Vietnam Impact Investment Landscape Report
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Vietnam Impact Investment Landscape Report
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Acknowledgement
Centre for Social Initiatives Promotion would like to express our gratitude for generous supports from
the Canadian Embassy in Vietnam during the production of Vietnam Impact Investment Landscape
Report. We also treasure the cooperation of policy makers, impact enterprises, impact investors,
development agencies who have contributed your invaluable information about the impact investing
ecosystem in Vietnam.
This report used data and information from papers issued by the Organization for Economic Co-
operation and Development, the Global Impact Investing Network, Asia Venture Philanthropy
Network, United Nations Development Programme in Vietnam, National Economics University. CSIP’s
research team could not complete this report without your continuous efforts in supporting the
development of social ventures ecosystem in Vietnam and in the World.
The analysis and the view addressed in this report are the work of CSIP and do not necessarily reflect
the views of the Government of Canada.
Research team: Pham Kieu Oanh, Hoang Le Trang, Phan Duy Quang
August 2019
Hanoi
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Contents
I. Background of the report 4
1.1. Objectives 4
1.2. Methodology 4
1.3. Terminology 5
II. Global impact investing snapshot 9
2.1. Overview of impact investing in the World 9
2.2. Global impact investing ecosystem 11
III. Vietnam’s impact investing snapshot 15
3.1. Overview of impact investing in Vietnam 15
3.2. Impact investing ecosystem in Vietnam 17
3.3. Key challenges of impact investing ecosystem in Vietnam 18
IV. Findings 19
4.1. Finding 1: There is a mismatch between current practices of impact investing
activities and the actual capital demands and capability of impact making
business in Vietnam 19
4.2. Finding 2: Lack of pipeline for impact investment 21
4.3. Finding 3: Lack of investments in early stage impact businesses 23
4.4. Finding 4: Gender lens Impact Investment 27
4.5. Finding 5: Lack of key players among ecosystem enablers to form a well-
functioning impact investing ecosystem 29
V. Recommendations for Development Agencies 32
5.1. Roles of Development Agencies in the impact investment ecosystem: 32
5.2. Recommendations 33
5.3. Further actions: 34
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I. Background of the report
1.1. Objectives
As a low-medium income country, Vietnam faces economic, social and environmental
challenges that cannot be addressed solely by Official Development Assistance flows. In order
to mobilize all resources for socio-economic development, the country is exploring how to use
public resources to facilitate private sector investment towards development impact. This
report seeks to deepen understanding of the impact investment ecosystem in Vietnam and
and potential areas for intervention by multiple actors.
The Vietnam Impact Investment Landscape Report is prepared by the Centre for Social
Initiatives Promotion for the Canadian Embassy in Vietnam. The objective of this report is to
provide a deeper understanding of the impact investment ecosystem in Vietnam and exploring
Canada’s potential engagement in this area would contribute to Canada’s strategic planning
efforts in the country.
In this report, the following key questions regarding Vietnam’s impact investing landscape are
analyzed:
● What weaknesses exist in the impact investment ecosystem that result in a dearth of
investable impact enterprises and what interventions/measures can help?
● Why is there a considerable financing gap for early stage capital, and what
measures/interventions (e.g. venture debt, support to impact angel investor network)
could help?
● What opportunities/challenges exist for gender lens impact investing in Vietnam?
1.2. Methodology
The research team has taken an impact imperative approach while studying about the impact
investing landscape in Vietnam and in the World. Following this approach, the research team
would not only carry out a study about impact investment but put it in a large spectrum of
financing tools for impact making businesses. The purpose is to examine the role of impact
investment in the whole spectrum and figure out whether this financing tool has effectively
addressed social challenges as well as be able served the demand of capital from a wide range
of Vietnamese impact enterprises.
Moreover, a wide range of stakeholders in the development and business sectors have been
involved during the making of this report. The participation of these stakeholders reflect a
belief of the research team that the impact investing ecosystem should not be separated from
the movement of conventional private investment with financing tools such as private equity,
private dents, real assets going alongside with business development supports… Recently, the
development of financing schemes for start-up would also provide good options for social
purpose business while considering about funding for their operation. In fact, those tools
could be good sources of funding and support for enterprises while a mature impact investing
ecosystem is being built.
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In order to meet the objective of the report as stated above, the methodology applied by the
research team is a combination of desk study and gathering market insights from a facilitated
consultative workshop with the participation of key stakeholders in Vietnam’s impact
investing ecosystem.
● The desk study covers reports about impact investing landscape and summarizes
relevant theories and statistics to have a brief overview of impact investment situation
in the world in general and particularly in Vietnam.
● A mapping of current key stakeholders in impact investing ecosystem in Vietnam was
used to better understand and reflect the current impact investment landscape in
Vietnam in the global market, as well as to identify target audience for the impact
investment consultative workshop.
● The consultative workshop was organized in June 2019 in Hanoi. The objective of the
workshop is to collect insights from key stakeholders in Vietnam’s impact investing
ecosystem regarding challenges as mentioned in the three key questions of the report
(see section 1.1. Objective).
1.3. Terminology
Since impact making businesses and impact investing are still a new topic for studying, there
are only a few mutual definitions and terminology agreed upon among researchers.
Consequently, different terms with interchanged meanings are commonly used across papers
of the topic. In this section, we will introduce terms which are frequently used in the
referenced literature of this report and the definitions chosen by the research team as a basis
of understanding for this report.
Impact Investment, Social Investment and Social Impact Investing
According to the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN), impact investments are investments
made with the intention to generate positive, measurable social and environmental impact
alongside a financial return. This definition is widely recognized in reports and papers about
impact investing across the World. GIIN also defines impact investing practices following 4
core characteristics:
● Intentionality: An investor’s intention to have a positive social or environmental
impact through investments is essential to impact investing.
● Investment with return expectations: Impact investments are expected to generate a
financial return on capital or, at minimum, a return of capital.
● Range of return expectations and asset classes: Impact investments target financial
returns that range from below market (sometimes called cessionary) to risk-adjusted
market rate, and can be made across asset classes, including but not limited to cash
equivalents, fixed income, venture capital, and private equity.
● Impact measurement and management: A hallmark of impact investing is the
commitment of the investor to measure and report the social and environmental
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performance and progress of underlying investments, ensuring transparency and
accountability while informing the practice of impact investing and building the field.
However, in actual practices, impact investments’ portfolios are highly shaped by the interests
of investors, who are giving priority to financial returns rather than social impacts. This
phenomenon poses a big question on whether impact investing deals actually deliver positive
social, environmental and economic results (this issues would be further discussed in finding 1
of this report). Consequently, there has been a need for diversifying investments instruments
for making social impacts.
The Asian Venture Philanthropy Network (AVPN) has introduced the term social investment
which is defined as “a broad area wherein various forms of capital are structured in ways that
consider and value both financial performance and social value creation”1. Accordingly, impact
investment is considered a part of a larger umbrella of social investments2.
In 20153 , The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Developments provided a working
definition of social impact investment (SII).
Box 1. OECD Working Definition of Social Impact Investment
Social Impact Investment (SII) provides finance to organizations addressing social and/or environmental needs with the explicit expectation of measurable social and financial returns.
It is a way of channeling new resources towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
OECD also presented the concept of the spectrum of capital that showed all types of
investments available for social and business sectors. They highlighted the tendency of
philanthropies and foundations who have traditionally focused on using grants and are now
including investment models which focus on financial sustainability alongside with social
returns. On the other end, mainstream investors have been increasingly moving from solely
seeking financial returns to achieving social impact alongside financial returns. This is a critical
trend that will influence impact investment in Vietnam in the next 10 years.
1 “Social Investment Landscape in Asia”, AVPN (2019)
2 “Making Sense of Impact investing in Asia”, https://avpn.asia/blog/making-sense-impact-investing-asia/
3 “Social Impact Investment: The impact imperative for sustainable development ”, OECD (2019)
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Figure 1. The OECD Spectrum of Capital (2019)
At the middle of the spectrum, social impact investing covers both impact investment and
social investing (Note: social investing according to OECD is not aligned with the term social
investment of AVPN). Though two categories belonging to social impact investing both focus
on generating social impacts, there is still a distinction in which impact investments put a lager
aim at acquiring financial return at the market rate, while social investing requires return at
sub-market rate.
From research team’s point of view, the OECD working definition of social impact investment
and the Spectrum of Capital model are the most comprehensive and inclusive for analyzing
the current landscape of investing for social impacts. Therefore, this report would take the
social impact investment model as a basis for research.
Social Enterprises, Social Impact Businesses and Social Purpose Organizations
Since the intention of impact investments is to generate positive, measurable social and
environmental impact alongside a financial return, the targeted investees could be any entity
that creates both social impacts and financial returns in their businesses. Across literature on
impact investing, there are many terms used to describe these investees, however the scope
that those terms cover would be different.
The term enterprises or social enterprises are commonly used in the GIIN’s report: The
Landscape for Impact Investing in South East Asia when it mentioned about targeted groups of
impact investing deals.
The report Fostering the Growth of the Social Impact Business Sector in Vietnam released by
UNDP Vietnam and National Economics University (2018) used the term Social Impact
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Businesses (SIBs) understood as “organizations that have both trading activities and a
commitment to positively impacting society/environment as the two central tenets of their
strategic operations”. In the same report, SIBs are further defined to cover following types of
entities: social enterprise, social business, inclusive business, social impact start-up4.
AVPN (2017)5 used the term social purpose organizations which cover both non-profits and
social enterprises as investees of social investing activities.
