Hanoi, August 2008
SNV is partnering with two leading Vietnamese advisory organisations to launch the Inclusive Business initiative in Vietnam. As a milestone in promoting profitable and sustainable linkages between corporate investment and poor communities, this partnership seeks to build on the successful experiences of Inclusive Business in Latin America over the past two years. In Vietnam, a promising Inclusive Business venture is already underway. The launch in Vietnam is expected to lead the way for the roll-out of Inclusive Business in Asia.
On 6th August, SNV Vietnam and two leading Vietnamese capacity builders - Management Consultants Group (MCG) and Organisational Capacity Development (OCD) – held a kick-off meeting to discuss the launch of Inclusive Business in Vietnam. The three partners agreed to jointly carry out a nation-wide survey to explore the active interest of Vietnam’s business community to engage in Inclusive Business projects. Both MCG and OCD have expressed their intent in working with SNV – at a later stage – as brokers to identify and follow-up on investment opportunities with companies showing substantive interest.
SNV Vietnam is currently supporting the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), in collaboration with the World Conservation Union (IUCN), in setting up the Vietnam Business Council for Sustainable Development (VBCSD). SNV, together with MCG and ODC, plan to support VCCI in presenting the Inclusive Business initiative on the occasion of the Vietnam Business Forum, the main annual event in Vietnam bringing together principal actors from business and development communities.
In April 2008, SNV Vietnam organised the “soft launch” of the Inclusive Business initiative during a Business Invite in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s dynamic business hub. We had the pleasure to introduce the concept, as well as SNV’s first experiences in Inclusive Business, to representatives of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Dutch Business Association, Netherlands General Consulate, Vietnamese and international businesses and the NGO community in Southern Vietnam. The positive response strengthened the resolve of SNV and its partners to pursue their Inclusive Business ambitions.
At present, SNV Vietnam supports an Inclusive Business venture with Green Energy Ltd. Vietnam (GEV), which is a for-profit corporation engaged in two integrated aspects of the biofuel industry: production of biofuel feedstock through contracts with independent smallholder producers; and refinement and sale of biodiesel in the transportation and stationary energy markets. Green Energy and SNV are facilitating the smallholder-based farming of Jatropha Curcas in such a way that no harm is done to environmental or agricultural interests and, moreover, poor farmers can increase and diversify their income in a stable manner. In so doing, GEV secures inputs for the local production of biodiesel. SNV and GEV are looking forward to a closer cooperation in which SNV will be providing services in smallholder organisation.
Inclusive Business is a spin-off of the Alliance between SNV and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) that has been developed and successfully piloted in Latin America over the past two years. SNV and the WBCSD Alliance are currently engaged in discussions to continue the formal partnership in Latin America and possibly expand to other regions, including Asia. Next to agribusiness, tourism and access to energy are promising investment areas.
For more information on Inclusive Business in Vietnam, contact Ms. Quynh Anh Vu Thi at qvuthi@snvworld.org