VCCI Awards ILO Country Director Medal for Enterprise Development

Ms Rie Vejs-Kjeldgaard, Country Director of the International Labour Organization Vietnam, was on March 6 awarded the Medal for Enterprise Development by Mr Vu Tien Loc, President of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) for her personal commitment and ILO’s contributions to development through business in Vietnam.

 

As the Director of ILO, Ms Rie Vejs-Kjeldgaard has actively involved in promoting small enterprise development as a means of job creation and poverty reduction in Vietnam, and has built a strong track record of assisting women entrepreneurs with the vital support of the One UN Fund, Irish Aid, SIDA, the Spanish MDG Fund, and Cordaid among others. It has introduced a number of gender equality tools, including the training package on Get Ahead for Women in Enterprise, and provides entrepreneurship development training for many women and community leaders.

 

The ILO is currently undertaking a number of activities that are impacting the working lives of Vietnamese women entrepreneurs: the WEDGE project, promoting women’s entrepreneurship development works closely with the VCCI’s Vietnam Women Entrepreneur Council to help government agencies, partner organizations and business development service providers improve their services for women entrepreneurs; a project with four other UN agencies on ‘Green’ production aiming to create the environment for grassroots handicrafts producers to grow and gain access to more profitable markets; etc. More broadly, a network of master trainers using the Start and Improve Your Business training tool continues to expand and assist business and entrepreneurship development.