investors had disbursed an estimated $14.3 billion in Vietnam as of the end of November, a rise of 8.3 percent from the same period last year.

Foreign direct investment inflows to Vietnam are expected to hit a record high of $15 billion this year, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said at the Vietnam Development Forum earlier this month.

Source: Bao Vnexpress

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