The special motivation that helped a Vietnamese American woman succeed with purple tea

chi nguyen purpose tea founder.jpg — Chi Nguyen, founder and CEO of Purpose Tea.

The success story of “Purpose Tea”

Chi Nguyen - a Vietnamese woman, immigrated to the US in 1978 with her family, grew up in Grand Prairie/Texas (USA). After graduating from university, Chi Nguyen worked as an executive director for a brand strategy company for many years, before founding “Purpose Tea”.

Purpose Tea, founded in Dallas in 2017, creates purple tea-based beverages with a noble mission: to help some of the world's poorest women working in the tea industry escape poverty.

Initially, Chi Nguyen did not focus on a specific product, with a very simple business mindset: “I am not too concerned with what the company sells. We have so many things in this world. For me, the important thing is to have a profitable business.”

Realizing that in Dallas (USA), the startup ecosystem is developing very strongly, especially in the food and beverage sector, with a lot of support from industry associations, Chi Nguyen began to take an interest in this field and looked for a niche market to pursue in a competitive context.

Chi Nguyen’s search for the ideal tea for her startup took her to Kenya, “because it’s the third-largest region in the world for smallholder farms.” That’s where she stumbled upon purple tea and the impoverished women who work in its production.

screen shot 2021 03 26 at 1129.jpg — Purpose Tea products are sold throughout Dallas (USA).

“In my research, I discovered that 85-90% of tea leaf pickers and the majority of farm laborers are women,” Chi Nguyen said. After meeting many women and talking to them about their lives and the challenges they face, Chi Nguyen was inspired with the idea of founding “Purpose Tea” to “create a model that has social impact.”

Chi Nguyen's Dallas-based startup now sells bottled and ready-to-drink purple tea products, sourced from Kenya.

Profits from Purpose Tea’s business are being used to fund three key areas in Kenya: training and education (many women never finish primary school); scholarships for their children (school fees are two-thirds of their annual salary); and access to land (nearly 98% of land in Kenya is owned by men, so the ability to lease agricultural land gives women a huge economic advantage).

Recently, Chi Nguyen’s brand and mission have gained a lot of buzz. In August 2023, Chi Nguyen was one of the winners of the Dallas regional round of the “TiE Women Global Pitch 2023” competition.

She is a finalist in the global competition, to be held in Singapore next November, for potential investments.

shutterstock 1297940881 677x451.jpg — Purple tea is an agricultural product endemic to Kenya.

What is purple tea?

Unlike black or green tea, purple tea offers a blend of mild flavors that are said to be free of bitterness and astringency. Grown only in Kenya, at altitudes between 1,300-2,300m, purple tea starts out green like most other teas, but gradually turns purple as it matures.

Some early research has noted purple tea's natural anti-cancer and fat-burning properties. It has a mild to medium flavor, with a sweet aftertaste. Because it is grown at high altitudes, this tea variety has a higher content of anthocyanins, a type of antioxidant.

Also because it is grown at a higher altitude, the plant is exposed to more sunlight, which creates the unique color and composition of purple tea.

In addition to providing higher levels of antioxidants than blueberries or green tea, purple tea also helps improve nerve cell function and lower blood sugar levels, making it ideal for those struggling with diabetes.

(According to Gardenuity)

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