In the context of Vietnam, businesses creating social impacts are very diverse in terms of legal
entity, organizational structure and business model (e.g. social enterprises, inclusive
businesses, cooperatives, non-profit organizations with business activities, for-profit
enterprises with social purposes, etc.). All of those entities should be considered the targeted
groups for impact investments. Therefore, in this report the term impact making businesses
or enterprises would be used and meant to cover all mentioned entities.
Gender Lens Investment
In the sector of impact investment, gender lens investment is growing to be a strong
influencing factor in deals making. The Government of Canada, on its website6, has provided
an understanding on gender lens investment as to “incorporate a gender analysis into financial
analysis to achieve better outcomes. Through the creation of financial products and vehicles
that reflect an understanding of the gendered nature of our world, innovators within the field
of gender lens investing have created a new set of investment opportunities”.
Sharing the same vision, GIIN (2018) provided a definition and framework to identify gender-
lens investable enterprises7.
Box 2: Gender lens investment (GIIN 2018)
Gender lens investment is investments made into companies, organizations, and funds with the explicit intent to create a positive impact on gender.
Gender lens investing comprises two broad categories:
1. Investing with the intent to address gender issues or promote gender equity, including
by:
● Investing in women-owned or -led enterprises;
● Investing in enterprises that promote workplace equity (in staffing, management,
boardroom representation, and along their supply chains);
4 “Fostering the Growth of the Social Impact Business Sector in Vietnam”, UNDP and NEU (2018)
5 “Social Investment Landscape in Asia: Vietnam”, AVPN (2017)
6 “A Canadian Approach to Innovative Financing for Sustainable Development”
https://www.international.gc.ca/world-monde/issues_development-enjeux_developpement/priorities-priorites/fiap_fsd-paif_fdd.aspx?lang=eng 7 “The Landscape For Impact Investing In Southeast Asia,” Global Impact Investing Network (2018)
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● Investing in enterprises that offer products or services that substantially improve the
lives of women and girls.
2. And/or investing using:
● A process that focuses on gender, from pre-investment activities (e.g., sourcing and
due diligence) to post-deal monitoring (e.g., strategic advisory and exiting);
● A strategy that examines and manages an investee in line with the investor’s mandate
and intentions with respect to:
- Their vision or mission to address gender issues;
- Their organizational structure, culture, internal policies, and workplace environment;
- Their use of data and metrics for the gender-equitable management of performance
and to incentivize behavioral change and accountability;
- How their financial and human resources signify overall commitment to gender
equality.
II. Global impact investing snapshot
2.1. Overview of impact investing in the World
GIIN in 2019 conducted its annual survey on 266 impact investors between January and
February 20198. The result shows that the surveyed investors are managing USD 239 billion in
impact investing assets9. The respondents are also expecting a strong future growth. During
2018, they invested over USD 33 billion into more than 13,000 impact investments while the
number would be up to USD 37 billion of more than 15,000 investments in 2019. The results
reflect 13% projected growth in the volume of capital invested and 14% growth in their
number of investments.
The impact investing market also attracts a diversified types investors including fund managers
(both for and not-for-profit), foundations, banks, development finance institutions (DFIs),
family offices, permanent investment companies, pension funds and other types of
organizations such as university endowments, non-governmental organizations, corporations,
community development finance institutions, cooperatives and social impact investment
wholesalers.
About the sector of investment, GIIN survey indicated that the assets under management of
respondents significant allocated to financial services (13% to microfinance and 11% to other
financial services; Figure 19), energy (15%), and food & agriculture (10%). While receiving only
10% of total value of investment, food and agriculture is the most common sector for
8 “Annual Impact Investor Survey 2019”, GIIN (2019). Note: this survey only represents a sample size of impact
investors, majority of whom is from US-Canada and European countries. There is still a lack of global data on impact investing. 9 According to GIIN, the total size of impact investing market could be up to USD 502 billion. See “Sizing the
Impact Investing Market”, GIIN (2019)
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investing, with 58% of respondents reporting some allocation to the sector. Similarly,
education accounted for just 4% of total assets under management but with 40% of
respondents having some exposure to it. Energy is also a common sector for investment, with
almost half of respondents indicating some allocation.
Figure 3. Allocation of impact investment capital to according to GIIN
Regarding the investing instruments and deal size, over one-third of total capital invested and
nearly 70% of transactions were invested by GIIN’s survey respondents are through private
debt. Public debt accounted for 16% of capital invested and 10% of investments, while private
equity accounted for 14% of capital invested and 6% of investments. The average deal size in
2018 was USD 2.6 million as provided by the respondents of GIIN’s survey.
Among the key findings according to the survey result, the most significant challenge facing
impact investors around the world is the lack of appropriate capital across the risk/return
spectrum. This also means that investors find it difficult to identify investment targets with the
risk/return profiles suitable within their existing portfolio. Moreover, the survey also showed
that within the impact investment portfolios, the most significant factor contributing to social
enterprises’ high level of risk is their own capabilities to execute and manage a good business
model. To address these challenges, survey respondents emphasized the importance of
government support in terms of tax or other incentives provision, which can help readjust the
overall risk/return balance of impact investment towards more favorable terms. In terms of
investees’ lack of business acumen, impact investors also highlighted the need for the
government to help build investees’ capabilities.
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About the future trend of impact investing, OECD (2019)10 suggested that technology and
gender lens investing are among the top key trends that would shape impact investing market
in the near future. As the report mentioned, the new technology movements such as fintech
products (e.g. mobile payment) and blockchain would make huge impact on the way investors
and investees connect with each other, thus have significant implications on impact investing
landscape. Meanwhile, gender lens investing is becoming more and more popular among the
financers for impact businesses. Approximately 70% of the respondents to GIIN’s Annual
Impact Investors Survey in 2018 indicated that they apply a gender lens to their investment
process.
2.2. Global impact investing ecosystem
In its 2015 report, OECD introduced the Impact Investment Market Framework. This
framework outlined the ecosystem of investors (supply side), investees (demand side) and
Enablers/Intermediaries.
Figure 2. The OECD Impact Investing Market Framework, 2015
Based on the OECD Impact Investing Market Framework, a mature and efficient impact
investing ecosystem is the one with all sectors are well developed. It must ensure that key
players of the ecosystem address the right social, environmental and economic needs of the
country. It also requires the ecosystem to consist of adequate stakeholders which can cover all
necessary functions of the ecosystem. Refers to the IIEF and other reports of GIIN and AVPN,
the research team grouped the entities in the impact investing ecosystem into three key
groups which are the demand side, the supply side, and the ecosystem enablers.
The following figure demonstrates the three key groups of stakeholders in the impact
investing ecosystem and their characteristics.
10
“Social Impact Investment 2019: The Impact Imperative for Sustainable Development”, OECD (2019), p.91
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Figure 4. Three key groups of stakeholders in the impact investing ecosystem
The demand side consists of entities, which are mentioned by OECD (2019)11 as social purpose
ventures or service delivery organization, and are in need of capital for financing their social
impact business. The demand side is a component of the market domain in the IIEF and may
consist of organizations of different categories: social enterprises, non-profit organizations,
social purpose organizations, for-profit businesses having social purposes (inclusive businesses
and CSR venture projects of big corporation may be counted) and cooperatives.
The entities in the demand side are key drivers in addressing social needs and thus are the
critical elements in the impact investing ecosystem. Also according to OECD in the same
report, the entities of the demand side may have varying financial needs due to their diversity
of geographical context, sectors and industries. Therefore, there is a need for a “resource mix”
to match the need of those ventures. OECD (2015)12 also emphasized the importance of
funding for the demand side in order to grow them into investment ready ventures.
The supply side is also an actor in the market domain of the IIEF and consists of institutions or
individuals who supply the financial capital to the entities of the demand side. They could be
both public investors – governments, multilateral development banks, development finance
institutions (DFIs), etc. – and private investors such as foundations, high net-worth individuals
and philanthropists, banks, pension funds, sovereign wealth funds and other financial service
firms and intermediaries. The table 1 below is an excerpt from the report “Social Impact
Investment: Building the Evidence Base” of OECD and lists out potential impact investors and
investment instruments in the ecosystem.
11
“Social Impact Investment 2019: The Impact Imperative for Sustainable Development”, OECD (2019), p.67 12
“Social Impact Investment: Building the Evidence Base”, OECD (2015), p.35
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Table 1. Types of potential social impact investors
Types Summary and preferences Role
Public
National governments Governments focusing on outcome commissioning and public procurement from social enterprises
Grants, Social impact bonds
Development finance institutions (DFIs)
Including multilateral development banks (WB, IFC, ADB, etc.) and financial institutions owned by governments that source their capital from national or international development funds or benefit from government guarantees
Equity, debt, quasi-equity
Private
Philanthropic foundations
Invest endowments in projects, social enterprises and in developing countries
Equity, debt, grants, quasi-equity from seed stage and market building. Typical deal size (direct investment): USD 50,000 – 1 million
High net-worth individuals (angel investors included) and family offices
Invest own capital or capital of high net-worth individuals across a range of asset classes
Debt, equity
Dedicated impact investing funds
Funds with dedication of investing in impact enterprises. Usually, pool own capital with capital of high net-worth individuals, foundations and/or institutional investors into funds.
Equity, debt, quasi-equity, inventory finance and grants (usually very limited)
Venture capital funds Funds that target tech start-up group. Impactful start-up might also be benefited from these investors.
