What support do new businesses expect?

Staff of the Department of Planning and Investment advises people who want to register to establish a business at the Provincial Public Administration Service Center.

Newly established enterprises are like seedlings, needing appropriate support policies to nurture and promote development. However, the support policies to motivate new enterprises in Hai Duong in recent times have revealed many shortcomings, failing to meet practical requirements.

Not interested

With the goal of improving the business investment environment, creating favorable conditions for enterprises of all economic sectors to establish and develop, the Provincial People's Council issued Resolution No. 03/2019/NQ-HDND dated July 11, 2019, stipulating a number of policies to support the registration of new enterprises in the period of 2019-2022 (referred to as Resolution 03). Accordingly, the resolution stipulates 100% support for the first enterprise registration fee, 100% of the fee for publishing the content of the first enterprise registration according to the fee rate prescribed by the Ministry of Finance; 50% support for the cost of using digital signature certification services within 1 year from the date the enterprise and business households are granted a certificate of enterprise registration. However, this policy has not really brought about the expected results.

Actual results have demonstrated the limitations in implementing Resolution 03 in 3 years (2020-2022). Although 2,707 out of 4,593 newly registered enterprises have received support, which has partly reduced the cost of starting a business for enterprises, overall, the effectiveness of the policy is not high. The total budget to support newly established enterprises in 3 years is 341 million VND, only reaching 14.8% of the planned budget. The reason is that the support level is limited when the enterprise registration fee is 50,000 VND/enterprise and the fee for publishing enterprise registration content is 100,000 VND/time. On the other hand, the support target is narrow when only supporting cases that do not carry out administrative procedures online, while the majority of enterprises use online public administrative services to register for establishment. The selection of a digital signature certification service provider must comply with the Law on Bidding, so the implementation is still confusing and the progress is slow. Currently, there are many digital signature certification service providers with promotional programs for businesses at low costs, long-term contracts of 3-5 years, while the support rate for businesses is only implemented once with 50% of the cost, so it does not encourage businesses to register to benefit. Therefore, this support content in 2020 and 2022 cannot be implemented, and in 2021, the implementation rate is only 0.18%.

According to the assessment of the Department of Planning and Investment, the above support policy is unlikely to promote the implementation of the target of newly registered enterprises in the province's annual socio-economic development plan. Because the number of newly established enterprises depends largely on external factors such as the investment environment, consumer market, and regional economic situation. On the other hand, administrative procedures in the field of business registration have been simplified to the maximum, so there is no need for support. Difficulties, obstacles and needs for support mostly arise during the operation process. Therefore, the province's recent support policies have not created a large effect or spread, and enterprises are not interested.

Mr. Tran Van Hoat (far right), Director of Forward Electric Joint Stock Company, hopes to receive support in corporate governance.

Must be correct and accurate

Having started a business in the field of civil electricity for nearly 4 years, Mr. Tran Van Hoat, Director of Forward Electric Joint Stock Company (Hai Duong City) affirmed that the State's support policies are a lifeline to help businesses grow and mature. However, the support must meet the right wishes, which is the key to untangling the bottlenecks in production and business. Along with that, access to support must also be simple, avoiding cumbersome procedures that cause difficulties for businesses. "Instead of supporting registration fees or implementing digital signatures, authorities and sectors can study to develop support regulations on business administration, technology application, digital transformation in production, etc. This is an issue that newly established businesses both lack and are weak in. Only then can we encourage the spirit of starting a business and establishing a business," Mr. Hoat commented.

Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Son, Director of SOHA Construction Investment Company Limited (Thanh Ha) hopes that the province will change the content of support. New enterprises often have many limitations in grasping market information and are confused when connecting and developing networks. Therefore, support does not necessarily have to be capital but can help enterprises improve their management capacity through training courses.

Faced with the shortcomings of the support policy for newly established enterprises, at the end of February 2023, the Provincial People's Committee agreed not to continue to implement support according to Resolution 03 in the coming time. At the same time, it requested the Department of Planning and Investment, based on the actual situation and current legal regulations, to coordinate with departments and branches to develop regulations on a number of contents and levels of support for enterprises in the province for the period 2023-2027 for the Provincial People's Committee to submit to the Provincial People's Council at the year-end meeting. "In addition to the legal basis, the department will refer to the construction and organization of support for enterprises in a number of provinces and cities to develop appropriate and satisfactory support content. In which, it focuses on support in information technology, human resource development, model conversion, creative startups, participation in clusters, value chains, etc. It is expected that in May, the department will complete the report and submit it to competent authorities," informed Mr. Le Hong Dien, Director of the Department of Planning and Investment.

STRONG