A reunion of young people

Passion can create products, but only systematic business practices can build sustainable businesses. Therefore, the younger generation of 4.0 entrepreneurs are seeking each other out to build systems together, instead of just focusing on sales. The gathering of the Dai Viet Systematic Business Community Club (SBC Dai Viet) at An Van Tra Cooperative, La Bang commune, is a prime example.

Members of the Dai Viet SBC Club visited the tea plantation of the An Van Tea Cooperative.

The philosophy of "Returning to nature"

We often talk about "leaving the city for the countryside," but the story of Hoang Thi Thuy Van, Director of An Van Tra Cooperative, is a journey of "bringing the city back to the countryside."

After graduating from university and securing a job in Hanoi , a health setback (food poisoning) became a turning point for Van. She realized that her greatest asset was her family's half-century-old tea plantation.

But to succeed, love alone is not enough. After a series of training days in the PDCA entrepreneurship training environment (where many experts co-founded SBC and brought together hundreds of top CEOs nationwide), Van researched and derived the product philosophy "Returning to Nature".

Upon returning, Van developed a production model that both preserved 100% traditional processing methods to maintain the original tea flavor and applied a "weeding" method to detoxify the soil, allowing it to self-nourish and help the tea plants grow healthy. By standardizing the family's tea gardens, the An Van Tea Cooperative achieved ISO certification in August 2021.

This systematic approach has enabled the company's tea products to penetrate major supply chains in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, and to be exported through unofficial channels to demanding markets such as the US and Germany. To increase value, An Van Tea sells not only tea but also an experience.

An Van Tra has initially experimented with combining agriculture with experiential tourism, transforming its tea gardens into "healing havens," creating a unique added value that attracts international tourists, including representatives from the Malaysian Consulate General.

The director of An Van Tra Cooperative introduces the product at the Dai Viet SBC Club.

Now, as the Head of Membership Management for the SBC Dai Viet Club, Van shares: "My three siblings and I once promised never to return to our village because we saw how hard our parents worked. But after acquiring business knowledge, I realized that the countryside is where I belong. I want to develop agriculture and experiential tourism simultaneously, based on the advantages of the Tam Dao mountains and the pristine headwaters of my homeland."

Create a supportive "ecosystem".

The success of An Van Tra Cooperative bears the significant mark of community support from SBC Dai Viet. From an economic perspective, one of the biggest pressures facing small and medium-sized enterprise owners today is the loneliness of decision-making.

Mr. Luc Xuan Viet (Trinh Viet Co., Ltd., Phan Dinh Phung Ward, Thai Nguyen Province) shared: Business owners face a lot of pressure regarding operations, branding, capital... These difficulties are hard to share with family members. If prolonged, it will lead to unwise decisions and could cause significant harm to the business. SBC Dai Viet is part of a community founded by automation expert Hoang Dinh Trong (also a native of Thai Nguyen), aiming to solve this problem.

Mr. Ngo Van Phuc, Chairman of the SBC Dai Viet Board, analyzed: "We aspire to cultivate both the mindset and vision of business people. We don't just stop at theory. We go to the actual locations, like An Van Tra today, to experience and learn from our colleagues' processes, while also providing feedback to improve the model and enhance their leadership capabilities. This is a model of 'peer learning' and 'mutual evaluation'."

Mr. Ngo Van Phuc emphasized that the core value is "trust": Once we have experienced and understood the product, we can use our reputation to guarantee it. We are proud of An Van Tra's journey of "digging through the soil and turning over the grass" to develop the product. That trust is the basis for us to cross-sell products to each other. What sets the SBC community apart is that they don't just talk about "sales."

Ms. Hoang Thi Thuy Van stated: "The club organizes many activities to help entrepreneurs develop comprehensively in terms of mind, body, and spirit before developing their businesses. Only then do we focus on supporting the improvement of business thinking and optimizing processes to achieve sustainable success. The 'practical experience' at An Van Tea House is a prime example. Members don't just come to drink tea; they observe, listen, and offer suggestions."

Mr. Ha Manh Cuong, the owner of a motorcycle repair shop in Pho Yen ward, a native of Phu Tho province, shared: "Although I haven't taken over the family business yet, I want to learn the mindset and operation of this tea-making model so I can bring it back to my hometown and support my relatives. Who knows, this might be valuable experience for me in the future. From a concrete model, knowledge is spread and replicated."

The content of the discussions among club members provides valuable experience for those in business.

Mr. Pham Dinh Duy, Chairman of the Dai Viet SBC Club from Ho Chi Minh City, commented: "Today's experience was fantastic. This method is very interesting and worth learning, not only in Thai Nguyen but also very useful for small-scale producers in large tea-growing regions like Lam Dong."

The trip to La Bang was a field workshop on sustainable business. Club members experienced tea picking and processing, visited the Cua Tu stream, and even practiced meditation amidst nature. They encountered a model of "living in harmony with nature" and left with lessons on "structured business practices."

An Van Tra, once a local cooperative, is becoming a meeting point and a source of inspiration. The story of Hoang Thi Thuy Van and the support from the Dai Viet SBC community shows a clear path for young entrepreneurs: success doesn't come from solitary effort, but from building a quality product, a well-structured business model, and a mutually supportive ecosystem.

The La Bang region, with its subtly bitter yet sweet-aftertaste tea, is witnessing a new generation of entrepreneurs who are connecting with each other to achieve sustainable and humane success.

Source: https://baothainguyen.vn/kinh-te/202511/cuoc-hoi-ngo-cua-nguoi-tre-8aa2a56/