At the roundtable “Supporting Young People with Disabilities in Startups and Innovation” held by the Vietnam Youth Federation in Hanoi on August 20, policymakers, experts, and businesses put forward a range of measures aimed at empowering youth with disabilities.
Mr. Nguyen Phan Huy Khoi, Director of the Youth Startup Support Center, reported that in recent months the center has launched free training programs in artificial intelligence (AI), digital economy, and e-commerce. Within just three months, more than 10,000 people—many of them young people with disabilities—had completed the courses. The center is also developing specialized training programs tailored to their abilities and needs, assisting them in building online businesses, facilitating connections with banks, and expanding into affiliate marketing. These initiatives, he said, will enable them to proactively generate income and affirm their self-worth.
Participants at the roundtable also emphasized the need to remove barriers that people with disabilities face in accessing finance, technology, knowledge, and equal opportunities. Mr. Nguyen Lam Thanh, a representative of TikTok Vietnam, stressed that technology offers a vital solution to bridging gaps in information and opportunity.
Social platforms, he noted, allow young people with disabilities to build personal brands, promote products, and connect directly with customers, unrestricted by geography or physical limitations. TikTok, he added, stands ready to collaborate on training programs to help them maximize the potential of digital platforms for entrepreneurship.
Meanwhile, Ms. Dinh Thi Thuy, Head of the Department for People with Disabilities under the Ministry of Health’s Social Protection Agency, highlighted financial support policies under Decree 74/2019. Currently, individuals with disabilities can borrow up to VND100 million, while business establishments can access loans of up to VND2 billion. A forthcoming amendment under government consideration would double the lending cap for individuals (to VND200 million) and raise it fivefold for businesses (to VND10 billion).
She further noted that people with disabilities who take up employment continue to receive their social allowances, while the State fully covers health insurance for those with severe or especially severe disabilities and is exploring ways to extend coverage to those with milder conditions to ease the burden on employers.
