If large enterprises want to go far and sustainably, they must have satellite enterprises and small and medium enterprises in the supply chain. Mr. Hien explained the recommendations on many issues for the development of small and medium enterprises.

“I speak as Vice President of the Vietnam Association of Small and Medium Enterprises, President of the Hanoi Association of Small and Medium Enterprises, but also as a large enterprise and a major banker in Vietnam,” Mr. Do Quang Hien shared his presence at the Government Standing Conference working with Vietnamese small and medium enterprises on the afternoon of February 27.

Perhaps because of that, his concerns also have a different perspective.

On the one hand, Mr. Hien shared, the number of Vietnamese enterprises, most of which are small and medium-sized enterprises, is too modest compared to the population and compared to some countries in the region.

Thus, according to Mr. Hien, the goal that needs to be set for mechanisms and policies to support small and medium enterprises is to increase the number of enterprises. The force that he expects is the student community.

“We have to start from the students, they have a lot of creative ideas, startup ideas, but lack sponsorship, guidance in terms of orientation, resources, internships, applications, and finance. If there is a mechanism for large enterprises to support, then every year, there should be sponsorships from large enterprises for startup projects in universities. If we can do that, we will have a large force of startups, creative startups, innovation from students and it will spread very widely throughout the country,” Mr. Hien suggested.

As the owner of a commercial bank, Mr. Hien also sees the opportunity for small and medium enterprises to access capital from a practical perspective.

“Small and medium-sized enterprises need capital, but are weak in financial reporting, management capacity, and have no collateral; and they have good ideas but lack the capacity to develop business plans. The role of banks is to provide advice and support. However, when lending to these subjects, the risk is high, even though the loan is small, so bank staff are very afraid of not being able to recover it. We recommend that the Government and the State Bank have a mechanism to relieve this mentality. Only then will capital for small and medium-sized enterprises be released,” Mr. Hien analyzed.

This mechanism, according to Mr. Hien, is to relieve bank staff from fear of risks when lending to small and medium-sized enterprises. “Sometimes, just a few hundred million VND can create opportunities for a startup project to succeed, earning up to billions of US dollars, but if bank staff are afraid of taking responsibility for risks, it will be difficult for startups,” Mr. Hien frankly said.

The Chairman of T&T Group proposed a mechanism to move small-scale handicraft enterprises in craft villages to industrial parks and industrial zones to reduce pollution. “Local incentive policies are needed,” he said.

In particular, Mr. Hien recommended that the Government have a mechanism to encourage large and small businesses to cooperate and develop together.