There is a question that every impact-driven startup in Southeast Asia eventually has to answer: how do you scale the thing that makes you matter, without losing it in the process? Growth brings new pressures — on margins, on operations, on focus. And in a region as policy-shaped as ASEAN, scaling also means staying in step with national development priorities that are themselves moving fast.

That tension — between startup momentum and systemic alignment — sat at the centre of the Third ASEAN Start-Up Policy Roundtable, hosted by ERIA at the E-DISC centre. BUYO Solutions was proud to be part of the conversation.

What the roundtable covered
Over two days, the discussion moved across four interconnected themes — each one pressing, each one under-resolved across the region.

The role of startups in national innovation and growth policy
How ASEAN governments are — and aren't — creating the policy conditions for startups to drive inclusive economic growth. What alignment between startup ecosystems and national development agendas actually requires.
 
Circular economy and waste management at scale
Moving circular economy principles from pilot projects to systemic adoption — what infrastructure, investment, and regulatory conditions are needed to close the loop at regional scale.
 
Emerging trends in the social startup ecosystem
How the definition of social enterprise is evolving across ASEAN — and what the next generation of impact-driven startups looks like in practice.

A voice worth hearing: Vietnam's social startup scene
One of the most valuable conversations from the roundtable came through a connection with Ms. Pham Kieu Oanh, Director of the Centre for Social Initiatives Promotion (CSIP Vietnam) — one of the architects of Vietnam's social startup ecosystem and a leading voice on what it takes to build ventures that deliver genuine, lasting social impact.

What comes next
The Third ASEAN Start-Up Policy Roundtable was a two-day conversation — but the work it reflects is long-term. Building circular economies at regional scale, aligning startup innovation with national development agendas, and creating the investment and policy conditions for social enterprises to grow: none of this resolves in a single forum.

What forums like this do is accelerate trust, surface shared priorities, and create the multi-stakeholder relationships that systemic change requires. BUYO will continue to show up for these conversations — and to deepen our impact alongside the ecosystem that makes them possible.

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