Equity investment
Private equity funds/ asset managers
Invest institutional and retail capital into private companies and funds. Often suitable for mature enterprises during their growth stage.
Debt, equity
Commercial banks Lend to small and large businesses Debt
Investment banks Invest in and/or arrange large transactions for institutional clients.
Debt, equity
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Tenor restrictions driven by capital charges are a constraint for on-balance sheet investments
Insurance companies Invest premium payments from policy holders to provide funding for future claims
Debt, equity
Pension funds Pension funds are established for purposes of providing benefits on retirement for specific groups of employees. Invest pension payments from policy holders to pay for future retirement benefits.
Equity, debt (often restrictions in some asset classes)
Sovereign wealth funds Pools of assets owned and managed directly or indirectly by governments and increasingly directed towards impact investments
Equity, debt
Source: Author, with reference to “Social Impact Investment: Building the Evidence Base”,
OECD (2015)
Although may not directly participate in impact investing transactions the ecosystem enablers
are critical actors in the impact investing ecosystem. They cover the activities in 5 out of six
domains in the IIEF. The role of the enablers is to create a favorable environment for impact
investing deals to be realized and success. The ecosystem enablers may consist of different
types of entities with different roles as stated in the table below.
Table 2. Types of potential ecosystem enablers
Types of entities Role
Financial intermediaries May include banks, wholesale investment banks, fund managers, stock exchanges and increasingly crowdfunding platforms. They create liquidity and facilitate payments mechanism in the market.
Capacity building organizations Including accelerators/ incubators, advisory firms, and networking and knowledge platforms
Policy makers The roles of policy makers are to create a favorable policy environment for impact investing. It may covers policies regarding financial markets, enterprises development and transaction regulations, etc.
Academic and research institutions Academic and research institutions play a pivotal role in raising awareness of the key stakeholders and the public on impact investing and social impact businesses
Source: “Social Impact Investment 2019: The Impact Imperative for Sustainable Development”,
OECD (2019)
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To give an example of a mature impact investing ecosystem, the United Kingdoms’ National
Advisory Board on Impact Investing (2017)13 has provided a vision for a well-developed
ecosystem in which the stakeholders should portrait the following characteristics:
● From the demand side: there is active social sector providing large potentially
investable pipelines
● From the supply side: there is high governmental social expenditure and a wide range
of investors and funds
● From the enablers: there are comprehensive governmental policies; the Social
Investment Research Council (SIRC)14 coordinates impact investing research efforts.
III. Vietnam’s impact investing snapshot
3.1. Overview of impact investing in Vietnam
GIIN also provided some interesting statistics regarding the state of impact investment in
Vietnam in its 2018 report “The Landscape for Impact Investing in Southeast Asia”.
Accordingly, within 10 years from 2007 to 2017, at least 10 private impact investors (PIIs),
mostly fund managers, have deployed more than USD 25 million through 23 deals since 2007.
Six Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) have cumulatively deployed more than USD 1.4
billion in impact capital through 50 deals over the same time period. Among the deals have
been made in Vietnam in the past decade, deal size varies between USD 1 million and 5 million
for PIIs and ranges among USD 10 and 50 million for DFIs. At the same time, while DFIs have
disproportionately invested more than PIIs, DFIs are less likely to provide significant amount of
investment in social enterprises, especially those at the early stages, due to their relatively
larger size of deals. Nonetheless, when comparing with other ASEAN countries in terms of
capital deployed and number of deals, Vietnam impact investment market is still
underdeveloped and not yet highly recognized in the region cross all indicators such as the
number of impact investors, the size of impact investment assets under management, number
of successful deals, etc. The figure 5 below is excerpted from the GIIN’s report and shows the
position of Vietnam’s impact investing market among Southeast Asia region.
Another significant challenges facing social investment in ASEAN in general and in Vietnam in
particular is the skewed distribution of capital across the risk/return spectrum, which mirrors
the challenge faced by impact investors at the global level. The 2015 report “Financing the
Long-tail” by ChangeFusion highlighted the fact that there is excess supply of growth/ scale-up
stage social investment funds, while seed-stage social enterprises in the long-tail suffer from a
severe deficit of capital. This means that many promising enterprises would struggle to survive
pass the early stages, which in the long run reduces the availability and attractiveness of later-
stage impact investment pipelines. Moreover, United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP, 2018)15 reported that most social impact businesses in Vietnam currently rely on some
13
“The Rise of Impact,” UK National Advisory Board on Impact Investing (2017) 14
About Social Investment Research Council (SIRC): https://www.bigsocietycapital.com/about-us/previous-
projects/research-council 15
“Fostering the Growth of the Social Impact Business Sector in Vietnam”, UNDP and NEU (2018)
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form of share-founder’s equity or personal/family savings to fund their operations and growth
due to limit access to collateralized loans and private equity.
Figure 5. Impact Investments realized by PIIs in Southeast Asia (2007 – 2017)
(Source: GIIN 2018)
Figure 6. Impact Investments realized by DFIs in Southeast Asia (2007 – 2017)
(Source: GIIN 2018)
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Apart from the challenges in both supply and demand, AVPN showed the challenges faced in
lacking of an enabling players. In AVPN’s list of enablers existing in Vietnam in its 2017 report
“Vietnam Social Investment Landscape in Asia” there is a lack of local enablers with the
exclusive focus on as well as knowledge about Vietnamese impact investment landscape.
Moreover, enablers in Vietnam are lacking a leading organization that can unite all key
stakeholders in the ecosystem around a common vision of impact specifically for Vietnam. This
role can potentially be filled either by the government, which is already expected by most
impact investors to provide support for both demand and supply sides, or a capable non-
governmental organization strongly focused on developing the impact investment ecosystem
in Vietnam.
3.2. Impact investing ecosystem in Vietnam
During the production of this report, the research team has conducted a quick mapping of key
stakeholders in Vietnam’s impact investing ecosystem. Although available literatures mention
a number of stakeholders, the research team expanded mapping scope to cover both entities
which are clearly labelled “impact driven” as well as those who are interested in impact
investment and could potentially name for such label. These entities are grouped into three
sectors which are the demand side, the supply side and the ecosystem enablers. The result is a
list of entities as in Annex 1, counting to about 100 entities (19 entities from demand side, 46
entities from supply side and 35 entities are ecosystem enablers). To conduct deeper data
collection, we then identified shortlist of stakeholders with researchable information and
potential for consultative roundtable discussion. The selection of the entities was conducted
to ensure a diverse background of stakeholders (See Annex 2 for the list of participants in the
roundtable discussion).
Box 3. Impact investing ecosystem in Vietnam roundtable discussion
The impact investing ecosystem in Vietnam roundtable discussion was organized in 24 June 2019 at Toong@IPH with the participation of key stakeholders in Vietnam’s impact investing ecosystem.
● The demand side includes representatives from social enterprises, tech start-up who are
making social impact, inclusive businesses and non-profit organizations who are having
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business activities within their operation (22 entities).
● For the supply side, the report considers ‘impact investors’ should not only consist of
entities positioning themselves solely in the impact making business. Therefore, the
entities in the list also include angel investors, venture capital funds, the DFIs, banks, etc.
(29 entities).
● The ecosystem enablers consists of incubators/accelerators of both social innovation
and tech start-up themes, international development agencies who are supporting the
social entrepreneurship movement in Vietnam and representatives of government
agencies and research institutions who are actively involved in the impact investing
ecosystem (18 entities).
In the roundtable discussion, participants discussed about the weaknesses in Vietnam’s impact
investing ecosystem. Following points are among the top concerns raised by the key players of
the ecosystem.
● Enterprises are too small for investments
● The enterprises have a lack of experiences working with investors and capabilities to
meet their standards (developing proposals follow due diligence process, financial
reporting and demonstrating profitability, proving social impacts, etc.) and
entrepreneurs are lacking soft-skills (language, presentation skills, negotiating skills,
etc.)
● Gender bias prevent women led SME accessing capital
● The enterprises are lacking of transparency in their operation
● Investors are lacking of understanding about local context and lack of resources for
maintaining local presence and research
● Mismatch between current investment packages and the need of ventures in Vietnam
● Some social enterprises reported that there are differences between their agenda and
the investors’ (choosing between profit or social impact)
● Incubators are insufficiently funded, under-staffed, have a low level of decision
making power and hard to maintain high quality staff.
More details and characteristics of the key stakeholders in Vietnam’s impact investing
ecosystem would be presented in the finding sections of this report.
3.3. Key challenges of impact investing ecosystem in Vietnam
Reviewing across papers on impact investing in Vietnam, as well as the input from key
stakeholders in the roundtable discussion, the research team identified three key challenges
that put an obstacle on the development of Vietnam impact investing ecosystem. These
challenges also align with the three questions raised in the objectives of this report. The
challenges are:
● Lacking of pipeline for impact investment
● Lacking of investments in early stage impact businesses
● Gender lens impact investment
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After a thorough study, the research team formed a hypothesis for the causes of Vietnam’s
impact investing ecosystem’s underdeveloped status, which are:
● Cause 1: Mismatch between current practices of impact investing activities and the
actual capital demands and capability of impact making businesses in Vietnam. This
cause would be unpacked in the finding 1 session of the report.
● Cause 2: The lack of an appropriate and supportive impact investment ecosystem
with active key stakeholders. This cause will be discussed across finding 2, 3, 4 and 5
of this report.
The following parts of the report attempt to provide initial findings to disclose the gaps in the
existing impact investment ecosystem by examining the roles and contributions of the
ecosystem’s key stakeholders.
