Ben Tre (VNS/VNA) - In three years sinceit launched the Dong Khoi Start-ups and Enterprise Development Programme, thesouthern province of Ben Tre has adopted many policies to support start-ups,leading to a rise in the number of businesses and jobs, and economic growth,officials told a review conference held recently.

Since 2016, when the programme was instituted,1,602 businesses have been established, around 64.08 percent of the target bythe end of 2020, said Phan Van Mai, Standing Deputy Secretary of the provincialParty Committee.

Besides, 15,039 household businesses, 95 cooperativesand 605 cooperative groups have been set up, and hundreds of training classeshave been held for dozens of thousands of start-up entrepreneurs and staff.

Funding worth 1.76 trillion VND (75.8 millionUSD) has been provided to 1,554 projects and start-ups by the provincialstart-up investment fund, the Adaptation in Mekong Delta project and banks.

Around 35,800 jobs have been created and 8,408households have escaped poverty.

Ben Tre province has been rolling out more andmore enterprise- and investor-support policies and reforming administrativeprocedures to simplify procedures and streamline government services, andholding dialogues with businesses to understand their problems.

The Ben Tre Public Service Centre, which isbeing set up, will further aid processing of applications.

There are also policies to encourage investmentin industrial parks and public projects, start-up contests, start-upconsultancy, and networking opportunities.

But Mai admitted that the programme had somelimitations such as poor planning leading to limited activities, mentors nothelping new enterprises enough, poor encouragement for household businesses toformally register as businesses causing them to be daunted by the possibleprocedures, and difficulties for some start-ups in accessing the provincestart-up fund.

Ben Tre should continue to strive to become astart-up province with more innovative enterprises, better links betweenstart-ups and mentors and funding entities and better training, businessdevelopment and incubation programmes, he said.

Vo Thanh Hao, Secretary of the provincial PartyCommittee, said the province needed to realise the importance of facilitatingstart-ups and fuelling the desire to start a business.

Several memorandum of understandings were signed atthe conference by the Department of Planning and Investment, the InformationTechnology Park, the Department of Science and Technology, and SaigonInnovation Hub to support start-ups in future.

A fair for Ben Tre enterprises to promote theirproducts was held the same day.

Ben Tre's ranking in the ProvincialCompetitiveness Index improved to 4th last year from 12th in 2016, Nguyen MinhCanh, Director of the Department of Investment and Planning, told theconference.

Improvements had been made in several areas suchas competition and access to land, but some problems still persisted, includinglengthy waiting periods for businesses to complete procedures and unofficialcosts to speed up things and win contracts, he said.                                  

"Improvements to the investment climate arenot yet consistent, …. Ben Tre still needs to work on several areas or risklagging behind," Canh said.

Speaking at a conference on successful start-upsheld in conjunction, Cu Van Thanh, chairman and general director of Luong QuoiCoconut Processing Co., Ltd, said passion and a deep understanding of theindustry is crucial for a start-up.

The ability to adapt to the current market andmaking constant technological improvements are also important as are a skilledworkforce, good treatment of employees and a conducive working environment, headded.

Nguyen Thanh My, chairman of Rynan Holdings JSC,specialises in agriculture technologies, said that start-up ideas come fromawareness of societal problems or market demands.

He said businesses should focus on unique ideasthat would bring high value, register for copyrights, as well as improve theirEnglish and looking for overseas investment fund.

Truong Minh Huy Vu, deputy director of the VietnamNational University's Information Technology Park, said Vietnam'sstart-up eco-system would need improvements in terms of success stories andthus inspiration, mentors, funds for businesses to expand, and knowledge aboutstart-ups in general.

Mai said: "The number of innovativestart-up projects and start-ups that grow up to national or internationallevels is still small. The pro-activeness and professionalism of start-ups andtheir supporters need to improve."

Start-ups would need to pay more attention to packaging,application of modern technologies and general business skills as opposed tofocusing solely on funding, he added.-VNS/VNA