Empowering Vietnamese young women entrepreneurs with digital skills

The event aims to build a community of young women entrepreneurs to support and inspire other young entrepreneurs to learn digital skills.

Photo: UNDP

With a commitment to promoting digital transformation, Viet Nam has implemented the “National Digital Transformation Programme to 2025, with a vision to 2030” as approved by the Prime Minister in 2020. This programme focuses on three pillars: digital government, digital economy, and digital society. Despite the commitment and strong support from Government agencies and other stakeholders in the ecosystem, the process of national digital transformation and enhancement of digital capacity for the workforce in Viet Nam face challenges such as the complexity of emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI) and notably, the gender gap in the field of digital technology. According to the research of the Viet Nam Women’s Union, women have fewer opportunities to access and use digital resources compared to their male counterparts. This disparity hinders women from harnessing digital tools for learning and working purposes.

Recognizing this situation, Empower Her Tech – a digital skills training programme co-organized by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Alobase, aims to enhance digital skills for young women entrepreneurs and females aged 18-35 involved in non-tech startups/businesses. The programme provides basic knowledge about Artificial Intelligence (AI) and emerging digital technologies, enabling young women to improve both their personal and business performances.

Officially launched on 25 December 2023, the training programme has received great attention, attracting nearly 300 applications nationwide. Sixty (60) trainees were selected, with active participation from underserved communities, including people with disabilities, ethnic minorities, and the LGBTIQ+ community. These trainees engaged 10 online learning sessions, covering basic knowledge and skills in using Wix (a no-code tool for website creation), generative AI (including ChatGPT, Bard, Microsoft CoPilot), and Canva (a design tool for non-professionals). Throughout the programme, positive feedback was received from both trainees and trainers. 

Lê Thị Hà Giang, a trainee of Empower Her Tech, shared: “I would like to extend my gratitude to UNDP, the Organizing Committee, as well as the instructors who have implemented this programme. Their innovative approach, meticulousness, and  placing the learners at the center have resulted in tailored content,  encompassing basic to advanced skill support for all participants.”

Ms. Ramla Khalidi, Resident Representative of UNDP in Viet Nam, shared: “The ‘Empower Her Tech’ training programme is our small contribution to narrowing the gender gap in the field of digital technology. Congratulations to the aspiring and inspiring young female entrepreneurs who were part of this programme. They have taken concrete steps to build their digital skills and enhance their leadership capacities, and the giant leap to take their businesses to the next level, fostering sustainable development for all.”

The Empower Her Tech training programme aims to build a community of young women entrepreneurs to inspire and promote the application of digital technologies in both their lives and businesses. A toolkit consolidating all learning materials will be published in the upcoming time. UNDP envisions the replication of this training programme at various educational institutions throughout Viet Nam, ensuring that all young people, regardless of gender, can leverage opportunities in the digital age./.