IV. Findings
4.1. Finding 1: There is a mismatch between current practices of impact investing activities and
the actual capital demands and capability of impact making businesses in Vietnam
Problem analysis
As it has been discussed in the previous session, common definitions of impact investing (as of
GIIN for example) emphasize the importance of intention to generate positive social and
environmental impact, as well as a wide range of return expectations from sub-market rate to
market rate for impact investments. However, it has been proved that impact investments’
portfolios are highly shaped by the interests of investors, who are giving priority to financial
returns rather than social impacts. In the GIIN’s Annual Impact Investor Survey 2019, 64% of
the survey respondents, who are impact investors, answered that achieving financial returns is
very significant, while there is a surprisingly low rate of respondents (30%) considered
addressing SDGs is very significant to their portfolio16.
Moreover, according to OECD (2015)17, the Social Impact Investment Taskforce (SIITF), which
was established under the United Kingdom’s presidency of the G8, mainly focused on
addressing social issues related to developed countries such as aging, unemployment, justice,
children and families, disabilities, etc. Meanwhile, GIIN focused on attracting mainstream
investors; therefore, they tended to categorize targeted areas and investors in more
traditional investment sectors. That posed a great challenge in searching for good investible
deals outside certain conventional sectors like micro finance, housing and energy18.
In Vietnam, social problems spread in a wide range of sectors and themes, and moreover,
most of local impact making businesses still remain relatively new and small. According to
16
“Annual Impact Investor Survey 2019”, GIIN (2019), p. 45 17
“Social Impact Investment: Building the Evidence Base”, OECD (2015), p.62 18
“The Landscape For Impact Investing In Southeast Asia,” Global Impact Investing Network (2018)
Vietnam Impact Investment Landscape Report
20
UNDP and NEU (2018)19, there are approximately 22.000 social impact businesses (SIBs) in
Vietnam, which would form a potential market for impact investing. In terms of category, the
entities of demand side in Vietnam are very diverse. They might be social enterprises, inclusive
businesses, community-based enterprises (cooperatives, household businesses, etc.) or non-
profit organization having business activities. However, these businesses are mostly in micro
and small scale both in term of human resources and revenue (less than 20 paid employees
and USD 130.000 in revenue per year averagely).
Compare the current practices of impact investing in the World and the situation of impact
making business in Vietnam, we can observe a mismatch between the expectation of impact
investors and the demands as well as capacity of enterprises in Vietnam. In the Figure 7 about
spectrum of business model, the majority of Vietnamese impact enterprises are located more
on the left side of the impact investing section in the spectrum. Comparing to the OECD’s
Spectrum of Capital (see Figure 1), those enterprises would need more investments in term of
social investing with lower expectation on financial return.
Figure 7. The business model spectrum revisited
Initial recommendations
From the findings above, there is a need for more comprehensive and inclusive impact
investing practices in the context of Vietnam. From the research team’s point of view, we
suggest the following actions:
19
“Fostering the Growth of the Social Impact Business Sector in Vietnam”, UNDP and NEU (2018)
Vietnam Impact Investment Landscape Report
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● It is necessary to clearly define different categories of impact investing and its
targeted groups of enterprises. There could be investments that expect return at the
market rate and target a more mature group of enterprises. In addition, investment
packages with lower expected return should also be available for enterprises at grow
up stage. The classification of investments described in OECD’s Spectrum of Capital
could be a good reference.
● For the Vietnamese market, in order to increase the number of deals realized in
impact investment category of the OECD’s spectrum, it is necessary for the investors
operating in the country to disclose the criteria for the selection of investees (e.g.
what are the targeted groups, which financing instrument are offered and what is the
return expected, how impact and financial performance are evaluated, etc.). Based on
those information, intermediary organizations could set up connecting platforms and
conduct mapping of enterprises to meet the requirements of investors.
● In order to serve the capital demand of the majority of impact enterprises who are not
mature enough for impact investments, there should be more financing instruments
with lower expected return (it could fall into the social investing category in the
OECD’s spectrum). Furthermore instruments such as grants, low interest loans, should
also be provided for early stage impact start-up. For this matter, DFIs and
development agencies should take the leading roles since enterprises of this category
are not among the interest of private investors.
4.2. Finding 2: Lack of pipeline for impact investment
Problem analysis
As we mentioned above, there is a number of approximately 22,000 SIBs in Vietnam, not to
mention 19,000 cooperatives, 1,000 international and local NGOs, 6,900 associations, etc.
Those big number of social purpose organizations should form a big market for impact
investing activities. However, the number of impact investing deals realized in the Vietnam
market is very limited and the deal sizes are very modest. Meanwhile, in the same report,
UNDP and NEU (2018) show that shareholders’ equity (in many cases are founder’s equity)
and individual financing are the two most popular sources of funding for SIBs in Vietnam (see
figure 8 below).
Vietnam Impact Investment Landscape Report
22
Figure 8. Source of Capital and Funding
(Source: National Economics University and UNDP, Fostering the Growth of the Social impact business sector in Vietnam, 2018)
Processing inputs from stakeholders in the roundtable discussion, as well as from the current
research, we have identified the following causes for the phenomenon.
● Regarding the capability of enterprises: there has been feedback from both investors
and investees that Vietnam’s impact businesses lack experience working with
investors and are not be able to meet investors’ procedure and standards. Moreover,
entrepreneurs are weak in terms of soft skills such as language, presentation and
negotiation skills as well as in terms of corporate governance. The problems may also
come from enterprises’ business models and plan which are reportedly not investable
and scalable enough from perspectives of investors. Consequently, Vietnamese
companies are often lacking in good track records for impact investments.
● Regarding business sectors: The recent robust economic growth of Vietnam has led
to a disruption of the social fabric and environment which are causing complex social
and environmental issues that need to be addressed. According to a survey result
conducted by Indochina Research in 201920, the top three social concerns among
urban Vietnamese are food safety, air pollution and water pollution. The opinion of
the public on social issues possibly shapes the landscape of social ventures in Vietnam.
Accordingly, the ‘Agriculture, Fishery and Diary’ sector is the top industry for having
operation of SIBs in Vietnam21. However, there are still a few bottom-up social
ventures are addressing environment, pollution and climate change theme, while this
sector is always at the top concerns of the public as well as of impact investors.
● Business size: Most of Vietnamese social impact businesses are in small size and are
not ready for investing. The enterprises in Vietnam are young (40% are under 3 years
20
“Social Concerns in Vietnam”, Indochina Research (2019) 21
“Fostering the Growth of the Social Impact Business Sector in Vietnam”, UNDP and NEU (2018), p.25
Vietnam Impact Investment Landscape Report
23
of operation) and have small business scale (with revenue of USD130,000), while
impact investors would expect to invest from USD 1 to 2 million per deal at the market
rate. A possible reason for this phenomenon may come from the current agriculture
system of Vietnam (fragmented and small portion of land lots), which only allows the
development of micro and small business.
● Expectation of investors: Impact Investors are looking for fast-growth businesses
(with innovative business models, tech-based, huge market…) while most enterprises
would take more time to grow than a normal business because they operate in niche
and underserved markets.
● The absence of a transparent database: while a transparent database including
company profiles, the needs for capital, impact measurements are key inputs for more
risk-tolerant investors such as angel investors, family funds, NGOs, impact venture
funds… to consider investing, it is totally absent in Vietnam. The research team also
found significant difficulties in searching for such information during our work. This
leads to the lack of active impact-focus fund providers in Vietnam.
● Culture: There is a common practice among Vietnamese businesses that they often
rely on personal funding at early stage of business.
Initial recommendations
Based on the analysis above, the research team would recommend following actions to be
taken by all stakeholders in Vietnam’s impact investing ecosystem:
● There is an urge for diversifying funding sources to better respond to a wide-spectrum
of enterprises’ financial needs especially financing instruments for early stage impact
businesses (grants and mix between grants and loans), which the impact investing
funds often do not offer. Local-based Social Impact Investment Funds would be
needed.
● There should be more research to identify the potential sectors for impact investment
in Vietnam as well as to build a good database of enterprises in the focused sectors.
● It is necessary to develop an impact investment strategy that encourage PIIs to invest
in the focused sectors (tax, incentives, policies, etc.)
● There should be more capacity building for enterprises to have investment readiness.
The roles of incubators/ accelerators, as well as NGOs/ international organizations are
critical in providing those supports collaborating with entities in the supply side.
● Innovative solutions in addressing social environmental issues should be identified and
promoted.
● Transparent framework and data platform on impact investments are critical.
4.3. Finding 3: Lack of investments in early stage impact businesses
Problem analysis
Vietnam Impact Investment Landscape Report
24
The supply entities in the impact investing ecosystem in Vietnam include institutions of all
sectors. Among the stakeholders in the mapping list of this report, there are development
finance institutions, philanthropic foundations, funds dedicated to impact investing, private
equity funds/ asset managers, venture capital funds, angel investors and commercial banks.
The figure below demonstrates the number of stakeholders in each of the above categories.
Figure 9. Number of stakeholders of the supply side based on type of institution
As the figure demonstrates, the key actors in the supply side of impact investing ecosystem in
Vietnam are funds, which are dedicated to impact investing. However, among 17 funds in the
mapping list, there are only 7 funds that are domestic or Vietnam-based. The other 10 are
foreign impact investment funds which are having deals in Vietnam. Venture capital funds and
angel investors share the second position with 8 entities of each category. However, impact
investing is not in the priority of these investors since they mainly focus on tech start-ups.
