Dr. Duong Thi Kim Lien is SEACO’s Deputy Director, and the Director of the Institute of Business Innovation Accelerator (IBIA), she is a prominent business development consultant with over of 20 years’ of experience in SME development, innovational start-up, and women entrepreneurship, market development, market linkage, and quality assurance. She possesses a strong network of both government and business colleagues throughout Vietnam, especially within the manufacturing field and business associations.

Dr. Lien has an equal amount of experience as a Representative, Manager, Quality Assurance, and M&E Expert for international firms and ODA projects with advanced skills in result-based management, output-based planning, M&E, and implementation. Possessing strong research and analytical skills, Dr, Lien has additional experience conducting data gathering, and research, identification, design, development of numerous projects and programs at the ministerial level (funded by WB, ADB, SIDA, BTC, USAID), and smaller projects for a wide variety of companies including developing and managing proposals, business plans, budgets, etc. She participated in cooperative projects involving Vietnam and Finland, Vietnam and Belgium, Vietnam and Sweden, and Vietnam and The World Bank, introducing new products, technologies and innovation to clients. With her more than 15 years of experience as an accountant and financial controller Dr. Lien understands the need for fiscal transparency and responsibility. She has led an expert group to design and develop a web-based Management Information System (MIS) to track and evaluate the WB project implementation and progress. In addition to this, she also has developed communication strategies, training materials and delivered training to a multitude of audiences.

2021, Dr. Lien collaborated with the American firm of Nathan Associates Inc. and AED on the Women in E-Commerce Diagnostic Exercise Project. The project aims were to assist Vietnam in implementing the ‘Women in E-Commerce Toolkit’, which is sponsored by the US based Support for Sustainable Economic Growth in Asia (US-SEGA). She conducted data-collection identifying gaps in policy and providing solutions and technical assistance to support women in e-commerce. She has been appointed to develop and implement a second phase of US-led technical assistance to increase the government’s support for women in e-commerce.

From June 2021 to February 2022, Dr. Lien was Researcher and Strategic Advisor to T&C Consulting’s project which supported SMEs in accessing capital and restructuring debt. Her responsibilities included, but were not limited to, mapping of stakeholders; training in negotiation skills for SMEs when approaching financial institutions to restructure their debts and access new lines of credit, developing client questionnaires (including gender analyses); writing reports and proposing suggestions to assist SMEs in accessing funding and debt restructuring.

From 2018-2021, Dr. Lien worked as the Deputy Chief of Party and Acting Chief of Party of the USAID LinkSME Project, this project will advance the Indo-Pacific vision of improved economic competitiveness, and support USAID/Vietnam’s objective of expanding inclusive, market-driven, private sector-led growth. Responsible for developing the project outline, PIM, and project management, and establishing relationships with more than 40 business organizations about 100 successful purchase orders were exported to Europe and America under Dr. Lien’s leadership and vision. She has developed intensive training programs to improve productivity and market linkages for SMEs, social compliance, environmental sustainability, and governance performance standards. Dr. Lien connects manufacturers and SMEs’ with financial needs to financial institutions, non-banking financial institutions, investors, and donors based on comprehensive analysis research.

Under the framework of the USAID LinkSME project, in 2021-2022, Dr. Lien carried out capacity building activities for Business Membership Organizations (BMO) focusing on a mapping membership basis; SWOT analysis; international best practices of BMO membership retention and expansion, and training needs assessment among the selected BMOs.

2022, Dr. Lien worked as a National Consultant for the project “Development of Regulations on Coordination, Management, and Use of ODA Funds, Loans, and Other Sources of Foreign Non-governmental Aid to MARD” of the Worldwide Fund for Nature, she developed a statute on coordination mechanisms in the management and use of foreign assistance of MARD, which complies with the new regulations of Decree No.114/2021/ND-CP of the Government of Vietnam on the management and use of ODA and concessional loans from donors; and the Decree No. 80/2020/NDCP of non-ODA.

She worked as Senior Advisor for the ASEAN SME Project’s primary counterpart in Vietnam, the Agency for Enterprise Development (AED) within the Ministry of Planning and Investment, to enhance the footage section on Business Support Organizations (BSOs) of the National Portal (https://business.gov.vn/cms/trang/469/danh-sach-cac-hiep-hoi) by providing mapping and analysis of stakeholders. She is also responsible for establishing relationships with more than 400 BSOs nationwide.

