Thirty-five (35) young women entrepreneurs from across the 10 ASEAN Member States and Japan convened in Lao PDR. They discussed challenges and opportunities related to innovation and sustainability in their enterprises. The Roundtable Discussion of Young Women Entrepreneurs in ASEAN and Japan was organized by the ASEAN-Japan Centre in partnership with the ASEAN Youth Organization, with support from the ASEAN Coordinating Committee on MSMEs, ASEAN ACCESS, the East Asia Business Advisory Council and the Lao Businesswomen Association.

The roundtable served as a platform for addressing the barriers young women entrepreneurs face in today’s fast-evolving business landscape. These include achieving both innovation and sustainability in their ventures. The program aims to identify practical solutions to enhance the resilience and competitiveness of women-led enterprises. This will pave the way for greater economic empowerment and collaboration between ASEAN and Japan.
Women entrepreneurs from ASEAN and Japan discussions
The discussions centered on two key themes: enhancing connectivity and enhancing resilience. For connectivity, participants explored ways to improve financial inclusion, encourage gender-smart investments and build digital skills and financial literacy to ensure safe participation in the digital economy. Under resilience, they addressed closing the gender divide in MSME ownership and promoting sustainability practices that empower women to lead socially and environmentally responsible businesses.
The participants also joined site visits to two leading women-owned enterprises in Lao PDR: Enterprise & Development Consultants Co., Ltd. (EDC) and Leuxay Construction Co., Ltd. These visits offered invaluable insights into the operational strategies and best practices of successful women-owned businesses in Lao PDR. These can also facilitate knowledge exchange and open potential avenues for collaboration.
The event raised the challenges of women entrepreneurs’ access to grants and loans. This is due to administrative regulations, competition against bigger companies and a lack of flexibility in funding solutions. They also discussed the challenges of establishing basic cybersecurity hygiene, identifying digital solutions that are appropriate for their needs and ensuring that employees have the necessary skills to respond to the rapid evolution of technology and the ability to protect their customers. Participants called for more women entrepreneur networks to close the gender gap and increase women’s business ownership.
The full findings of the discussions will be launched in a report at the ASEAN-Japan Young Women Entrepreneurs’ Summit. The Summit will be held in Kuala Lumpur, on February 13, 2025.
Established in 1981, the ASEAN-Japan Centre is an intergovernmental organization dedicated to promoting trade, investment, tourism and people-to-people exchanges between ASEAN and Japan.
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