Starting a business, failing, then starting a business again, many women have accepted to take a step back to fulfill their “responsibility” to their families, but also many people have strived and proved that women’s inner strength is real.
Barriers of social “responsibility” and family.
Sharing your startup story in the talk show with WISE – When women start a business in the last weekend, Vu Nguyet Anh (born in 1987) said, in 2011, she opened a dating and connection company while having a very high paying job. When hearing the news, many people shook their heads, were skeptical, while the family protested. The first time she started a business, she failed, as she said, “From empty hands, a debt of hundreds of millions is made”. But because of passion, after 4 years of “ploughing and paying off debt”, Anh continues to pursue her dream of “connecting people”. She again founded a company specializing in dating and networking Rudicaf.
According to Ms. Anh, Women who starting a business face many difficulties. She herself, every time she resigns from work, her family is “shocked”. Most people in the family “cannot understand” why she quits and takes the burden on her own shoulders when she is doing a good job, earning high income, which is the dream of many people. Ms. Vu Nguyet Anh said many responsibilities have been placed on women’s shoulders due to Asian culture. If a woman spends a lot of time at home, taking care of her husband and children, she is said to be “unexciting”. But if you go out and make money, many people think that it is irresponsible to the family. Regarding the “human connection” industry in particular, Ms. Vu Nguyet Anh said that citizens in Vietnam also sees the participants who join dating connection as someone wrong Even many people think that only “single” people need to use dating services or many people suspect that online dating is “virtual”, “tricked”. Some users of the connection dating service had to keep it a secret for fear of being criticized if acquaintances found out. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Hoang Anh, lecturer at Hanoi Foreign Trade University, author of many books on business, said that women starting a business face many difficulties even if they succeed or fail. “If their start-up fails, instead of being shared, many women are mocked by relatives and friends, telling them not to be greedy, and to stay at home to take care of their husband and children. If successful, “people” worry that the woman will “press” her husband, then how they can handle to take care of the family, raise children,… Director Nguyen Hoang Diep – who is famous for the films Flapping in the Middle of Nowhere, Chit and Pi, is now the founder of the brand Ui Cha – said, she didn’t even dare to share her work with relatives and parents.
Filling in the gaps when women start up
Always insisting that starting a business is never easy, Ms. Tu Thu Hien, founder and CEO of WISE (The Women’s Initiative for Startups and Entrepreneurship) said startup women face more and more challenges. “Those challenges ranging from social perception, resources access, network expansion, to balance between the role of wife and mother and work. Is talent, creativity, hard work and passion the complete recipe for a successful startup?” – Ms. Tu Thu Hien shared.
According to Ms. Hien, when women startup, they often lack everything. From lack of knowledge, business skills, finance access; the information on business development support; the information and the ability to connect, network expansion due to limitations of gender characteristics… Therefore, WISE wishes to connect and bring entrepreneurship opportunities to women in Vietnam, to help them start their own businesses and grow, sustainably. According to Ms. Tu Thu Hien also, specialized support for start-up womem are, although available, is still limited. The connection between support units is still lacking. Women-owned and operated start-ups are currently lacking information on support.
In addition, potential sponsor units also lack information about the real needs of businesses to be able to design the most suitable support programs. WISE was created to fill these gaps. The participants in the program all said that the motivational story of each entrepreneur is different. And everyone is happy in their own way. With Vu Nguyet Anh, she started a business and “keeps the fire” from her passion. Therefore, she believes that being able to do what she loves is a way to enjoy this life.
