Twin Transition: A New Roadmap for Vietnamese SMEs

Ho Chi Minh City, 10 September 2026 — Digital transformation and green transformation are increasingly becoming two sides of the same business challenge for Vietnamese enterprises. For small and medium-sized enterprises in particular, the question is no longer simply whether to transform, but how to do so in a way that improves productivity, strengthens sustainability and keeps them competitive in international markets.

This was the focus of “The Twin Transition Journey for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises,” held in Ho Chi Minh City on 10 September. The event brought together representatives from the Agency for Private Enterprise Development (APED), Ministry of Finance of Vietnam, GIZ, EY, ABN Asia, BambuUP and the Vietnamese SME community to discuss how businesses can turn the twin transition from a policy concept into practical action.

The event was organised by APED in cooperation with GIZ, as part of the Twin Transition Hub (TTH) project, which supports Vietnamese SMEs in combining digital transformation and green transformation.

From two transformations to one business strategy

For many companies, digital transformation and green transformation have traditionally been treated as separate initiatives.

Digital transformation means software, automation, cloud systems, data and AI.

Green transformation means energy efficiency, emissions reduction, sustainable production, ESG and environmental compliance.

But in practice, the two are increasingly dependent on each other.

A company cannot effectively measure its environmental footprint without reliable data. It cannot demonstrate sustainable sourcing without traceability. It cannot efficiently manage increasingly complex environmental requirements through disconnected spreadsheets and manual processes.

Digital infrastructure is becoming the foundation of green transformation.

At the same time, sustainability requirements are creating new reasons for businesses to collect, manage and use data more effectively.

This is the essence of the Twin Transition: Digital Transition and Green Transition moving together.

From awareness to implementation

A key message from the event was that SMEs need practical support rather than simply another transformation framework.

The Twin Transition Hub is moving into a new phase focused increasingly on implementation, including group coaching, direct consulting and on-site assessments to help companies identify their priorities and develop practical transformation plans.

This is particularly important for SMEs, which often face limited financial resources, limited technical capacity and a lack of dedicated teams for digitalisation and sustainability.

The objective is not to ask every company to adopt every new technology.

It is to identify where digital and green transformation can create real business value.

ABN Asia shares a practical technology perspective

As part of the programme, ABN Asia delivered a keynote session, sharing its perspective on how technology can connect digital and green transformation at the operational level.

Rather than treating sustainability as a separate reporting function, ABN Asia presented an approach in which sustainability data becomes part of the company's everyday operating systems.

A key example was ABN Asia's work with Trọng Đức Cocoa, demonstrating how digitalisation across the cocoa value chain can connect operational data with traceability, sustainability measurement and international market requirements.

The journey runs from:

Procurement → Fermentation → Drying → Grading → Warehousing → Transportation → Export.

By capturing operational information digitally, the same underlying data can support business management, traceability, environmental measurement, certification and ESG reporting.

This creates a progression:

Digitalisation → Measurement → Greening → Digital Passport → International Markets.

For export-oriented businesses, this connection is becoming increasingly important as international markets demand greater transparency around supply chains, product origins, production practices and environmental impact.

Turning data into a competitive advantage

The discussion around Twin Transition is therefore moving beyond compliance.

The objective is to make better data a business asset.

For a Vietnamese agricultural producer, for example, traceability data can help demonstrate where a product came from. Production data can help identify inefficiencies. Environmental data can support emissions measurement. Certification data can support market access.

The same digital foundation can potentially serve all of these purposes.

Instead of creating another reporting system on top of the business, the goal is to build systems where the information is generated naturally as the business operates.

In this sense, a digital passport is more than a compliance document. It can become a digital representation of the product's journey, providing evidence of its origin, production and sustainability characteristics.

A growing ecosystem for Vietnam's SMEs

The presence of government, international development organisations, professional services firms, technology companies and businesses at the event reflects the increasingly collaborative nature of the Twin Transition.

No single organisation can deliver this transformation alone.

Government creates the policy environment. Development organisations support capacity building. Professional firms bring expertise and methodology. Technology companies provide the digital infrastructure. And businesses ultimately have to make the transformation work in their factories, supply chains and daily operations.

The event therefore represents more than another conference about digitalisation or sustainability.

It is part of a broader shift in how Vietnamese businesses think about competitiveness.

The next generation of companies will increasingly need to be digital by default and green by design.

ABN Asia and the Twin Transition

For ABN Asia, participating in the event as a keynote speaker represents an important opportunity to contribute its experience in enterprise software, AI, data and business process digitalisation to this emerging agenda.

ABN Asia's view is straightforward:

Digital transformation should not exist separately from green transformation.

The systems that help a company run its business should also help it understand its environmental impact, improve its efficiency, demonstrate compliance and compete in international markets.

That is the opportunity of the Twin Transition.

Digital Transition + Green Transition = Twin Transition.

And for Vietnamese SMEs, the journey from digitalisation to greener, more competitive and internationally connected businesses has already begun.

Author

Ai Base Network (ABN), ABN ASIA was founded by people with deep roots in academia, with work experience in the US, Holland, Hungary, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and Vietnam. ABN Asia is where academia and technology meet opportunity. With our cutting-edge solutions and competent software development services, we're helping businesses level up and take on the global scene. Our commitment: Faster. Better. More reliable. In most cases: Cheaper as well.

Feel free to reach out to us whenever you require IT services, digital consulting, off-the-shelf software solutions, or if you'd like to send us requests for proposals (RFPs). You can contact us at [email protected]. We're ready to assist you with all your technology needs.