From Handmade Mats to Online Markets: How Vietnam’s Women-led Businesses are Turning Digital Skills into Growth
Across Vietnam, women are the engine behind thousands of small and growing businesses: weaving sedge mats in the northern Thanh Hoa region, processing seafood along the central coast, running rice mechanization services on Hanoi’s outskirts. Yet as Vietnam’s economy accelerates its shift toward digital platforms and financial technology, many entrepreneurs find themselves at a disadvantage—not for lack of ambition, but for lack of access to training, capital, and the digital tools that increasingly determine who thrives.
Launched in 2024, Accelerate My Business (AMB) Vietnam was designed to address these interconnected barriers. The initiative is a partnership between The Asia Foundation and the Center for Women’s Development, with funding support from Visa, and in collaboration with local microfinance service providers. The program’s goal is to build the digital, business, and financial capabilities of 25,000 women-led SGBs nationwide.
Local microfinance service organizations provide support to Muong woman entrepreneurs in Than Hoa region in Vietnam. AMB Vietnam builds on successful pilots in Malaysia and Indonesia in 2022 that demonstrated how the model can be adapted and scaled through strong local partnerships. In Vietnam, the program uses a blended learning model, pairing a self-paced online platform with mentoring, peer learning, and networking, giving trainees skills they can apply immediately while enabling the program to reach women in selected northern provinces (Hanoi, Thanh Hoa, and Ninh Binh).
Importantly, AMB has invested in building local networks that will continue after the program is completed. AMB has trained 480 mentors from local microfinance institutions, namely TYM, Thanh Hoa MFI, and VietED Group. That has integrated coaching directly into the communities where women participating in the program live and work.
What sets AMB Vietnam apart is how closely it is woven into the country’s own priorities and institutions. The program is aligned with Vietnam’s National Digital Transformation Program and Financial Inclusion Strategy, which call for a digital government, economy, and society, with local businesses expected to lead this transition.
AMB Vietnam sits under TAF’s Future Skills Alliance, a collective impact platform connecting private and public sector partners to deliver future skills at scale across the region.
Three Women, Three Growing Businesses
The barriers that AMB Vietnam was built to address are not abstract. They show up in the everyday decisions of women running small enterprises across the country, women like Tran Thi Dung, Pham Thi Hai, and Hoang Thi Binh.
Tran Thi Dung began weaving sedge mats as a side income, often waiting over a month to get paid after each order. AMB training taught her to track spending, price products, and market on Zalo and Facebook. “With the knowledge from the training, I became more confident to expand my model,” she said. She now runs a first-tier agent network generating VND 320 to 350 million monthly and supporting more than 100 workers.
Ms. Tran Thi Dung expanded livelihoods from sedge handicrafts through the Accelerate My Business program.Pham Thi Hai has processed jellyfish by hand since 2002. AMB training helped her track costs, improve packaging, and sell online. “I have shifted from doing business mainly based on experience to managing it with clear plans,” she said. Her revenue has grown 15 to 20 percent, with more than 15 local workers employed.
Ms. Pham Thi Hai enrolled in the program using the AMB training portal.Sixty-one-year-old Hoang Thi Binh set out to ease the burden of manual rice planting on her community. AMB sharpened her financial planning and helped her reach customers through Zalo. “My determination is to introduce mechanization so that women no longer have to work so hard in the fields,” she said. She has grown from one machine to three, employing about 20 seasonal workers.
Ms. Hoang Thi Binh improved her rice seedling production and mechanized rice transplanting services.Helping More Women Participate in the Digital Economy
The experiences of Dung, Hai, and Binh show that increasing digital and financial capabilities translates directly to business growth. Their stories are reflected at scale across AMB Vietnam. Of the more than 27,000 women-led SGBs that enrolled in the program, more than 25,000 completed the core training, with more than 97 percent reporting stronger business, financial, and digital skills and greater confidence using phones and the internet for business.
75 percent have begun selling online, 94 percent are applying digital tools to manage operations, 94 percent have reported reaching a larger customer base, and 95 percent are engaging more frequently with customers digitally.
These skills have translated into concrete changes in how women run and grow their businesses: 75 percent have begun selling online, 94 percent are applying digital tools to manage operations, 94 percent have reported reaching a larger customer base, and 95 percent are engaging more frequently with customers digitally. These results reflect the program’s success in unlocking digital opportunities for small enterprises.
“Shared prosperity is about making sure opportunity reaches everyone. When women entrepreneurs have access to practical business skills and digital tools, the benefits extend beyond individual businesses, creating jobs and strengthening supply chains and communities,” said Linh Le, Head of Social Impact and Sustainability, Asia Pacific, Visa.
AMB Vietnam also showed that digital skills and technology are only part of the equation. A challenge fund provided catalytic financing to 100 women-led SGBs, enabling entrepreneurs to test new ideas and invest in growth. An exploratory study also examined the less visible constraints on women’s businesses and found that women spend two to six hours daily on unpaid care, highlighting the potential of digital solutions to reduce this burden and free up time for their businesses.
“AMB Vietnam has shown that helping women participate in the digital economy is about more than skills and technology. It means addressing the barriers women face, from access to finance to the burden of unpaid care. Our local partners have been critical in helping us connect women entrepreneurs to practical solutions and support,” said Erin Steinhauer, TAF’s country representative in Vietnam.
Like many countries in Asia, Vietnam’s growth hinges on the success of its small businesses. Increasingly, those businesses are turning to digital tools to increase efficiency, production, and market reach. It is critical that women-led businesses—through programs like AMB—have access to the digital education, skills, and systems they need to expand their operations and help fuel Vietnam’s growth.
