HerVenture: mobile learning for Southeast Asia’s rising tide of women entrepreneurs

We've developed a brand new mobile learning app called HerVenture, to provide women in Vietnam and Indonesia with a quick, accessible and powerful way to gain the skills and knowledge they need to be successful business owners.

Entrepreneurship is on the rise across Southeast Asia, with women swelling the ranks of business owners in many countries. In Vietnam, for example, women make up 30% of all business owners, with the Government aiming to push this figure to at least 35% by 2020.

To support this rising tide of entrepreneurship, we’ve developed a brand new mobile learning app called HerVenture, to provide women in Vietnam and Indonesia with a quick, accessible and powerful way to gain the skills and knowledge they need to be successful business owners.

Cherie Blair CBE KC and Van Dang, Owner of SavvyComm, speak on a panel.
Cherie Blair CBE KC poses with delegates at an event in Vietnam.

Our Founder, Cherie Blair, launched the Vietnamese version of the app at a special event in Hanoi in June 2018, attended by government officials, media, and other stakeholders working on the issue of women’s economic empowerment. She said, “When women are economically empowered, wonderful things happen. Families prosper. Economies grow. Communities thrive. Research shows that Asian economies could add $4.5 trillion to their GDP by 2025 by boosting women’s economic participation.”

HerVenture Vietnam is part of a wider initiative we’ve developed in partnership with Qualcomm® Wireless Reach™, called DevelopHer, which supports women entrepreneurs across Southeast Asia through two channels: the HerVenture app, and online mentoring support offered through our Mentoring Women in Business Programme.

This multi-pronged approach empowers women to access the critical information they need to run their businesses more effectively, as well as benefitting from the deeper, more personalised support of a dedicated mentor. Women entrepreneurs who graduate from the mentoring component are encouraged to mentor others, expanding the reach and impact of the initiative. So far, the DevelopHer partnership has opened up mentoring opportunities to 127 women entrepreneurs across Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam.

In its first year, at least 3,000 women entrepreneurs in Vietnam are expected to download the HerVenture app. The app features five learning ‘tracks’ on a range of needs, including launching a business, product innovation and expanding market access. Based on user input, the app suggests a personalised learning roadmap for each entrepreneur. Content is provided in bite-sized, easily digestible formats such as swipe-able cards, quizzes and videos.

HerVenture is highly scalable and can be adapted to any geography or language across the world. It will also be rolled out in Indonesia in the near future, with support from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, the Happel Foundation, the Swedish Postcode Foundation and the Allan and Nesta Ferguson Charitable Trust, with other countries to follow.

Bringing HerVenture to Vietnam and Indonesia forms part of our ambitious 100,000 Women Campaign

HerVenture is highly scalable and adaptable. The Foundation is actively seeking funding partnerships to enable the app to launch in, but not limited, to Rwanda, South Africa, Ethiopia, Uganda, Ghana, Tanzania and Mozambique, with each iteration carefully adapted for a local context. Please get in touch if you would like to discuss potential partnerships!

 

Corporate and Institutional Partnerships

Purpose-designed collaborations that advance women's entrepreneurship.

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Our donors have supported over 250,000 women in low and middle income countries to start, sustain and grow businesses through our work. Your vital donation will help us reach many more.

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