"Giving wings" to ethnic minority youth to establish themselves and build their careers.

In recent years, entrepreneurship among ethnic minority youth has consistently received attention from all levels of government in the province. Consequently, the province has issued numerous policies and initiatives to support and realize the entrepreneurial ideas of young people in ethnic minority and mountainous regions.

The model of raising medicinal chickens under the canopy of golden camellia trees by Mr. Dam Van Trieu (Ba Che commune) has yielded high economic efficiency.

Born and raised in the impoverished rural village of Khe Long Ngoai, Thanh Son commune (now Ba Che commune), Dam Van Trieu, a young man of the San Chi ethnic group, always harbored the dream of becoming wealthy in his homeland. Although he graduated from law school, Trieu did not pursue his chosen field. Instead, driven by his ambition and desire to improve his life, he returned to his hometown to develop the local economy. At a time when the former Ba Che district encouraged households to cultivate golden flower tea – a valuable medicinal herb included in the province's OCOP (One Commune One Product) program – Trieu took advantage of his family's forest land, converting 3 hectares of acacia plantations to 2.5 hectares of golden flower tea. The remaining area was used to cultivate ginseng, rattan, and other economically viable crops in the area.

After some time, realizing that the conditions in his hometown were very suitable for developing livestock farming, in 2019, he invested in a farm and imported 1,000 Tien Yen breed chickens to raise. Mr. Trieu shared: "Thanks to encouragement from my family and thanks to my father - who has experience in farming and livestock - I invested in a farm to raise chickens using a semi-free-range method."

According to our research, during the breeding and care process, Mr. Trieu lets his chickens roam on the hills and in gardens under the forest canopy so they can forage for natural food. To ensure a steady supply of medicinal herbs for the chickens, he uses medicinal plants such as lemongrass, honeysuckle, and ginseng grown on his family's hillside forest to mix into the chicken feed, helping to boost the flock's immunity.

Mr. Trieu added: “I also researched and learned about chicken farming methods through the internet, then went to learn from farms around the area to apply to my family's flock. From there, I gained a lot of experience and developed a garden-livestock-forest economic model. This is also a new approach in the locality, and if we apply it successfully, it can be replicated for other people in the area.”

Currently, on average, Mr. Trieu raises 2,000-2,500 chickens annually using a semi-free-range method. To develop the brand of medicinal hill chickens, the Youth Union of the commune has supported and guided Mr. Trieu in various aspects such as breeding, care, disease prevention, building chicken coops, and installing automatic feeding and drinking systems, thus ensuring the healthy development of his flock.

Mr. Trieu also said that when he raises chickens using medicinal plants, the meat is firmer, tastier, and less gamey, the skin is yellower, and the chickens are less prone to disease. After applying this method of raising chickens under the golden camellia tree, his family's economic situation has improved significantly, with a more stable income of 200-300 million VND per year.

The Provincial Investment and Entrepreneurship Club is organizing a trade promotion and entrepreneurship networking program in the Eastern region, August 2024.

Recognizing that supporting young people in economic development, self-reliance, and career building is one of the important tasks of the Youth Union, all levels of the Youth Union have implemented programs to support young people in career development, employment, and entrepreneurship with many activities; at the same time, they have promoted communication and replicated successful startup models. The Provincial Youth Union has established and maintained the activities of Investment and Entrepreneurship Clubs in localities. This creates a forum for young people to share and exchange skills and experiences in entrepreneurship and career building.

In the first six months of 2025, the Provincial Youth Union directed the Provincial Investment and Entrepreneurship Club to organize three "Businessmen's Coffee" programs, and directed the Provincial Young Entrepreneurs Association to organize the "Young Entrepreneurs' Trade Promotion Program 2025," which attracted more than 40 booths from member businesses throughout the province. The booths showcased typical products and services mainly in fields such as manufacturing, trade, services, digital transformation, tourism, and agriculture . Besides the exhibition, the event also served as a forum for sharing experiences in management, business model innovation, technology application, e-commerce, digital skills development, and online brand building.

Activities supporting young people in establishing themselves and their careers are also implemented through the exploitation of loan sources to support youth economic development, job creation, poverty reduction, ensuring the quality of loans and preventing the situation of lending to ineligible recipients. As of May 2025, the total outstanding entrusted loans through the Social Policy Bank reached VND 656.15 billion.

In order to develop the startup ecosystem, especially to support youth-owned businesses, the province is also promoting resource connectivity, developing business incubators, improving the investment environment and applying science and technology, creating favorable conditions for young people to realize their startup ideas in real life.

Ky Thuong Am Vap Farm (Ky Thuong commune) - a community tourism model founded by two young people, Nguyen Trung Kien and Ly Tai Ngan - attracts a large number of tourists to experience it.

In 2024, the province inaugurated the Innovation and Digital Transformation Support Center. The center's functions include providing space, facilities, and resources to support community activities, businesses in general, and startups in particular; receiving and developing initiatives and practical experiments; organizing idea and initiative competitions for the community; enhancing the scientific and technological capacity of small and medium-sized enterprises; organizing activities to promote the development of the innovative startup ecosystem; and supporting the development of startup ideas and projects.

Since 2018, the "Quang Ninh Province Creative Startup Ideas" competition has been organized, creating a valuable platform for young people to exchange ideas. In the last three years, the competition has received 162 startup ideas and projects from young people, students, and university students. Over the years, the number and quality of ideas and projects have increased, clearly demonstrating the innovative and creative spirit of youth. The province has also supported over 120 young entrepreneurs, including 28 innovative startups, and 132 youth-owned businesses have received consulting and development support.

It is evident that, in supporting ethnic minority youth to start businesses, the government, along with various levels and sectors, has been dedicating significant priorities and resources to realizing their dreams; making an important contribution to uniting and consolidating youth, and promoting local socio-economic development.

Van Anh

Source: https://baoquangninh.vn/chap-canh-cho-thanh-nien-dtts-lap-than-lap-nghiep-3373066.html