HCM City (VNS/VNA) – HoChi Minh City is implementing programmes meant to create a launch pad forstart-ups and offer favourable conditions for new companies to develop.

According to the municipalPeople's Committee, more than 44,000 new businesses were established last yearand their registered capital was 15 percent higher than in 2018.

This year, the city targets anumber of more than 45,000, especially businesses set up by young peopleaspiring to contribute to the city’s development.

The municipal administration hascarried out programmes in recent years to create favourable conditions for start-upsto develop.

It has made efforts to improvethe business environment, build an innovative start-up eco-system to create thebest conditions for start-ups and ensure equal access for all businesses toresources and opportunities.

In terms of capital access, thecity has allocated 1 trillion VND (43.06 million USD) from its budget tosupport start-ups, including support for business households to turn intocompanies.

It also has an investmentstimulus package worth 2 trillion VND to encourage businesses to upgrade theirproduction technologies.

The HCM City Start-upInvestment Fund founded by the Vietnam Youth Federation – HCM City, the HCMCity Finance and Investment Company and others also offers excellent support tostart-ups.

A 2016-2020 programme seeks tohelp small- and medium-sized enterprises improve their competitiveness tobetter integrate into the global economy as part of the city’s target to becomea fertile ground for creative start-ups.

Funding is usually the biggesthurdle for start-ups, and so the city would seek to connect them with banks,credit institutions and domestic and foreign investment funds, the Departmentof Planning and Investment said.

Nguyen Thanh Phong, Chairman ofthe HCM City People’s Committee, said among the city’s key tasks in 2020 areimproving the quality of growth and competitiveness of its economy andincreasing the number of new enterprises, with priority given to those usingtechnology and creating value addition.

So it would continue tostrongly improve the investment environment to make it more open andtransparent, he said.

With its open and transparentpolicies, the city expects to attract more new start-ups in various sectorsthis year to help realise its socio-economic goals, he added.

Vu Anh Tuan, director of theQuang Trung Software Business Incubator, said: “New businesses are gettingbetter in terms of both size and quality. Many creative ideas have met thedemands of the city and its people. A lot of them have been realised and usedby various sectors such as hi-tech, environment, healthcare, education,transport, trade, e-commerce and customer care.”

The start-up community hasenthusiasm, intellect and passion and is up-to-date with global technologicaladvancements, he said.

To help start-ups develop, theGovernment needs to have policies that better meet their needs, he said.

The start-up community shouldstudy policies and regulations set by the city andGovernment and they should take support from entities like incubators,start-up acceleration centres and mentor establishments, he added./.