When passion turns into a "money-making" job

Ms. Nguyen Anh Nguyet, a women's association member in area 5, ward IV, Vi Thanh city, next to the soursop tea product she made.

Starting her business at the age of over 60, Ms. Nguyen Anh Nguyet, a member of the Women's Union in Zone 5, Ward IV, Vi Thanh City, with the idea of making tea from soursop, has created the Anh Nguyet soursop tea brand. This is one of the typical startup products of the province.

Ms. Nguyet shared: “I remember that making soursop tea was just a random idea. In 2018, my family had more than ten hectares of soursop gardens that were bearing fruit. In the previous period, soursop had a fairly high price, but gradually, many people planted it, causing supply to exceed demand, consumption mainly depended on traders, so prices were often forced down, leading to unstable income. Not to mention, preserving this type of fruit is not easy, usually after harvesting it must be sold quickly, it cannot be stored for long.”

It would be a waste of effort to plant them and then cut them down to switch to another type of tree, while the garden was producing high yields, so Mrs. Nguyet tried making tea from old soursops. She was careful, experimenting with each batch of tea, failing many times, but with the determination to find a solution to the family's economic problems, Mrs. Nguyet finally found the recipe for making soursop tea for herself.

Prioritizing product quality, in a short time, the tea she made became known to many people. More and more people came to buy it, so Ms. Nguyet decided to open Anh Nguyet Soursop Tea Production Facility in 2019. Currently, each kilo of soursop tea costs between 400,000-500,000 VND, many times higher than selling fresh fruit. "I am happy to have contributed to spreading the specialty fruit of my hometown. This not only brings economic value to the family but also creates jobs for many women," Ms. Nguyet said with satisfaction.

In addition to the OCOP 3-star standard soursop tea, Ms. Nguyet's facility also has soursop tea bags and lemongrass and chili salt products that meet the OCOP 3-star standard. Starting a business at an old age, but with the concept of "the older the ginger, the spicier it is", Ms. Nguyet has proven that, when there is passion, diligence in learning and experience in life, starting a business at any age is not a barrier for women in the province to achieve success.

This is further confirmed by the case of Ms. Tran Hong Nhien (39 years old), in Hamlet 2A, Tan Hoa Commune, Chau Thanh A District, who successfully started a business with the famous coconut coffee product. She is currently continuing to make many products such as: kumquats stewed with rock sugar and honey, kumquats stewed with custard apples, kumquats stewed with ginger.

“My initial idea was just to create a delicious, novel, nutritious drink that my husband and children liked. From there, I tried combining pure coffee beans with dried coconut roasted in my garden, creating a coconut coffee product with a rich, attractive flavor. This is my first startup product at the age of 34,” Nhien shared.

According to Nhien, at first, she gave the product to a few close friends and they all rated the product as delicious, so they suggested switching to business. Especially, when she saw that many people loved the coconut coffee product, she started making it in larger quantities and decided to sell Hong Nhien Coconut Coffee mainly through online sales channels until now. Currently, the product has achieved 3-star OCOP certification at the provincial level and is helping her "make money", with an average income of more than 30 million VND/month.

Starting out as a housewife, Ms. Nhien, thanks to her acumen and proactive learning, has researched and created many products from local resources such as dried coconut, kumquat, custard apple, ginger, cajuput honey, etc. Currently, her products are expanding their market through sales channels on social networks such as Tiktok and Zalo. To have enough products to sell to customers, Ms. Nhien hires nearly 10 women near her house to help with the processing steps.

Women in the province are not only creative in developing new products, many of them also proactively apply scientific and technical advances to improve the quality and value of their products. A typical example is Ms. Le Kim Phung Em, owner of Phung Phat Soursop Tea Production Facility in Long My District. Over the past 7 years, the owner of this facility has cooperated with nearly a dozen farmers to grow soursop on an area of 30 hectares in an organic direction, ensuring a clean source of raw materials for commercial tea production.

Ms. Hoang Thi Thu, Vice President of the Provincial Women's Union, commented: "Promoting local resources, many female members have boldly turned ideas into useful products that meet the provincial 3-star and 4-star OCOP standards, which is very proud. Women not only help to enhance their hometown specialties, but they also help each other to escape poverty sustainably and take control of their family economy."

Currently, the Provincial Women's Union has established a store to introduce OCOP products, women's startup products, located on National Highway 61C, in Hamlet 2, Vi Thuy Commune, Vi Thuy District; phone: 0812.898899 - 0919.513327.

CAO OANH

Source: https://baohaugiang.com.vn/hoi-lien-hiep-phu-nu-tinh-hau-giang/khi-dam-me-hoa-thanh-cong-viec-hai-ra-tien-140458.html