Besidescomparing to the composition of supply entities in a mature ecosystem, the supply
entities in Vietnam market are much less diverse. It is lacking of family offices, investment
banks, insurance companies, pension funds and sovereign wealth funds as compared to the
list in table 1. Significantly, the government is absent from being in the supply side of the
impact investing market. Reasons may be due to insufficient budgets, political sensitivity
(government’s concerns about investing in businesses) and lack of awareness about impact
investment.
From the supply side, regarding the financing instruments, there is currently a lack of
institutions providing capital for early stage impact enterprises. While most of impact
investors are still looking for enterprises in growing stages that can provide good social and
financial returns, the impact businesses community mostly consists of small and early
enterprises. This phenomenon can be seen in the GIIN’s report about impact investing
landscape in South East Asia, in which the average deal size of impact investments from PIIs
Vietnam Impact Investment Landscape Report
25
are between USD 1-5 million and from DFIs are between 10-50 million. The following points
may explain for this critical challenge in Vietnam’s impact investing ecosystem.
● As mentioned in GIIN, Landscape of Impact Investing in South East Asia (2018) and
also repeatedly mentioned during our consultative roundtable, impact investment
deal making in Vietnam is costly and puts an obstacle for investors to approach the
small impact enterprises. There are two reasons for this situation:
− The lack of specific framework to process impact investments: The government
has issued several guidelines for general investment funds22 and innovative start-
up funds23, however, none specifically address impact investments. As a result,
processing an impact investment follows the same procedure with ordinary
financial investment, making it costly for investors to set-up local representatives
and process deals.
− The absence of local intermediaries: Accelerators/Incubators in impact areas do
not have experiences/skills in supporting impact investment transactions,
especially in sourcing for pipelines, carrying out due diligence, managing and
monitoring the investments. Even the ones with longer establishment (Hatch
Ventures, Vietnam Silicon Valley or CSIP) have limited track-records in supporting
impact investment deals.
● The lack of incentives and a database is a barrier for more risk-tolerant investors to
join the ecosystem:
− The lack of supporting policies (e.g.: tax incentives, special treatments for
financial instruments with impact purpose): there is no such incentive policies to
encourage impact investors to provide investments at below-market rate of
financial returns (7 responses during consultative roundtable).
− The absence of a transparent database: while a transparent database that
includes company profiles, the needs for capital, impact measurements are key
inputs for more risk-tolerant investors such as angel investors, family funds,
NGOs, impact venture funds etc. to consider investing, it is totally absent in
Vietnam. During our consultative roundtable, 6 responses felt under this issue.
The research team also found significant difficulties in searching for such
information during our work. This leads to the lack of active impact-focus fund
providers in Vietnam.
● The missing of dedicated local – based impact investment funds: the low integration
of local private investors (venture funds, start-up funds, angel investors, HNWI, etc.)
results from limited understanding of impact business and the perception that doing
social business is less profitable than for-profit business.
● Limited access to institutional impact investors: high-cost of deal-processing is also
one of the reasons preventing institutional impact investors from sourcing and
22
Securities Law, 2016 and related amendments. 23
Decree No. 38/2018/ ND-CP by the Government on regulations for investments in small and medium
enterprises and.
Vietnam Impact Investment Landscape Report
26
investing in small ticket sizes at early stages. They normally look for deal-sizes of ~ USD
1 million - 3 million to cover for risk-factors and processing costs24.
● Limited access to mainstream fund-providers (banks, equity investment funds): most
local banks have specific loan schedules for SMEs but are barely specialized for early-
stage and start-ups due to limited financial traction and lack of collateral assets.
Financial equity investment funds, at the same time, do not see such entities as
potential for investment given their expectations of market-rate returns and proven
business records.
● Limited access to SMEs & start-up funds: the SME Development Fund was established
by the Government in 2016 with an initial fund of USD 85 million and continued with
USD 4 million in 2017 (for Supporting SMEs in Innovation). However, social
environmental impact (except for waste management) has not been put on focus25.
Many other programs and funds are available given the growth of start-up ecosystems
(Program 844 - Ministry of Science and Technology, Program 1665 - Ministry of
Education and Training, multinational venture funds such as IDG, CyberAgent, local
venture funds such as Mekong Capital, GoldenGate, etc.) Such programs and funds
focus on technology and innovation - which are still weak among the social purpose
business sector and thus capital is not directed to early-stage impact enterprises and
start-ups.
Initial recommendations
Investing in impact business at early-stage and start-ups implies that the investors take more
risks both in terms of financial and impact aspects. It requires a comprehensive set of enabling
factors (policies, data, intermediaries, financial market development) to encourage investors
to join the market, thus providing “surviving” funds for the demand-side actors.
Initial intervention Done by Further actions
Government must develop strategies to attract impact investors to Vietnam
▪ Strengthen national strategy for impact investing in order to set clear priority for impact investments
▪ Develop supporting policies to encourage financial investors, star-ups funds to provide early stage investments in impact business: tax incentives, easy of regulatory investment procedures
▪ Build strong financial intermediaries (incubators,
accelerators, fund management agencies) as service providers for institutional impact
Government Government Government, Development agencies,
Partnership with international institutions and consultants to study good practices in developing policies Financial supports for intermediaries to pilot and experience
24
CSIP, British Council, Impact Investing in Vietnam, 2013. 25
NEU & UNDP, Fostering the Growth of the Social Impact Business Sector in Viet Nam, 2018, page 12.
Vietnam Impact Investment Landscape Report
27
investors
NGOs, Foundations
investment-service (providing seed-funds, small-ticket loans, equity investment together with capacity building)
Develop innovative financial instruments to meet early stage needs
▪ Develop policy framework for innovative financial instruments (definition, design of instrument, implementing procedure, etc.)
▪ Pilot funding under innovative financing
instruments, considering: blended capitals, pay-for-success instruments, etc.
Government, Development agencies, NGOs, Foundations
Studies of the needs from demand-side as fundamental for design of financing instrument
New dedicated funds for early stage investments with preferential conditions
▪ Provide patient funds in small ticket sizes with preferential conditions in rate of returns, investment term, exist options.
Government, Development agencies, NGOs, Foundations
4.4. Finding 4: Gender lens Impact Investment
Problem analysis
While the impact investment ecosystem in Vietnam is still in infancy. Gender lens Impact
Investment is seen as even newer concept. Most of the audience approached by the research
team did not have a clear understanding for Gender lens Impact Investments or spontaneously
aligned it with women-led business.
Under the definition by GIIN26, Gender lens investments are investments made into
companies, organizations, and funds with the explicit intent to create a positive impact on
gender. As such, the successful investments into enterprises which provide women with
access to critical goods and services account for 30% of total investments from Private Impact
investors.
Awareness and attention for gender issues are arising, given the many initiatives women
empowerment and gender equality, such as: Women Entrepreneurship Supporting Program
for the period 2017-2025 (Government), Investing in Woman (DFAT), National Platform
“Women Business Start-up: Innovation and Connection” (Vietnam Women’s Union and SNV),
etc.
Despite the increasing interest internationally and domestically, the scale of gender lens
investments in Vietnam is still very modest, amounting to ~ USD 3.3 million in 4 deals
26
GIIN, Global Impact Investing Network and Intellecap, 2018.
Vietnam Impact Investment Landscape Report
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according to GIIN, 2018. The following problems are seen during our research: (i) difficulties in
sourcing investable enterprises under gender lens impact investment (ii) limited sources of
funds under GLI - and the main causes are:
From Demand side:
● The lack of investable enterprises: for gender lens investees, including women-
led/owned enterprises, enterprises serving or engaging women in their value chain…
are facing the same issues of small size, early stages with small amount of capital
needed. Those are the factors that are incompatible with mainstream fund-providers,
as well as large-scale impact investors27.
● The absence of common understanding and a database on gender lens impact
investments:
− Although the integration of women into economic growth is considerably high in
Vietnam with 71% of women participate in the workforce28 and nearly 25% of
enterprises are women-led29, we recorded from the consultative roundtable that
several fund-providers (e.g. Investing in Women or VPBank with their
Empowering women enterprises) still found difficulties in sourcing for qualified
enterprises.
− On the other hand, enterprises like Jupviec - whose mission is to create jobs for
marginalized women, do not realize themselves as gender lens investees.
From Supply side:
● Limited number of fund providers: current fund providers can be named as
Government, International development financial institutions and agencies (World
Bank, IFC, etc., Canada Embassy, Australian Embassy, USAID, etc. The participation
from private investors is still limited, resulting from high-cost of deal-sourcing and low
awareness for Gender lens investment.
● Lack of diversified financing instruments: key international development
organizations are promoting gender lens investment through bank loans, micro
finance products, but yet to fit the need of women-led/own or women-engaging
business which are early-stage funds.
● Awareness barriers resulting from gender bias perception: the social-cultural
perception that women have more difficulties in achieving general education and
skills, leading to lower productivity and capabilities is also contributing to the
reluctance of investors to join the market.
27
GIIN, Global Impact Investing Network and Intellecap, 2018, page 200. 28
Ngan Anh, Việc làm cho nữ giới: Chưa hết những rào cản, 2018,
https://www.nhandan.com.vn/xahoi/item/35357402-viec-lam-cho-nu-gioi-chua-het-nhung-rao-can.html 29
Vu Dau, Gia tăng tỷ lệ nữ làm chủ doanh nghiệp góp phần thúc đẩy bình đẳng giới,
http://laodongxahoi.net/gia-tang-ty-le-nu-lam-chu-doanh-nghiep-gop-phan-thuc-day-binh-dang-gioi-1311022.html
Vietnam Impact Investment Landscape Report
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Initial recommendation
We suggested that for gender lens investment, there is indeed potential for growth and
impact at scale, however, interventions are needed to raise awareness, build willingness and
connect various stakeholders.
