Together We Deliver: Grants for a Brighter Future is a special edition of the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) annual publication featuring stories of lives uplifted across Asia and the Pacific through grant financing by the Asian Development Fund (ADF). The ADF provides grants to support activities that reduce poverty and improve the quality of life in “ADF countries”—the poorest and most vulnerable countries in the region.

A study examines how India can increase its trade and investments in the Greater Mekong Subregion by helping small and medium-size enterprises tap into this market.

HA NOI, VIET NAM (12 December 2018) — The Asian Development Bank and Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV), the country’s largest commercial bank by assets, today signed a $300 million loan agreement to support the growth and productivity of small and medium-sized enterprises in Viet Nam.

NAY PYI TAW, MYANMAR (2 January 2019) — The Asian Development Bank signed an agreement on 21 December 2018 to provide a $10 million equity investment to Ascent Myanmar Growth Fund I LP, a Myanmar-focused private equity fund, to provide much-needed capital investment for the growth and expansion of small and medium-sized enterprises operating in the Southeast Asian country.

A reusable bamboo straw producer from the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) beat 111 entrants from across Southeast Asia to take the top prize in the 2018 Mekong Innovative Startups in Tourism (MIST) challenge.

Myanmar has opened an electronic company registry, which will help simplify and reduce the cost of setting up a business in one of Asia’s fastest-growing economies.

The Lao National Chamber of Commerce and Industry on 5 July launched the Lao Provincial Facilitation of Investment and Trade Index (ProFIT), which rates economic governance at the provincial level according to feedback from the country's small and medium enterprises.

HONG KONG, CHINA (2 February 2018) — The Asian Development Bank today signed a $100 million loan facility agreement with China Everbright International Limited to help a series of municipal waste-to-energy plants in primary and secondary cities in the Mekong Delta.  

The Mekong Business Initiative, sponsored by the Australian Government and the Asian Development Bank, is sourcing international investment and facilitating regional expansion for innovative startups.

The Mekong Business Initiative is helping Vietnamese businesswomen build their capacity to engage the government in dialogue.