Ho Chi Minh City aims to propel local companies into world's Top 500

• Startup dreams bring real money to Vietnam’s office market
• Hanoi wants to get in on Vietnam's start-up race
• Ho Chi Minh City’s private businesses to receive $100-million boost
• Vietnam strategizes to be a start-up nation
• Should the Vietnamese government invest in start-ups?
• Saigon, chasing the Silicon Valley dream, nurtures tech startups
• Saigon kicks off construction of its own 'Silicon Valley'

Ho Chi Minh City will help some of its local businesses join the world’s top 500 companies, a city leader said.

The city will focus on the growth of the service sector and use innovation to grow business, mayor Nguyen Thanh Phong said at a meeting with the city’s business community Tuesday.

“[We aim to] develop Ho Chi Minh City into a technology hub and a smart city which will host local corporations listed in the world’s top 500,” Phong said.

The Vietnamese government has an ambitious goal of turning Ho Chi Minh City into the country’s major technology center – home to internationally competitive firms.

The city's policymakers approved last year a package of fresh initiatives aimed at paving the way for a tech startup boom.

Under the plan, the municipal government will support 2,000 idea-stage companies over the next four years through training, networking, legal advising, and funding.

The city has also planned to develop a system of startup incubators, also known as co-working spaces, where startups can gain access to basic operational infrastructure to start their business accelerator.

Ho Chi Minh City expected to double the number of private companies to 500,000 by 2020 and the private sector will become the main economic driving engine, accounting for about 65 percent of its gross domestic product, said Dinh La Thang, the city's top leader.

Related news:

> Saigon, chasing the Silicon Valley dream, nurtures tech startups

> Should the Vietnamese government invest in start-ups?