SHOWCASE EVENT MARKS FIVE YEARS’ SUCCESSFUL IMPLEMENTATION OF BAF II

Vientiane, Lao PDR: The Ministry of Industry and Commerce hosted the BAF II Showcase event in Vientiane on Friday 13th September.
The showcase marks the completion of a five-year project, entitled the Business Assistance Facility, phase 2 (or ‘BAF II’) intended to help improve the competitiveness of Lao businesses.

The showcase was honored by the presence of Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, Dr. Buavanh Vilavong, who formally opened the event. Among the other VIPs in attendance were Mr. Andrea Coppola, World Bank’s lead economist and program leader, ambassadors, H.E. Ms. Heather Variava, US Ambassador to Lao PDR, Ms. Benita Sommerville, Australian Deputy Ambassador to Lao PDR, representatives from development partners, public and private sectors.

BAF II was one of four pillars under the Lao Competitiveness and Trade (LCT) project, overseen by the National Implementing Unit (NIU) at the Ministry of Industry and Commerce. The LCT project has received both technical and funding support from the World Bank Group, as well as bilateral funding support from Australia’s Department for Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), Irish Aid and USAID.

Launched in July 2019, BAF II provided both free business advisory support to Lao businesses that requested this assistance, as well as matching grants to companies needing to retain the services of third-party business development service (BDS) providers to address technical constraints to the growth of their companies.

Over 600 companies received free advisory services, and over 550 matching grants were provided to over 360 companies, right across Laos.
In his opening remarks, Dr. Buavanh Vilavong said “we hope today’s showcase event will not only provide useful information on how business growth can be achieved using BDS services, but also inspire other companies – including the next generation of start-ups and entrepreneurs – to take informed risks to build their businesses into robust and sustainable companies that can rival overseas competitors.”

The BAF II Showcase event included the formal launch of a free-to-use online directory of BDS providers operating in Laos, as well as ten case studies that illustrate the gains to be derived from using BDS providers to improve a company’s business performance. There were also presentations by ten experts on different elements of BDS, spanning branding and marketing, the use of AI, standards and certification, among others.

Furthermore, an indicative sample of 30 company booths were present to illustrate how BAF II had impacted their respective businesses.
Speaking on behalf of BAF II’s recipients, Mr. Viengsavath Vilaythong of ‘The Hand’ company said: “I found the BAF II approach to be easy for an SME like mine to understand. As a start-up company, developing my products, I have found that most assistance projects do not understand or accept requests for help from start-up companies like mine. But BAF II did. Thank you to the Ministry of Industry and Commerce for providing BAF II.”

For more on BAF II to go: www.baflaos.com
For more on the LCT project go to: https://www.t4dlaos.org/lct-project
For further enquiries contact: info@baflaos.com