Initial intervention Done by Further actions
Awareness raising to remove the barriers to join the market
▪ Continue to promote policies to address gender-bias social norms (education, awareness raising campaign, knowledge hubs,…)
▪ Develop framework to define a clear agenda on
gender lens investment including target groups, gender- based issues to be addressed in the local context, investment measurements, gender responsive monitoring and evaluation
Government, Development agencies, NGOs
Developing financial instruments meeting the need of both supply and demand side
▪ Mapping capital needs from demand side to design appropriate financial instruments
▪ Developing incentives policies to encourage investments under gender lens
Government, Development agencies. Government
Research on the target groups of gender len impact investment, including mapping key stakeholders, studying funding demands, challenges and needs of women-led/owned businesses or enterprises which engaging women or serving women.
4.5. Finding 5: Lack of key players among ecosystem enablers to form a well-functioning
impact investing ecosystem
Problem analysis
Among the ecosystem enablers in the mapping list of impact investing ecosystem in Vietnam,
the majority belongs to capacity building organizations of all types (incubators/accelerators,
NGOs/international organizations, network & platforms, etc.). There are 27/36 organizations
that belong to this category. For the rest of the list, there are 4 research institutions, 3 entities
belong to policy makers group and only 2 are financial intermediaries. The figure below
demonstrates the composition of ecosystem enablers group in Vietnam impact investing
ecosystem.
Vietnam Impact Investment Landscape Report
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Figure 5. Composition of ecosystem enablers group
From the composition, we can observe the imbalance in the group of ecosystem enablers in
Vietnam: there are many capacity building organizations in the field while the financial
intermediary, which is another critical group in the ecosystem, has just a few actors involved.
Among the capacity building organizations, there is a significant role of NGOs (mostly
international NGOs) and international organizations in providing technical assistance and seed
funding for social ventures in Vietnam. The incubators and accelerators, which are mostly local
organizations, are reported to be insufficiently funded, under-staffed with high turn-over rate
(insight from the roundtable discussion). Last but not least, in the group of ‘networks and
platforms’, the platforms such as AVPN, Toniic and Twenty, which are dedicated in the social
impact investment, are international platforms and only have occasional activities in Vietnam.
The rest of ecosystem enablers are groups of policy makers and research institutions. The two
most significant agencies of policy makers in the ecosystem are Department of Enterprise
Development – Ministry of Planning and Investment and National Agency for Technology
Entrepreneurship and Commercialization Development – Ministry of Science and Technology.
However, these agencies are more familiar with tech start-up and lack of awareness about
impact investing. For academic and research institutions group, the two most influenced local
institutions in the ecosystem are Central Institute for Economics Management - Ministry of
Planning and Investment and the Center for Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CSIE) –
National Economics University. Besides there are also other organizations and platforms
provide research about impact investment in Vietnam. However, the information and
knowledge about the market are still limited.
In order to facilitate better connection between the demand and supply side and to result in
deals being realized, it is critical that the ecosystem enablers must be able to provide a
favorable environment for the impact investing activities. Among the ecosystem enablers, the
Vietnam Impact Investment Landscape Report
31
local incubators and accelerators are playing an active role in support entities of the demand
side to build capacity to be more investment ready as well as provide seed funds for early
stage businesses. However, the incubators and accelerators for impact businesses are still
facing challenges in sustaining their operation both in terms of finance and human resources.
Furthermore the fact that most of networks and platforms on impact investing are
international based would also prevent local enterprises to approach the information and
resources about impact investing, as well as put a barrier to the communication and
collaboration among 3 groups of key players in the ecosystem.
Another gap among ecosystem enablers in Vietnam is the missing of financial intermediaries
to connect investors and investees. It could take the root from immature state of Vietnam’s
financial market as well as from a lack of supporting policy from the government. In fact,
impact investing is still a new term to the policy makers in Vietnam and the awareness on this
topic is also vague in the public. Besides, while the gender lens impact investment is becoming
more and more popular in the impact investing ecosystems throughout the World, the topic
remains still unfamiliar in Vietnam.
Initial recommendation
In order to foster the development of Vietnam’s impact investing ecosystem into a more
mature state, it is necessary to support the establishment of key players among the ecosystem
enablers. In a well-developed ecosystem, the government should play a key role. However,
since awareness about impact investing in Vietnam is still vague even among policy makers,
development agencies could actively support Vietnamese government in the development of
impact investing ecosystem. Following are some initial recommendations from the research
team on this matter.
● Local incubators/ accelerators should be invested to scale up and build up capacity. It
is critical for the ecosystem to have role models of well-functioned incubators and
accelerators for social innovations.
● The government should encourage the establishment of financial intermediaries for
impact investing. It requires policy makers to review current legal documents on
financial investments and proposed favorable changes to encourage a more open and
transparent financial market, not only for impact investing activities.
● There should be more institutions (especially sector focused researches and gender
themed research) to conduct research on the theme, as well as to deliver promotion
campaign for impact investing. The purpose of these activities is to raise awareness of
the public audience as well as of potential key stakeholders about impact investment
and gender lens investing.
Vietnam Impact Investment Landscape Report
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V. Recommendations for Development Agencies
5.1. Roles of Development Agencies in the impact investment ecosystem:
Based on the experiences of more mature impact investing ecosystems in the region (e.g.
Korea, Singapore, Thailand, etc.), it is critical to have an entity to coordinate the development
of ecosystem and provide necessary interventions. As it has been discussed in the finding 5, in
common practices, the government would fulfill this role. However, in Vietnam, the
coordinating position is still missing since the government is not yet actively involved in impact
investing activities. Therefore, development agencies could actively support the Vietnamese
government in this matter.
Back the fundamental framework to address social impact investment by OECD30 and suggest
different roles of Development agencies in the investment ecosystem by their influence on or
participation in each segment of the ecosystem. The below diagram represents suggested
roles and functions of Development agencies:
Social, Environmental and Economic needs: Development agencies contribute to
address social, environmental and Economic needs to development market for impact
business.
Demand sides: Development agencies support to build capacity and prepare Demand-
side actors for impact investment readiness.
Supply sides: Development agencies join as fund-providers with higher risk-tolerance,
and also provide support to direct capital to the impact sector.
Intermediaries: Development agencies support to build capacity in order for
intermediaries to provide services and connecting Demand - Supply.
Enabling Environment: Development agencies support in developing general
framework and jointly participate in creating financial market development.
30
OECD, Social Impact Investment 2019, 2019
Demand side Intermediari
es Supply side
Social, Environmental and Economic needs
Enabling Environment
Supporting/Enabli
ng
Participating
Developme
nt Agencies
Vietnam Impact Investment Landscape Report
33
5.2. Recommendations
By incorporating the recommendations to solve for each of the 3 key challenges and the roles of
Development agencies in Vietnam’s impact investment ecosystems, we suggest the following
areas for interventions:
POLICY: support in establishing policies to address Social, Environmental and Economic needs
and construct enabling environment:
● Providing consultative opinions for policy development with focus on impact
investment, gender lens investment, including but not limited to: policy initiatives for
both supply and demand side, collaboration framework to facilitate co-operation
between stakeholders, regulatory procedures for impact investment/gender lens
investments, impact measurement framework.
● Implementing awareness raising activities and programs towards social,
environmental and economic challenges to help foster market for impact business.
● Providing financial and non-financial support for intermediaries to strengthen their
service-providing capacities to implement impact investments, gender lens
investments.
FINANCE: provide funds and support to cover the financing gaps, especially at early stage
impact investments:
● Participating with the Government and other actors in the development of innovative
financial instruments, especially tailor-made instruments for Vietnam’s context such
as pay-for-success instruments, blended financing structure (mix of grants and loans,
equity capital), seed-funding incorporated by capacity building package.
● Providing seed-funding or early-stage investment at concessional rate of returns
(directly or through financial intermediaries).
INNOVATION/SOCIAL PURPOSE ORGANISATIONS AND IMPACT BUSINESSES: provide funds and
supports promote innovations in impact business sectors:
● Participating with Government and other actors, especially international development
partners to exploit and showcase innovative initiatives from other markets.
● Supporting intermediaries to build capacity in facilitating innovative solutions among
impact enterprises and start-ups.
● Proving funds for piloting innovative solutions (directly or through financial
intermediaries).
DATA: provide funds and support in constructing of transparent data infrastructure
● Participating with the Government and other actors to build transparent data
infrastructure
● Supporting in constructing impact measurement framework and database.
Vietnam Impact Investment Landscape Report
34
5.3. Further actions:
It should be noted that stakeholders represented in this report are just a sample of the whole
ecosystem. Input provided by them in this report would reflect some issues of the impact
investing landscape in Vietnam but could not provide a comprehensive view of the whole
ecosystem. Therefore, a more thorough survey should be conducted in the future for better
understanding of needs and expectations of actors in the impact investing ecosystem. Given
the proposed areas for interventions from Development Agencies like Canada Embassy, we
suggest the consecutive actions following this initial research:
● Deeper studies to further capture the roles, the challenges, the needs of all
stakeholders in Vietnam’s impact investment ecosystem.
● Results from such studies will be used for designing the framework for interventions in
each of the four suggested areas with consultation from impact investment experts.
