A sponsor is measured on doors opened, not advice given.
Mở Cửa · Open Doors pairs Vietnamese women founders who have hit a ceiling with senior business leaders who commit their calendar, their network, and their name for twelve months. Every introduction is logged. Every goal is contracted in writing.
The modelThe Foundation| Commitment | Who | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| Prepared working sessions, two hours minimum | Both | 11 |
| Genuine introductions, followed up at 30 and 90 days | Sponsor | 4+ |
| Contracted goals, quantified and dated | Founder | 2–3 |
| Open workshops, hosted in Saigon | Programme | 3 |
| Growth story presented with numbers | Founder | 1 |
of women-owned businesses in Vietnam have never scaled past micro or small. The barrier is not ambition, and it is not mentorship. It is access: the introductions and senior advocates founders cannot broker for themselves.
WISE ecosystem study, 2025Where growth stalls · Four programme areas
Financial readiness
Books, unit economics, pricing, and what makes a business fundable.
Commercial growth
Pipeline, sales process, and entering one named new market.
Management and team
Org design, first key hires, and what only the founder should do.
Professional packaging
Brand, website, and a pitch that survives a lender's questions.
Structured sponsorship, not mentorship.
A mentor
Advises from the sidelines.
No accountability for the outcome. Walks away.
An investor
Backs a company.
Takes control. Bets on equity, not on her growth.
A sponsor
Advocates. One founder, twelve months.
Opens their network, makes real introductions, and is measured on doors opened.
Both sides sign the same one-page growth contract, with failure named in advance for each. For the founder: missed sessions, no action, missed milestones. For the sponsor: cancelled sessions, no introductions, or delegating the relationship. A six-month checkpoint reviews both, honestly.
Selection to showcase.
Published criteria
An open call, scored against criteria published with it. Founders matched to sponsors by goal-fit.
Diagnostic & contract
Each pair co-signs a growth contract: two to three measurable goals, milestone dates, both signatures.
Working sessions
Monthly, two hours minimum, worked through the founder's live problem to a decision. Real numbers, not narrative.
Honest checkpoint
Continue, adjust, or stop. Decided against written criteria and documented.
Showcase
Founders present their growth stories, with numbers. The proof point, and the door to cohort two.
The pilot opens doors. The founder walks through them.
Vietnamese Women's Day
20 October 2026
Time and reputation. Not budget.
What a sponsor commits
- One prepared working session a month, two hours or more, for twelve months
- Genuine introductions each quarter · customers, partners or funders
- Vouching: their name and reputation behind the founder
- Being measured, at every milestone, on doors opened
What a sponsor gains
- Visible, attributable impact · not a logo on a banner
- A documented growth story, evidenced from the introduction log
- A real working relationship, fully convened and managed
- A seat among peers doing the same
Sponsorship is by invitation, and the pilot asks sponsors for no financial contribution. The open call for founders launches on 20 October 2026 with published selection criteria.
Founders, sponsors, partners.
If you would like to find out more or would like to get involved, please reach out to us directly.
