This is the recognition and proof for the efforts of Unilever Vietnam and Sunlight in the program “Women do business” to inspire and enhance women's empowerment, create favorable conditions for women to do business to achieve economic autonomy through utilizing digital platforms.

This is the 3rd consecutive year that Unilever Vietnam has been honored at the WEPs Awards by UN Women and the Vietnam Council of Women Entrepreneurs.

Ms. Le Thi Hong Nhi, Head of Communications & Corporate Affairs, Unilever Vietnam, said: “Unilever itself could have done the gender equality goal well, but to create greater impact and reach more women across the nation, we need to drive cooperation and inspire the community to join hands with us. The award from WEPs Awards this year has once again proven our approach efficient, thereby motivating us to continue to invest and promote further cooperation relationships.”

Unilever Vietnam and Sunlight have always strived to promote cooperation with the government, organizations and partners to implement the program “Women do business” since 2020 under the outburst of Covid-19.

The company believes that investing in women’s economic empowerment is an effective means to drive positive progress towards gender equality. “Women do business” has inspired and facilitated women to pursue their business dreams through education and training and financial support. 

In order to reach Vietnamese women through an extensive network, Unilever Vietnam and Sunlight have partnered with the Vietnam Women's Union to deliver offline training courses locally with the professional trainers majoring in women’s start-up. 

The training has been extended to online running along with offline thanks to the partnership with Google, which has been enriched in content while opening the accessibility to anyone using the Internet. The training content is delivered via YouTube livestream in an engaging video format and learners can easily interact with trainers through live question & answer sessions. 

In 2022, “Women do business” continues to successfully carry on the offline model with the Vietnam Women's Union while launching a new online model under the strategic partnership with Meta and the Vietnam Women's Academy. 

Collaborating with Meta, the program has built a course platform on Facebook to reach millions of Facebook users. Besides, an exclusive-designed chat bot on Messenger is also used to provide a personalized and 1-on-1 experience for women to learn online at their own convenience in terms of time and location. 

Regarding the partnership with the Vietnam Women's Academy, Unilever Vietnam and Sunlight have created an e-learning course for women to learn training content in full and receive a certificate from the academy upon completing the course.

After nearly 3 years, the program “Women do business” has helped train 100,000 women how to start a business through online and offline classes; sponsored 125 typical start-up projects of women. Besides, 88% of more than 13,200 attendees surveyed said they feel more confident after participating in the training course and 99% of those will apply the lessons to their business and recommend the course to others.

By 2025, the program aims to enable 1 million Vietnamese women to follow entrepreneurship thus have better income and better life, contributing towards the gender equality movement in Vietnam.

Previously, Unilever Vietnam won the “Gender-responsive marketplace” in 2021, and two categories including “Leadership commitment” and “Gender-inclusive workplace” in 2020 at this award.  

PV