The Ministry of Planning and Investment's National Innovation Centre (NIC) on January 23 held an event to review its activities under the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)’s Workforce for an Innovation and Start-up Ecosystem (WISE) programme.

The Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) and the US Agency for International Development (USAID) on October 1 launched the Vietnam Workforce for an Innovation and Start-up Ecosystem (WISE) project.

Several Vietnamese businesses have been successful and stretched their reach globally, and many of them are run by very talented women.

In Asian cultures with a strong patriarchal system, women are considered the weaker sex and caregivers, meaning that they must care for older parents, feed the family and educate children. Nowadays, many women replace their husbands as breadwinners instead of doing household chores.

Empowering women by giving them control over their finances is not just smart economics but also key to ending poverty.