ASEAN & Japan Women Entrepreneurs Forge Path to Innovation, Sustainability

Thirty-five young women entrepreneurs from the 10 ASEAN member states and Japan gather in Vientiane, Lao PDR, on November 5-6 to discuss the challenges and opportunities linked to innovation and sustainability within their enterprises. The roundtable, that would serve to strengthen economic resilience and foster cross-regional collaboration, was organized by the ASEAN-Japan Centre, in partnership with ASEAN Young Organization, supported also by ASEAN Coordinating Committee on MSMEs, ASEAN ACCESS, the East Asia Business Advisory Council, and the Lao Businesswomen Association.

The Roundtable conference of young Women Entrepreneurs in ASEAN and Japan was organised by ASEAN Japan centre in collaboration with ASEAN young organization and supported by ASEAN coordinating committee MSMEs, ASEAN ACCESS, Eastern Asian Business Advisory Council and Lao Business women association.

 Participants, for instance, tackled innovation and sustainability, two of the key barriers young women entrepreneurs encounter in today’s cutthroat business environment, during their roundtable conference. And based on that, this programme is designed to find concrete measures that would strengthen the resilience and competitiveness of Women led enterprise for further economic sustenance and cohesion between ASEAN and Japan, the release explained.

The Embassies’ engagement revolved around two key areas, to include Resilience, for connectivity, the participants looked at how to improve financial inclusion, gender smart investments and build digital and financial literacy to guarantee participants in the digital economy. On the other hand, under resilience, they discussed ways of reducing the gender gap in ownership of micro, small and medium (MSME) enterprises and enhancing the adoption of women entrepreneurship in both environmental and socially responsible businesses.

The participants raised several pressing challenges, such as difficulties accessing grants and loans due to restrictive administrative processes, competition with larger companies, and limited flexibility in funding solutions. They also stressed the importance of fostering a supportive network of resilient women entrepreneurs as a strategy to narrow gender gaps in business ownership.

A comprehensive report of the discussion’s findings will be released at the ASEAN-Japan Young Women Entrepreneurs’ Summit, scheduled to be held in Kuala Lumpur on February 13, 2025. This report is expected to offer actionable recommendations to advance the resilience, sustainability, and innovation of women-led businesses across ASEAN and Japan.