BAF II team visiting three companies to learn the impact of the support and the COVID-19 Pandemic

Vientiane Capital, 25 September 2020, BAF II operation team visited three companies where have been supported by the BAF II matching grants. The visit was led by Mr. Thomas Carr, the Second Secretary (Economic and Trade) from DFAT. The delegation from DFAT were a program manager (Economic and Trade) and a communication officer. The representatives from BAF II who are working with the three companies together with BAF II Coordinator from NIU also join the visit.

The objective of this visit was to learn about the three-business operation in general, the impact of the business after the support from the grants, and how the businesses adapt to the current impact of COVID-19.

The first business that the team visited was Pawhan Farm, a small women-owned agribusiness with 100% domestic investment located at Xokyai Village, Saysettha District, Vientiane Capital. The farm offers organic agricultural products supplying to the domestic markets through selling in the farm and wholesales to Parkson and View Mall. The firm requested the matching grants to support the consultancy for surveying and design of the Pawhan Farm in the new location; and the training “Keiei-Juku program” for management team. The technical assistance is expected to attract more visitors to the farm, and support management team, including herself, to identify problems and find solutions. During the COVID-19 Pandemic, the farm was still able to operate. Moreover, the demand increased significantly that the farm could not meet the supply.

The second business was Toyo Industry Lao Factory, a PVC and plastic piping factory established in 2016. The business sold domestically on both B2B and B2C. The factory requested the matching grants to improve their marketing tools and upgrade their Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) program. When the firm first heard about COVID-19 pandemic in China, the factory prepared itself by building dorm with full facility and health safety in the factory area to accommodate all workers to stay at the new dorm and impose travel restriction to other provinces to prevent the inflection. Therefore, the production in the factory did not stop during the pandemic.

The third business was Diep Vu Laos, a large garment factory assembling workwear and protective clothing for wholly export to UK, and European. The business was struggling to meet the growing demand for its output and looking for ways to further optimize production efficiency. Therefore, the matching grants from BAF II support on the solution for this technical issue through training and certification for lean manufacturing Yellow Belt. During the COVID-19, the factory stopped its operation regarding the national lockdown policy, and then come to operate again after the policy release. Meanwhile, the BDS provider could not come to do the training for the management due to the travel restriction policy, and the attempt to do the online training was made but not effective. Therefore, the factory asked BAF II team for amending the agreement to halt the training and will resume when the border open.

After visiting three companies, the team found that these companies have different ways of dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic based on the nature of the business. Meanwhile, the pandemic does not decrease the demand of their products, and the business owners are eager to develop their business. Due to the travel restriction, they prefer to ask for support from the domestic business development services (BDS). In the case that the requested activities required specific technical assistance that the business really need international BDSs, they prefer to find alternatives, or pause the activities.

Business Assistance Facility (BAF II) is under the Pillar C of the Lao Competitiveness and Trade Project (LCTP). The objective of the BAF II project is to support private sector companies and SMEs to build their skills and expertise so that they can become locally, regionally and internationally competitive.