She worked as a Team Leader for the United Nations on implementing “To undertake a stakeholder mapping and a rapid assessment to inform the development of gender-responsive procurement (GRP) policies and programming”, with three main objectives: 1) conduct the mapping of stakeholders in Vietnam, 2) Desk and brief literature review of the Vietnam GRP landscape and profile, and 3) assessment of the capacity of the demand side, supply side, and connecting points or supporting organizations.

She is also a part-time National Consultant to the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) Catalyzing Women’s Entrepreneurship (CWE) project operating under the AED – MPI. She was in charge of the introduction of the SME Law Assessment Study; consultation on the Decree 80 for WSMEs and delivering the M&E training courses for BSOs, Vietnam Women’s Union, and WSMEs.

Senior Institutional for the Assessment of the investment mechanism and establishment of prioritizing criteria for financing natural disaster risk prevention projects in the Mekong Delta – MCRP. MCRP (2021-2025) is a development cooperation programme co-financed by the Governments of Germany, Switzerland, and of Viet Nam. MCRP is implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft fϋr Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH. MCRP’s objective is to support the Vietnamese authorities in improving the climate-resilient management of natural resources in the coastal areas of the Mekong Delta to ensure sustainable development in the region.

Recently, Dr. Lien was selected as Head Consultant part-time for a 5-year ASEAN – Korean cooperation project “Enhancing Digital Economy Participation of ASEAN Women Micro SMEs”, which focuses on promoting the role of Women in the E-Business economy. Responsible for supporting and supervising the activities of 10 local consultants of the project from 10 ASEAN countries.

9/2022-3/2023, Team Leader for piloting the implementation of policies supporting women-owned SMEs under Government of Vietnam Decree 80/2021/ND-CP, USAID LinkSME project. The capacity of BSOs to support women-owned SMEs is improved by implementing support policies for women-owned SMEs and 10 pilot cases of Women-owned SMEs can better approach and receive GVN support under Decree 80/2021/ND-CP.

2023, USAID has provided technical assistance to the GVN through the LinkSME initiative in order to strengthen the implementation of the SME support Law. The execution of the SME support Law undergoes considerable modifications in 2022, including the issue of Decree 80/2021/ND-CP and Circular 06/2022/TT-BKHDT. In this context, Dr. Lien’s research, synthesis, and development of the report are intended to evaluate comprehensively the implementation of the SMEs Support Law and Decree 80; evaluate the system of documents guiding the implementation of the SMEs Support Law; and identify some bright spots in the implementation of policies to support SMEs. Simultaneously, the Report evaluates barriers, restrictions, and impediments in the implementation process, recommending and advocating more effective assistance for SMEs in the future.

4-8/2023, Technical assistance to support the Revision of Cooperative Law 2012, focusing on Establishing Enterprises within Cooperatives. By means of case studies, consultations with relevant stakeholders, and in-depth analysis, the review will reflect best practices, identify the gaps, and provide recommendations to achieve the intended outcome and ensure effective revision (in the draft revised Law and guiding Decree).

01/06 -31/8/2023, Government Relations Consultant for Alinea International Ltd. Under The Technical Assistance Partnership – Expert Deployment Mechanism (TAP-EDM). TAP-EDM, a project funded by Global Affairs Canada (GAC) and implemented by Alinea International Ltd. provides short-term (up to 12 months) targeted technical assistance to National Government Agencies from eligible OECD-DAC countries. Overall Goal: Strengthen the capacity of policymakers through researching and learning from international experiences on land policies for ethnic minority groups, propose policies that ensure sustainable livelihoods associated with sustainable development, climate change response, and gender equality for ethnic minorities in Vietnam.

She has led an expert team that designed and developed a web-based Management Information System (MIS) to track and evaluate the progress of a WB project and directly develop and deliver a training program for the establishment and operation/maintenance of the M&E system at all levels. She also has experience in developing communication strategies, and training materials, and delivering training at all levels.

Fully proficient in English and Vietnamese, Dr. Lien brings with her a wealth of international experience grounded in her strong interpersonal and cross-cultural communication skills. This has enabled her to work with colleagues from a diverse range of countries and foster strong working relationships with the Vietnamese authorities.