Vietnam Impact Investment Landscape Report
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Indochina Research. (2019). Social Concerns in Vietnam.
Mohan, A., Harsh, S., & Modi, A. (2017). Social Investment Landscape in Asia - Viet Nam.
National Economics University and UNDP. (2018). Fostering the Growth of the Social Impact Business
Sector in Viet Nam.
OECD. (2015). Social Impact Investment: Building the Evidence Base.
OECD. (2019). Social Impact Investment 2019: The Impact Imperative for Sustainable Development.
UK National Advisory Board on Impact Investing. (2017). The Rise of Impact.
Vietnam Impact Investment Landscape Report
36
ANNEX 1
LIST OF STAKEHOLDERS IN THE IMPACT INVESTMENT ECOSYSTEM
Types Name
DEMAND
1 Social enterprises (SE) Nghi Luc Song Joint Stock Company (Imagtor)
2 Social enterprises (SE) Tòhe Joint Stock Company
3 Social enterprises (SE) Sapa O'Chau Limited Company
4 Inclusive business (IB) Vexere Joint Stock Company
5 Inclusive business (IB) Tafood Limited Company
6 Inclusive business (IB) DACE Limited Company
7 Inclusive business (IB) Hagimex Joint Stock Company
8 Inclusive business (IB) VBPO Joint Stock Company
9 Inclusive business (IB) Vinasamex Joint Stock Company
10 Inclusive business (IB) Dichung Joint Stock Company
11 Inclusive business (IB) HCM Joint Stock Company (Jupviec.vn)
12 Inclusive business (IB) Dai Thuan Thien Limited Company
13 Inclusive business (IB) Bac Tom Limited Company
14 Inclusive business (IB) Vinh Ha Joint Stock Company
15 Inclusive business (IB) Far Green Joint Stock Company
16 Non-profit organizations (NPOs) Institute of Public Health Development - LIGHT
17 Non-profit organizations (NPOs) Live&Learn
18 Non-profit organizations (NPOs) VECO
19 Non-profit organizations (NPOs) Rikolto Vietnam
SUPPLY
20 Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) IFC
21 Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) Worldbank
22 Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) ADB
23 Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) DFAT (Investing in Women , GREAT)
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24 Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) USAID
25 Philanthropic foundations NIPPON foundation
26 Philanthropic foundations C&A Foundation
27 Philanthropic foundations AirAsia Foundation
28 Dedicated impact investing funds Thriive
29 Dedicated impact investing funds Patamar Capital
30 Dedicated impact investing funds Yellow Dog
31 Dedicated impact investing funds Sopoong
32 Dedicated impact investing funds MYSC
33 Dedicated impact investing funds Crevisse
34 Dedicated impact investing funds Brightlight
35 Dedicated impact investing funds Circulate Capital
36 Dedicated impact investing funds Evergreen Lab
37 Dedicated impact investing funds Phitrust
38 Dedicated impact investing funds Vietnam Investor Network Development - VIND
39 Dedicated impact investing funds Impact Vietnam
40 Dedicated impact investing funds Lotus impact
41 Dedicated impact investing funds CLF
42 Dedicated impact investing funds Mekong Brahmaputra Clean Development Fund L.P.
43 Dedicated impact investing funds Uberis
44 Dedicated impact investing funds
The Green Start-up Fund (alliance of Vietnam Cooperative Allicance, Institute for Organic Agriculture Economics, Van Tinh Phat Group and Saigon Peninsula)
45 Private equity funds/ asset managers Dragon Capital
46 Private equity funds/ asset managers Viet Nam Holding Asset Management Ltd
47 Private equity funds/ asset managers Capria
48 Private equity funds/ asset managers SEAF
49 Venture capital funds TOPICA
50 Venture capital funds 5Desire
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51 Venture capital funds Startup Vietnam Foundation
52 Venture capital funds Vietnam Silicon Valley
53 Venture capital funds FPT Ventures
54 Venture capital funds VIC Partners
55 Venture capital funds Alley 51 Ventures
56 Venture capital funds Vintech fund
57 Angel Investors VNG Group
58 Angel Investors Up Coworking space
59 Angel Investors Angel Investors Network
60 Angel Investors OCD
61 Angel Investors Alpha Books
62 Angel Investors Angel 4 Us
63 Angel Investors VAIC (Vietnam Angel Investors Circle)
64 Angel Investors Mekong Angel Investors Network - MAIN
65 Commercial banks VP Bank (Women Enterprises)
ECOSYSTEM ENABLERS
66 Incubators/Accelerators Vietnam Silicon Valley
67 Incubators/Accelerators CSIP
68 Incubators/Accelerators KisStartup
69 Incubators/Accelerators Hatch ventures
70 Incubators/Accelerators LIN
71 Incubators/Accelerators SPARK
72 Incubators/Accelerators Reterra (Japan)
73 Incubators/Accelerators Innovation Hub
74 Incubators/Accelerators CIRCO coworking
75 Incubators/Accelerators HABATAKU
76 Incubators/Accelerators BUSINESS START-UP SUPPORT CENTER (BSSC)
77 Incubators/Accelerators Syngenta Foundation
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78 NGOs/ International Organizations The British Council
79 NGOs/ International Organizations WISE - Mekong Business Initiatives
80 NGOs/ International Organizations WECREATE
81 NGOs/ International Organizations CARE
82 NGOs/ International Organizations Oxfam
83 NGOs/ International Organizations PATH
84 NGOs/ International Organizations HAGER international
85 NGOs/ International Organizations SPLASH
86 NGOs/ International Organizations DFAT
87 NGOs/ International Organizations Asian foundation
88 NGOs/ International Organizations UNDP
89 NGOs/ International Organizations Swiss EP
90 Network & platforms AVPN
91 Network & platforms Family Business Network Asia
92 Network & platforms Vietnam Business Council for Sustainable Development
93 Network & platforms Toniic
94 Network & platforms Twenty
95 Research institutions WISE Philanthropy Advisors
96 Research institutions Mekong Economics
97 Research institutions Center for Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CSIE) – National Economics University
98 Research institutions Central Institute for Economics Management
99 Policy makers Department of Enterprise Development – Ministry of Planning and Investment
100 Policy makers NATEC – Ministry of Science and Technology
101 Policy makers The 844 Plan - Ministry of Science and Technology
102 Financial intermediary KIVA
103 Financial intermediary Simply giving
ANNEX 2
Vietnam Impact Investment Landscape Report
40
KEY STAKEHOLDERS INVITED TO THE ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION
THE DEMAND SIDE
Name Sector Problems/Solutions Products/Services Beneficiaries
Recent
investment
received
1 Imagtor Services
(tech)
Employment for
PWD, financial
supports to Will To
Live Center
Image editing services
(photo, video)
People with
disabilities,
physical
challenges
Seed-fund
from REMAKE
City program
(2018)
2 Tòhe Services
(arts)
Art activities to
encourage creativity,
playfulness and
social competencies
of disadvantaged
children
Lifestyle products with
children drawing
texture (clothes,
accessories, toys, etc.)
Children with
disadvantages
Start-up
funding from
CSIP (2009),
LGT Venture
Philanthropy
convertible
loan of USD 40,000 to
open a new
shop and
recruit key
personnel
(sales manager
and
production
manager)
3 Sapa O'Chau
Travel Services
(tourism)
Livelihood
improvement for
local communities
(jobs, training,
access to tourism
market,…)
Boarding facility, hotel, café, handicraft
store, trekking tours
Local minor
ethnic
communities
(trekking guides,
homestay
owners, high
school students,
vocational
students,
craftswomen and
volunteer)
4 Vexere Services
(transportati
on)
Improve and
upgrade people's
lives through the
ability to innovate
and apply
technology, meeting
all needs in travel
Smart ticket booking
platform, management
software (BMS - Bus
Management System)
and sales management
software (AMS- Agent
Bus/coach
passengers, bus
owners, agencies
CyberAgent
Ventures
(Japan) and Pix
Vine Capital
(Singapore)
(2015)
Vietnam Impact Investment Landscape Report
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and transportation
sectors
Management System).
7 Tafood Agriculture Livelihood
improvement for
tea-farming
households and local
minor ethnic
communities (jobs,
technical support
and training, buying
contracts)
Vietnamese ancient
tea products from Ta
Xua (Son La), mostly
for domestic market
Local farming
households,
minor ethnic
people at
material areas
8 DACE Agriculture Livelihood
improvement for
farming households
and local minor
ethnic communities
(jobs, technical
support and training,
buying contracts)
High quality organic
spices (chili, garlic,
turmeric, ginger) and
related products
(power, syrup), mostly
for exports
Local farming
households,
minor ethnic
people at
material areas
10 Hagimex Agriculture Livelihood
improvement for
farming households
(jobs, technical
support and training,
buying contracts)
High quality canned
fruits, vegetables and
spices (exported to
Japan, Korea, EU,…),
mostly for exports
Local farming
households at
material areas
11 VBPO Services
(business
supports)
Employment for
PWD and the poor
Business process
outsourcing services
and technology
solutions in finance &
accounting, human
resource, analytics,
banking services,
contact center and
etc...
People with
disabilities,
physical
challenges and
the poor
12 Vinasamex Agriculture Livelihood
improvement for
farming households
and local minor
ethnic communities
(jobs, technical
support and training,
buying contracts)
Organic anistar and
cinnamon products, for
both domestic market
and exports
Local farming
households at
material areas
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13 Di Chung Services
(transportati
on)
Reduce environment
pollution and social
expenses by vehicle-
sharing solution
Online platform for
carpooling, car rental
Community,
especially people
with commuting
needs
14 Jupviec Services Employment for
women
Cleaning and
housekeeping services
across major cities
(Hanoi, HCM, Da Nang,
Nha Trang, Hai Phong,
etc.)
