Impact Chapter: Vietnam – Accelerating social impact business program in Vietnam
Working toward the goal of promoting the Social Impact Entrepreneurship Ecosystem in Vietnam, Merry Year Social Company (MYSC) and Centre for Social Initiatives Promotion (CSIP), under the sponsorship of the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), have co-implemented the “Impact Chapter: Vietnam” - Accelerating Social Impact Business Program in Vietnam.
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| Top 7 Social Impact Businesses and Startups have been selected to present at the Pitching Day taking place in the afternoon on 15th November 2022 in Ho Chi Minh City. (Photo: CSIP) |
As an Impact Investing program based on blended finance, Impact Chapter: Vietnam aspires to searching for, supporting and investing in impact start-ups which have the greatest potential for delivering pragmatic solutions to social and environmental problems.
The total amount of grant received by participating Social Impact Businesses is up to 100,000 USD, in which, Top 1 will be awarded a grant of 50,000 USD and additional grant. Moreover, Enterprises who have the most considerable business potential will secure the chance of being invested by MYSC and other impact investors.
Within the call for application of the program, which took place in April 2022, a total of 73 applications from all over the nation were collected. Next, 12 Pitch Decks which were assessed as the most suitable were invited to participate in a 3-month Acceleration Program consisting of following components: Provision of 4- floor innovation blended finance with Sales channel Expansion - Equity – Loan – Grant; Training and mentoring sessions to strengthen Business development, ESG based management practices, thereby helping Startups to leverage their competitive capacity; Connecting impact investors and supporting intermediary organizations to forge a Vietnam Impact Investment Network (VIIN) that promotes the practice of impact investment.
Based on the evaluation during the Acceleration Program, Top 7 Social Impact Businesses and Startups have been selected to present at the Pitching Day taking place in the afternoon on 15th November 2022 in Ho Chi Minh City, which is a crucial activity under the framework of Impact Chapter Vietnam.
7 Pitch Decks, which highlight the Business Model and Business Development Plan, are to be respectively presented by: Carota Service Jsc; Larva Yum Project from Green Connect Company; PLASTICPeople Co., Ltd., Viet Trang Export Co., Ltd.; Weshare. Asia Co., Ltd; Zapi Technology Jsc; and Green Joy Co., Ltd..
In the event of the Pitching Day, Top 2 Impact Start-ups whose Pitch Decks are with greatest potential, are awarded a Grant of 10,000 USD for each and decided to join the next round of Impact Chapter: Vietnam. They are: Weshare. Asia Co., Ltd and Larva Yum project of Green Connect Company.
Expected to take place in March 2023, Impact Chapter: Vietnam: Demo Day will be the opportunity for Proposals participating in the Program to be introduced to the Board of Evaluation, correspondingly, the most excellent one will be disclosed to get a grant of 50,000 USD.
Mr. Jung-ho Park, representative from MYSC comments on the outcome of the Pitching Day as: “7 Impact Enterprises have brought to this Pitching Day 7 different inspiring stories of their own. No matter what the final outcome is, all Teams here are already “Impact Chapter”, who share the same mission and work together toward a Chapter of Social Entrepreneurship. In the future, we hope to see you all in the field of impact business in Vietnam again".
Reviewed by Ms. Pham Kieu Oanh – Founder, Director of Centre for Social Initiatives Promotion (CSIP), which is the co-organizer of Impact Chapter: Vietnam: “CSIP is honored to partner with MYSC to find, select Impact Start-ups, as well as to design and execute a special Acceleration program for the Start-ups, which is made up of a series of business training, mentorship and networking between Impact Start-ups and Impact Investors. In the event of the Pitching Day, we appreciate that there has been substantial improvement shown by Impact Start-ups regarding their impressive Pitch Decks. Their unclouded capacity development is thanked to the 3-month Training sessions and Mentorship provided by MYSC and CSIP. With all the support, we believe that impact businesses will have more opportunities to achieve business triumph and advantageous access to investment capital from impact investors".
Mr. Huynh Hanh Phuc - Representative of Larva Yum Project of Green Connect, which is one of the two best enterprises awarded the 10,000 USD sponsorship package, happily shares that: "Our project has been offered a lot of support from business experts, mentors, MYSC and CSIP through the capacity building training in Sustainability, Corporate Governance and Go-to-market. In the coming time, we expect to scale up our project to a series of provinces in Vietnam. Specifically, provinces that have a great population of women, ethnic minorities, the elderly, etc. that own household chicken production will be in our focus area, so that we could expand our impact to such population by handling organic waste and bringing products to market"
In light of the recovery of Vietnam's economy from the COVID-19 Pandemic, a large number of Social Impact Businesses have been challenged by difficulties in recovering and leveraging their business and manufacturing operations.
Meanwhile, these businesses have struck for innovative and adaptive business models which align with sustainable environment and sustainable economy. It is strongly suggested that financial, capital, technical and capacity building assistance from Public Sector, Community and Stakeholders should be offered, so as to unlock the full potential of such businesses.
