On October 13, 2020, the Women’s Startup Competition 2020 held by the Vietnam Women’s Union honored 68 excellent startup projects. In which, 2 projects of TYM members (Tinh Thuong Microfinance Institution – Vietnam Women’s Union) were awarded.
The attendees include Mr. Vu Duc Dam, member of the Central Party Committee, Deputy Prime Minister; Mrs. Ha Thi Nga, Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, President of Vietnam Women’s Union; Mrs. Ann Mawe, Ambassador of Sweden to Vietnam; Mrs. Elisa Fernandez, Chief Representative of the United Nations Agency on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment.
Passing many rounds of competition, Mrs. Pham Thi Hong Nga and Mrs. Nguyen Thi Thanh Phuong, TYM members in Thai Nguyen, excellently won the award of the Women’s Startup Competition 2020.
Pham Thi Hong Nga, with the model of Organic Flowering and Rose water production, was honored with the award of “Initiative association, adding value to the community”. Currently, Nga is the Director of Hoa Hong Cooperative.
Nguyen Thi Thanh Phuong, with the model of producing sawdust and straw pellets (green fuel for the environment), was awarded “Application of technology to adapt to and protect the environment”. With this model, Thanh Phuong has received many domestic innovation awards. Particularly, in 2017, Thanh Phuong received the Typical Microfinance Client award within the framework of the Citi – Vietnam Microentrepreneurship Awards 2017 (CMA 2017).
Ms. Pham Thi Hong Nga and Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh Phuong have both been borrowers at TYM for many years. TYM’s loans, with long-term stability, safety, reasonable costs, and suitability for people’s needs, has helped such family businesses and micro entrepreneurs as Nga and Phuong have the opportunity to access financial services effectively. As a result, they were empowered and given the opportunity of economic development.
In 2020, VWU held the 3rd Women’s Startup Competition with the theme of “Innovative Startup – Successful Connection”, officially launched from January 2020 to the end of March 1, 2020 with 922 project proposals sent to the competition. All projects showed their passion, desire, and spirit of innovation in business development. Particularly, ethnic minority women and disabled people have shown their internal strengths and roles in economic development with start-up projects and business startups.
The event was attended by leaders of the Party and State, representatives from embassies of several countries, leaders of VWU, ministries and international organizations. The total value of 68 awards this year is nearly 8 billion VND, along with many other valuable prizes to promote and encourage entrepreneurship among women.