Women Patamar
Capital (2018)
15 Dai Thuan
Thien
Agriculture Livelihood
improvement for
farming households
(jobs, technical
support and training,
buying contracts)
Clean agricultural
products (fruits,
vegetables, rice,…), for
both domestic market
and exports
Local farming
households at
material areas
16 Bac Tom Agriculture Livelihood
improvement for
farming households
(jobs, technical
support and training,
buying contracts)
Clean agricultural
product retailer
Local farming
households at
material areas
17 Vinh Ha Agriculture Livelihood
improvement for
farming households
(jobs, technical
support and training,
buying contracts)
Clean vegetables, fruits
for collective kitchens,
especially kitchens at
schools
Local farming
households at
material areas
18 FarGreen Agriculture Building prosperous
and sustainable
farming communities
in rural Vietnam by
reducing
environmental
damaging practices
like open burning of
straw exist, utilizing
all agricultural
production waste
Clean mushroom
produced within an
eco-friendly closed-
production loop
Farming
households (as
producers) and
community
19 Chatbot
Vietnam .JSC
Technology PWD are lack of
effective supporting
equipment in the
Supporting equipment
for PWD
People with
disability
Vietnam Impact Investment Landscape Report
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daily life
20 LIGHT Healthcare Health improvement
by supporting
development
programs and
providing healthcare
services
Healthcare clinic with a
focus on reproductive
health; beauty clinic
and natural herbal
healthcare product
distribution
Community
21 Live&Learn Education Awareness changes
towards sustainable
education, climate
change and
sustainable energy.
Education, training on
sustainable education,
climate change and
sustainable energy for
young generation
Community,
especially the
youth
22 Rikolto
Vietnam
Business
supports
Assist and empower
small farmers in rural
poverty reduction
and contribute to
sustainable food
supply
Training, coaching to
build capacity in
sustainable
production, business
management,
fairtrade; connecting
farmers with buyers
Farmers
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THE SUPPLY SIDE
Types Name Investment
purpose
Sector of focus
(if defined)
Beneficiaries
(if defined)
Instruments Average ticket
size (US$)
1 Donors,
NGOs
Thriive Impact Manufacturing,
agriculture
SMEs serving
vulnerable
communities
Loan Up to 10,000
(Thriive Capital)
and up to
50,000 (next
level financing)
2 Donors,
NGOs
Australian
Department
of Foreign
Affairs and
Trade
Impact Agriculture,
tourism
GREAT: Improve
social and
economic status
of women living
in north-west
Vietnam.
Objective:
Women living in
Sơn La and Lào
Cai beneficially
engage in the
agriculture and
tourism sectors at
all levels.
Investing in
women:
workplace gender
equality, impact
investment for
women SMEs,
influence gender
norms
Loan,
Convertible
Grant, Grant
500,000 -
1million
3 Donors,
NGOs
Investing in
Women
Impact INVESTING IN
WOMEN:
Investing in
women-led
enterprises +++
200,000-
500,000
4 Donors,
NGOs
CARE
Internationa
l in Vietnam
Impact Agriculture Remote ethnic
minority women,
socially
marginalized
people in urban
settings, disaster
affected
communities
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5 Donors,
NGOs
Oxfam
Vietnam
Impact Agriculture vulnerable groups
in value chain
300,000 -
1million
6 Donors,
NGOs
USAID Impact PACE program
partnership with
Villgro and Lotus
Impact to set up
an incubation and
investment
program
alongside new
local angel
investor networks
7 Donors,
NGOs
PATH Impact Healthcare Vulnerable
groups
8 Private
Investment
Investors
Patamar
Capital
(Vietnam)
Impact Affordable
Housing,
Agriculture,
Education,
Employability,
Health,
Livelihood and
poverty
alleviation
People in poverty,
People without
employment,
Women and girls
Convertible
Debt, Equity
9 Private
Investment
Investors
Alley 51 Impact Inclusive
business for low
income and
PWD; Financial
service
The low income
and PWD
Convertible
Debt, Equity
10 Private
Investment
Investors
Dragon
Capital
(Mekong
Brahmaputr
a Clean
Developmen
t Fund L.P)
Startup Renewable
Energy, Energy
Efficiency and
Conservation
Equity 1 – 7 million
11 Private
Investment
Investors
Impact
Vietnam
Impact
12 Private
Investment
Investors
Evergreen
Lab
Impact Create and
support
inclusive
businesses that
drive lasting
growth,
Children and
youths, Ethnic
minorities, Flora
and fauna, People
in poverty, People
without
Vietnam Impact Investment Landscape Report
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development
and long-term
benefits for
future
generations.
employment
13 Private
Investment
Investors
WISE -
Mekong
Business
Initiatives
Impact Women
14 Private
Investment
Investors
Community
Livelihood
Fund
Impact Education Youth
15 Private
Investment
Investors
Startup
Vietnam
Foundation
Startup
16 Private
Investment
Investors
WECREATE Impact Women
entrepreneurs
17 Private
Investment
Investors
MITfive Startup and
Impact
18 Private
Investment
Investors
Vietnam
Climate
Change
Innovation
Fund (WB)
Impact Climate change grant
19 Private
Investment
Investors
Viet
Accelerator
Startup
20 Private
Investment
Investors
VIISA Startup
21 Private
Investment
Investors
BK Holding Startup
22 Private
Investment
Investors
PhiTRUST Impact
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23 Private
Investment
Investors
Green Edu Impact Agriculture Student, rural
youth, retired
workers, young
entrepreneurs
grant Up to 8 million
24 Corporates Up
Coworking
space
Startup Technology
25 Corporates Vintech
Fund
Startup Technology Up to 440,000
26 Corporates SME -
VPBank
Impact Women
entrepreneurs
loan
27 Angel
Investors
Angel
Investors
Network
Startup
28 Angel
Investors
Kids Online Startup
29 Angel
Investors
VAIC
(Vietnam
Angel
Investors
Circle)
Startup
THE ECOSYSTEM ENABLERS
Types Name Targets What type of supports
1 Incubators/Accelerators Centre for Social
Initiatives
Promotion (CSIP)
Social enterprises
Impact business
Grassroot SEs
CSOs
Conducting capacity building programs,
networking activities for targeted
enterprises and organizations
Conducting promotion campaign for
social entrepreneurship and policy
advocacy activities
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2 Incubators/Accelerators Spark Social enterprises Delivering programs on supporting social
enterprises, especially in agricultural
sector
3 Incubators/Accelerators UNDP Young social
entrepreneurs
Delivering Youth Co:lab – a platform and
network across the region to facilitate the
development of social entrepreneurship
among young people
4 Incubators/Accelerators Vietnam Silicon
Valley (VSV)
Startups and
Investors
For start-up: business development
programs, seed-funding
For investors: access to startup-database,
networking, training,
5 Incubators/Accelerators KisStartup Startups, SMEs,
Trainers/Coaches,
investors
For start-up, SMEs: training, coaching,
mentoring program on starting up,
business development, innovation;
networking and business matching events
For future trainer/coach: training to build
capacity for future professional coach,
trainers
Investors: networking among investors
and between investors & startups
6 Incubators/Accelerators Hatch ventures Startups, Impact
business
Community building for startup-
ecosystem, co-working spaces,
acceleration programs for startups and
impact business (including seed-funding)
7 Incubators/Accelerators Syngenta
Foundation
(Vietnam)
Farmers Providing solutions for sustainable
agriculture cultivation
8 Incubators/Accelerators Innovation Hub
(Hanoi)
Companies in
agricultural
supply chains &
energy sectors.
Provide capital, incubation program, co-
working space and networking
opportunities for companies in targeted
sectors
9 Incubators/Accelerators Spring
10 Policy makers Central Institute
for Economic
Management
(CIEM)
Research and proposing the mechanisms,
policies of economic management
and business environment development;
providing public services in the field of
scientific research, training and fostering
cadres in economic management, and
carrying out consultancy activities in
accordance with the laws.
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11 Policy makers Department of
Enterprise
Development –
Ministry of
Planning and
Investment
Support Government in formulating
policies and regulations related to SME
and SME supporting programs
12 Policy makers NATEC – Ministry
of Science and
Technology
Support Government in formulating
policies and supporting programs for
enterprises in science and technology
13 Policy makers Office of 844
plan – Ministry
of Science and
Technology
Provide funding for intermediary
organizations that perform activities for
innovative startup ecosystem, including 3
areas: research/propose legal framework,
train and develop the capabilities of
player in the ecosystem, communicate
and connect stakeholders
14 Policy makers Vietnam
Chamber of
Commerce and
Industry (VCCI)
Facilitates and promotes the sharing of
experience, solutions and good practices
on sustainable development, and
strengthens dialogues and close
coordination among business community,
the Government and civil organizations
on this domain.
15 NGOs/ International
Organizations
The British
Council
Delivering programs in partnership with
local and international organizations in
areas such as youth and social
entrepreneurship, equal opportunity and
diversity, migration, social inclusion and
engagement, and active citizenship.
16 NGOs/ International
Organizations
Swiss EP
17 Research institutions Center for Social
Innovation and
Entrepreneurship
(CSIE) – National
Economics
University
Students and
early social
enterprises
Conducting researches on social impact
businesses and support the development
of social entrepreneurship among
university students