The USAID Green Annamites project has teamed up with Vietnam Rural Industries Research and Development Institute (VIRI) and Green Net Production and Trading Company Ltd. to support cooperatives in Vietnam’s Thua Thien Hue province develop sustainable products with new attractive designs and improve their marketing and sales skills. Businesses in Vietnam have been hit hard by COVID-19, especially small businesses in rural areas. Embracing the need to quickly adapt due to sales challenges posed by the pandemic, USAID and VIRI organized virtual tours and business matching events on September 20 and 23 to promote sustainable production and responsible consumption.

The events were attended by 170 participants from brocade, bamboo, rattan, agricultural, and community-based ecotourism fields and provided an opportunity for the cooperatives to introduce their products and receive consumer feedback. As a result, four purchase orders were made during these first online events, and producers are gaining capacity to establish new partnerships, increase their clientele by reaching a wider market, and improve their online marketing and sales.

So What? USAID Green Annamites project’s support to develop the capacities of nascent enterprises to participate in online marketplaces is supporting innovative marketing and sales opportunities and mitigating the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.