Segmentation of Women Clients: Lessons from VP Bank Vietnam and CARE Ignite
Listen to the recording from the conversation on how VP Bank in Partnership with CARE’s Ignite program developed and scaled its strategy to be the bank of choice for women entrepreneurs in Vietnam. In 2018 VP Bank Vietnam became the first Vietnamese bank to adopt a strategy specifically designed for women-owned SME’s. The 2017 IFC market study highlighted $1.19 billion financing gap for women-owned SMEs throughout Vietnam.
Recognizing the potential of this opportunity, VP Bank launched a strategy to meet the financial needs of women entrepreneurs in Vietnam. Three years later, women make up 25 percent of VP Bank portfolio with innovations such as the SME dashboard, specialized credit card and bundled insurance. In 2019, VP Bank entered into a partnership with CARE to support further outreach to women owned MSME’s. This partnership between CARE's Ignite Program and VP Bank supports women entrepreneurs by facilitating access to tailored financial products, alternative digital lending channels and a range of non-financial services (training, mentoring, digital capabilities, networks) to improve their business health.
Additional Resource: "Understanding micro and small growth entrepreneurs across Pakistan, Peru, and Vietnam” which provides a synthesis of market assessments and research to understand the needs of micro- and small enterprises, particularly women-owned, across three countries.
About this event
Dao Gia Hung
Dao Gia Hung is currently working as Deputy Head of SME Banking Division – Vietnam Prosperity Joint-Stock Commercial Bank. He oversees Micro enterprises (those with annual revenue of below 40 billion VND). He aims to drive VPBank Micro SME becoming the top leading bank for Micro enterprises, providing tailor-made product package for this potential customer portfolio. Hung was previously the Deputy Head of Risk Management Division – VPBank. Aside from work, he is also keen on sports. He is an enthusiastic triathlete.
Tran Thi Minh Nguyet
Nguyet Tran Thi Minh works at CARE as a MSME Financing Coordinator, and currently the Project Lead for Ignite in Vietnam. Nguyet had 8 years working in private sector, in which nearly 5 years in banking industry as an International Relations Analyst before joining CARE in early 2020. Her journey at CARE focuses on private sector engagement, financial inclusion, and women entrepreneurship.
Nisha Singh
Nisha Singh, FinEquity's Gender-Transformative Solutions Thematic Lead. She has over 17 years of experience promoting access to finance and financial market systems development, with a focus on women’s economic empowerment and inclusion. Nisha worked at The SEEP Network from 2008 and 2016 to promote inclusive market systems development by building partnerships across the 120+ SEEP member organizations and associated stakeholders. Since 2017 her work has focused on increasing economic opportunities for women through innovations in financial services as well as gender mainstreaming for private sector actors. Nisha has a master’s degree from the School of Social Policy at the University of Pennsylvania, and an MBA from the University of Hyderabad.