Women's power in Phu Tho: creative festivals promote business start-ups!

Women's power in Phu Tho: creative festivals promote business start-ups!

The Women’s Creative Startup Festival took place on May 30, 2025, organized by the Provincial Women’s Union. This event aims to promote the creativity of women in manufacturing and business and provides a platform to showcase the typical products of members and women from the province. A comprehensive implementation plan for annual activities and programs will be developed to support the “Women Help Each Other Build Family Economy” movement.

The festival places a special focus on the needs and desires of female members, especially those with difficult circumstances and potential start-up ideas. Supporting women on their path to starting a business is a central part of this project.

Achievements of Project 939

The Phu Tho City Women's Union is considered a model in the implementation of the “Supporting Women to Start Businesses” project (2017-2025). Over a period of eight years, 235 propaganda sessions on topics relating to business start-ups have already been organized. Over 7,000 products by women were presented. This means that 95% of members were informed about jobs and start-ups via local radio stations.

In addition, the Union has viewed two training courses on livestock techniques for 60 female members and 10 vocational training classes for approximately 300 students. Over 92% of full-time union officials were informed, and 82.3% of members were aware of the issue of starting a business. A total of 357 entrepreneurship training and vocational training courses were conducted, resulting in the attraction of 16,047 members and women in the province. In addition, 1,752 women were supported in starting up their own businesses.

Creativity and economic development

239 projects and ideas were submitted at the provincial level, of which 54 projects received national awards. In addition, seven “Women’s Creativity and Entrepreneurship Festivals” were organized. This shows the commitment to supporting cooperatives and cooperative groups in production development. For example, the Phuong Dong Tien Kien cooperative was founded to develop a model for medicinal plant cultivation and ecotourism.

A total of 16 cooperatives, 73 cooperative groups and over 250 women's groups were established for economic development. Women gained access to credit for economic projects, with outstanding loans totaling over VND1,845 billion for 35,100 households. The vice president of the women's union announced that she would promote the results of Project 939 and organize training on business planning and development.

Challenges for female founders

However, the challenges for women in the corporate environment are not just local. A similar picture emerges in Germany. The proportion of women who found their own start-ups is significantly lower than men. The reasons for this include a lack of role models and high barriers to financing due to prejudices, as well as a lack of confidence among women in their own abilities. The “Women Start-up” initiative tries to create a network for women that offers exchange and support.

This initiative provides contacts and suggests female founders for UnternehmerTUM programs. The offering includes, among other things, networking events and the “Female Founder Talk,” in which female entrepreneurs report on their experiences. The term “female entrepreneurship” refers to business start-ups by women and highlights the differences in experiences, skills and needs between female founders and their male colleagues. The goal is to promote female start-ups in the start-up scene, which is also internationally important.

In summary, despite the progress and achievements in supporting women to start businesses, there are still many challenges that need to be overcome.

Vietnam.vn reports and Unternehmertum.de added important information on this topic.