Encouraging ethnic minority women to develop livelihoods and increase income

The 2024 “Business Innovation Challenge” competition has just been launched, providing opportunities for ethnic minority youth, especially young women in Lao Cai and Hoa Binh provinces, to implement local start-up initiatives. Thereby developing livelihoods and increasing income.

The launching ceremony of the "Business Innovation Challenge" Competition 2024 was organized by Aide et Action Vietnam (AEA - soon to become Action Education) in collaboration with the Center for Gender, Family and Environment in Development (CGFED) on March 7, 2024, in Hoa Binh province.

This is a competition within the framework of the Project "Promoting Career and Business Development for Youth and Women" in Lao Cai and Hoa Binh provinces, which aims to encourage ethnic minority youth, especially young women, to develop and implement local start-up initiatives. Thereby developing livelihoods and increasing income. The competition is part of a series of activities to support young people in starting a business, with a total prize value of nearly 2 billion VND.

The project "Promoting career and business development for youth and women" funded by the European Union (EU), the French Development Agency (AFD), L'Oreal, and AEA, is being implemented in Lao Cai and Hoa Binh provinces.

The project aims to enhance the economic self-determination of ethnic minority women through sustainable and comprehensive approaches to local economic development, promoting gender equality.

Encourage start-up initiatives

The contestants are young women or groups of young people aged 18-35 , living, studying and working in Hoa Binh province (Da Bac district) and Lao Cai (Bac Ha district, Sa Pa town, Lao Cai city), with start-up initiatives that are suitable for the orientation, strengths and development goals of the locality, contributing to solving socio-economic and environmental issues, creating jobs on the spot for local youth.

Khuyến khích nữ thanh niên dân tộc thiểu số phát triển sinh kế, nâng cao thu nhập- Ảnh 1. — Delegates attending the launching ceremony of the "Business Innovation Challenge" Competition 2024

The competition will take place from March to June 2024 , including 3 rounds: Preliminary (April 20, 2024 - April 29, 2024), Semi-finals (June 10, 2024) and Finals (June 30, 2024). The application period is from March 7, 2024 - April 15, 2024.

Candidates selected through the preliminary round will receive capacity building training in May 2024 to complete their business idea proposals to be more feasible and effective.

At the end of the competition, 24 prizes will be awarded according to the Sponsor's regulations for the best ideas, each prize worth up to 150 million VND. Winning proposals will have the opportunity to receive financial and technical support to realize their business ideas.

In addition, the winning candidates will participate in the "Business Incubator" system of the Aide et Action Organization, improving their professional capacity in production, business, management and operation of startup models, marketing and developing appropriate business community networks.