Surpassing Singapore, Vietnamese women are proud of this
According to the Mastercard Index of Women Entrepreneurs (MIWE), Vietnam ranks 20th in terms of the percentage of female business owners, while Singapore ranks only 24th in this ranking.
The report shows that Vietnam is in the top 20 markets where female entrepreneurs have the most favorable conditions to develop, and is one of seven markets assessed to have a high level of gender equality in start-up activities.
Meanwhile, the Middle East and Africa, followed by Asia, have the least support for women entrepreneurs. However, 6 of the top 20 countries with the highest MIWE scores are in Asia.
A third of the Asian countries in the top 20 are high-income countries, including Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong. These countries have better education, more financial assets and, in general, more favorable conditions for nurturing businesses.
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| Vietnam surpasses Singapore in female entrepreneurs. |
But income is just the tip of the iceberg. While not high-income countries, Thailand, the Philippines, and Vietnam also have high MIWE scores. Meanwhile, high-income countries like South Korea (36th) and Japan (46th) are not in the top 20.
According to Julienne Loh, Executive Vice President, Asia Pacific Business Partnership, gender inequality is a global issue. Women living in places with many favorable conditions and resources, such as advanced education or support for small and medium-sized enterprises, may still be discouraged from starting a business or taking on leadership roles due to social norms.
India is an ideal market for startups, producing a large proportion of innovative entrepreneurs, but only 7 out of 100 business owners are women.
A research report by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) published at the end of 2019 stated that female-owned businesses have business results that are not inferior to those owned by men.
The percentage of female-owned businesses that were profitable in 2019 even edged up slightly. But the percentage of female entrepreneurs who chose to increase the size of their businesses in the next two years was only 45.2% compared to 50.5% of their male counterparts. 46.6% of female entrepreneurs chose to keep their current business size compared to 41% of male-owned businesses.