The arduous journey to get rich from Vietnamese bamboo

There was a time when she had to "pay 1 million VND/day in interest" just to satisfy her passion for making bamboo products. Ms. Pham Thi Thanh Han, from VNS Phu Tho Bamboo Cooperative, overcame seemingly impossible difficulties to have a facility like today (with a revenue of over 4 billion VND/year).

- Where did your idea of making straws and bamboo products come from and what difficult stages did you go through to create the product brand you have today?

In 2019, the whole country was bustling with environmental protection startups using reed straws and sedge straws. I went to the riverbank to get reeds, dried them to make straws, but they shriveled up. I used bamboo and sedge to make straws, but they couldn't be used because they were solid and had thick walls.

In Son La province, there is a tree that the Thai people call "may loi" - a type of bamboo that grows naturally in the harshest places, in large quantities, thin-walled, beautiful appearance, straight trunk, long, but is usually only used as fences or house walls.

I collected them, cut, washed, ground the ends, boiled, dried, and packaged them into straws. They can be reused many times, can be used for 6 months, and can have the brand name engraved on them, but the downside is the high price, each straw costs 600 - 800 VND, 15 times more expensive than plastic straws.

Gian nan hành trình làm giàu từ cây tre Việt- Ảnh 1. — Products of VNS Phu Tho Bamboo Cooperative

- Is there much difficulty in getting the product out when the price is 15 times higher than plastic straws as you just shared?

It was very difficult. Every day, at 7am I rode my motorbike to sell coffee in Viet Tri city, Hanoi , and at 10pm I hurried home to feed my children, a total distance of more than 100km. I worked hard to sell to dozens of shops all week but did not get any orders because they said it was ugly, rough and expensive, so I had to leave them a few products for customers to experience.

When I received the first order from a restaurant in Viet Tri city for 10,000 straws, I cried tears of joy and told my husband: "So we have hope." I rented a truck to Son La to import raw materials, but I only had more than 100,000 VND on me. I thought of ways to go and called relatives and friends to borrow money. By evening, my husband and I had enough money to eat dinner and buy 8 tons of straws, enough to produce 50,000 - 60,000 straws.

Because bamboo straws are a new product, during the marketing and sales process, my wife and I were pressured in many ways, such as ordering custom sizes in small quantities, having to pay on credit... But everything passed.

- After that arduous journey, when did your business start to take off?

We continued to work hard through all the difficulties and tears, introducing the products wherever possible, and at the same time starting to improve the quality and design of the products. From retail customers to wholesale customers, we started placing orders of more than 100 million VND for export. My husband designed and made samples while I found customers for many new products such as bamboo spoons, bamboo thermoses, bamboo pen boxes, bamboo sofas, bamboo tables and chairs, bamboo teapots...

We process bamboo for decoration in the same way as we process straws, so their lifespan can be over 10 years if placed indoors, and 5-7 years if placed outdoors. Currently, many places such as the camping area in District 9 (HCMC), Duc Quang Shelter in Ben Tre Province, Carrot Homestay in Tien Giang Province... all bear the mark of VNS products.

Gian nan hành trình làm giàu từ cây tre Việt- Ảnh 2. — VNS has products from simple to large constructions made from bamboo.

- To operate production and business as it is today, how have you legalized your products?

In 2021, I established the VNS Phu Tho Bamboo Cooperative with 7 like-minded members, creating regular jobs for 20 workers. In 2022, I boldly brought my "brainchildren" to participate in the evaluation and ranking of OCOP in Phu Tho province.

The product group including straws, knives, spoons, forks is OCOP 4 stars, the product group of cups, tea boxes, teapots is OCOP 3 stars, creating the foundation for exporting to Korea and India. Revenue in 2023 is more than 4 billion VND and creating regular jobs for 20 local workers. With salaries ranging from 6 to 15 million VND/month.

Thank you!

Contact: Ms. Pham Thi Thanh Han - Director of VNS Phu Tho Bamboo Cooperative

Address: Zone 14 Plantation - Dong Luong - Cam Khe - Phu Tho

Phone: 0869867698

Sales link : https://www.facebook.com/VNSBAMBOSTRAWS/

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