Entrepreneurs - Vital Driving Force for Economic Development

 

Resolution of the 7^th Central Party Congress, IX Session, asked for building a contingent of Vietnamese entrepreneurs and a class of workers, farmers and intellectuals. The 10^th Party Congress allowed party members to do private business and also asked for building a national strategy on business circle development, aiming to raise the number of Vietnamese enterprises to 500,000 by 2010.

 

Besides reform policies, other economic policies such as Investment Law and Enterprises Law have boosted businesses’ development in both quantify and operation scale. To date, Vietnam has more than 300,000 non-state enterprises. The country is now home to over three millions of individual business households, 15,000 cooperatives and nearly 120,000 farms operating as enterprises. The foreign-invested sector has more than 53,000 valid projects.

 

In parallel with the business community is Vietnamese entrepreneur circle’s development. This is the key force contributing to the country’s economic development. Most of Vietnamese businesses and entrepreneurs do business not only for their personal purposes but also helping create jobs for the society. Entrepreneurs’ business activities also exploit natural resources.  Through business and production activities, businesspeople are under an obligation to pay tax, contributing to the country’s construction and development process. Former Deputy Chairman of the Vietnamese Fatherland Front Central Committee Le Truyen said, business people’s activities are for a noble goal of the nation’s pride.

 

Enterprises and entrepreneurs have quickly got access to domestic and foreign markets and gradually adapted to regional and international economic integration as well as application of sci-tech achievements in business and production activities and management task. Therefore, businesses have made an important contribution to the country’s economic growth. As for small and medium-sized enterprises accounting for up to 95 per cent of the country’s total number of non-state firms creates around 49 per cent of non-agricultural jobs in rural areas and attracts 26 per cent of the country’s labour force. Businesses and non-agricultural and non-agricultural individual business households lure around 16 per cent of the society’s labour force.

 

Mobilisation and charitable movements such as “Gratitude donation", "poverty reduction" and “day for the poor” have received active participation of local businesses and entrepreneurs. Many of them contributed tens of billions of VND to assist the poor and those affected by natural disasters and flood.  Mr Dang Van Thanh- Chairman of Management Board of Sacombank, Ms Do Thi Huyen Tam, Chairman of Management Board and General Director of Minh Tam group.

 

 

According to Nguyen An Diem, General Director of Binh Dinh General Production Investment Service Import Export Company (PISICO), the ask-give mechanism has been much limited. Besides, prices and market changes are all transparent. This leads to companies’ fierce but fair competition, particularly in the areas of high profits. In the race, the winner will be a good manager with high prestige. How can Vietnam build a contingent of qualified entrepreneurs, helping boost the country’s economy?

 

Compared to many other countries, Vietnam can be proud of being the nation of intelligent people.  However, the intelligence has not yet been fully developed. Many local and foreign professors and scholars said Vietnam has not yet built a really open and proper mechanism for training talents for economic development. Vu Ngoc Thuan, General Director of Dong Tien Garment Company said the local government should early set up and complete a strategic mechanism of training Vietnamese entrepreneur community to meet demand for global integration.

 

In the near future, most of Vietnam’s business and production activities will have to use modern technology and advanced management programmes. Therefore, enterprises have to use hi-quality labour force. This will help narrow management and professional between managers and their staff. Managers do not only equip themselves with professional knowledge but also know how to develop the collective strength, aiming to obtain a common goal. Bill Gates Group’s experience lesson is a typical example for this.

 

Business people’s roles are not only proved by enterprise management and control but also training new generations of new entrepreneurs.

 

To encourage and honour Vietnamese successful entrepreneurs, since 2006, the VCCI has cooperated with ministries and agencies to grant the title of 100 Vietnamese outstanding entrepreneurs on October 13. The Golden Rose Prize is awarded to excellent female entrepreneurs on occasion of International Women’s, besides the prize for good employers and the one for enterprises’ social responsibilities. The VCCI’s concentration on these prizes contributes to form standards for enterprises and businesspeople at both national and local level.