In 2023, in Thanh Hoa province, there are about 21,000 operating businesses, of which small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) account for about 97.4%. Photo: Tuan Anh/TTXVN
The major difference of investment funds is that instead of investing in financial tools, these funds will target unlisted companies or listed companies with plans to delist, with the aim of participating in management, business growth, and maintaining a minimum investment period of 5-10 years. Therefore, this is an opportunity for businesses to attract investment from this channel.
According to experts, besides large funds such as VinaCapital or Mekong Capital, the mid-term capital market for SMEs in Vietnam still has relatively high potential. A positive signal for SMEs is that there are more and more foreign investment funds seeking investment opportunities in Vietnamese companies.
At the end of February, the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) received a delegation of 14 leading global and regional investment funds to explore investment opportunities.
To be able to mobilize capital from investment funds, Mr. Tran Thanh Hai, Director of Business Center II – Bac A Bank, recommended that SMEs in Vietnam have not paid attention to or been aware of these funds, while also being weak in management skills and foreign languages.
“Even the communication to search for opportunities is still a major weakness of most SMEs in Vietnam. Limited language skills or lack of interest and understanding of the financial market potential are still not really high. This prevents direct contact, exchange between foreign investment funds and Vietnamese SMEs, causing them to miss out on development and cooperation opportunities. Therefore, the higher risk appetite of investment funds requires businesses to demonstrate their capabilities, technology, products, or business vision. In return, this strictness can create momentum for Vietnamese SMEs to become more professional,” Hai emphasized.
To access capital from investment funds, SMEs must enhance their management capabilities, business strategies… When there is long-term capital from investment funds, businesses will have the motivation to invest in long-term values, such as digitization in management, business, or automation in production,” Hai emphasized.
