Start a business with a traditional profession

DNO - In the middle of the sea where generations of fishermen have been attached to the waves and fish, young people in Nui Thanh commune are quietly choosing to start their own businesses using traditional occupations and local resources.

Starting a business in the coastal area is fraught with difficulties, but with new thinking, risk control and the ability to apply skills in production and business, many young people are gradually turning a difficult land into a place to create sustainable livelihoods.

Mr. Bui Ngoc Phuc returned to his family's anchovy fish sauce making business to develop a local brand. Photo: PHAN VINH

Keep the profession

In Trung Toan village, Mr. Bui Ngoc Phuc (born in 1984) is diligently resuming the traditional fish sauce profession that his family has maintained since before 1975. Originally a market employee, after many years of working in the city, he decided to return to his hometown to rebuild the Ky Ha fish sauce brand.

"Each drop of fish sauce is a distillation of fish, salt and time, and time cannot be shortened, so if you want to start a business with fish sauce, you must know how to carefully calculate input and output costs, and control cash flow, otherwise it will be difficult to succeed" - Mr. Phuc said.

According to him, to produce 1,000 liters of finished fish sauce, it takes at least 2 tons of anchovies caught in Ky Ha sea area, 500kg of Sa Huynh salt, plus other expenses for packaging, labor... the total investment is nearly 100 million VND, and it takes at least a year to have fish sauce to sell.

Fish sauce produced by Mr. Phuc follows the traditional method, without using additives or preservatives, only using anchovies and salt. Photo: PHAN VINH

Currently, Mr. Phuc is maintaining the fermentation of fish sauce in nearly 100 traditional earthenware jars, not using cement jars to avoid the risk of chemical contamination. In addition, he invested in wooden barrels with a capacity of 500kg to 1 ton of fish to ensure productivity and stability during fermentation.

"The quality of the fish sauce depends on the ingredients. The fish must be Ky Ha anchovies to retain a high protein content. Large fish will give a deep red color, while small fish will give a lighter color. The ratio of fish and salt must also be correct, usually 2.5 kg of salt for 10 kg of fish. If it is a little wrong, the fish sauce will spoil, and a year's effort will be lost," he added.

Phuc Dien - Ky Ha fish sauce products are produced in cooperation with Defense Economic Group 516 - Military Region 5. Photo: PHAN VINH

After registering the Phuc Dien - Ky Ha fish sauce brand in 2022, Mr. Phuc is the only household in Ky Ha to have a certificate of ownership of the traditional fish sauce brand. The product is currently being produced in cooperation with the 516 National Defense Economic Group - Military Region 5, expanding the production scale and finding a way to enter new markets.

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In the next phase, I will focus on improving the design, changing the label design to better suit the retail channel, and moving towards finding export partners. But no matter how much I expand, I will still keep my commitment to pure fish sauce, no preservatives, produced according to traditional methods.

Mr. Bui Ngoc

Turn risks into advantages

In another farming area in Xuan Trung village, Mr. Phung Van Tam (born in 1990) is developing a closed aquaculture model complex with black apple snails, oysters and commercial fish such as cobia, grouper, pomfret, bream, rabbitfish... The special thing is that each pond and each raft is controlled by Mr. Tam with specific indicators, from salinity, water temperature, growth rate to profitability for each batch.

"The annual cost ranges from 600 to 700 million VND for all stages, including breeds, food, cage cleaning, water environment care... If well controlled, the model can generate revenue of 1 billion VND. But the risks in marine farming are much higher than in pond farming, so if you want to do it, you have to calculate carefully, know how to reduce the loss rate, and even accept increased costs to protect the results" - Mr. Tam said.

Mr. Phung Van Tam's black apple snail farm. Photo: PHAN VINH

Mr. Tam graduated with a degree in biochemistry and worked for many years in Ho Chi Minh City, but decided to return to his hometown because he realized that the potential of the sea had not been fully exploited. Unlike many mass farming models, he approached by testing each process, applying data to management, looking at the performance of each oyster raft and each fish breed to evaluate.

“I keep a daily farming diary and analyze the data myself to adjust the feed, stocking density, and harvest time. Each season will give different results. Without data, I will not know what is happening in my own cages,” Tam shared.

The market demand for commercial oysters is very high, so Mr. Tam prioritized investment in production of this model. Photo: PHAN VINH

The output of the products is quite stable, especially commercial oysters can be sold at 100,000 VND/kg, each raft earns hundreds of millions of VND. However, Mr. Tam said, the most important thing is to build a farming system that can be controlled from start to finish and proactively adapt to changes in the environment, weather or disease.

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Our country has potential, but we need to do things differently from the traditional way, using skills, data, and knowledge to turn risks into advantages. If we only do things out of habit, without measurement or calculation, it will be difficult to sustain in the long term.

Mr. Phung Van Tam

Mr. Pham Ngoc Sinh - Deputy Director of the Department of Science and Technology of Da Nang City said that starting a business in rural areas, especially coastal areas like Nui Thanh, is not an easy journey. However, those difficulties open up competitive advantages if entrepreneurs know how to choose suitable models and have a systematic approach.

"If you choose a small niche with few people doing it, have a good business model, know how to control risks and manage cash flow effectively, there will be a very sustainable development opportunity. The important thing is to do it thoroughly, not follow the trend. In addition, it is also necessary to pay attention to updating technology, taking advantage of local resources and linking ecosystems to support each other to develop together" - Mr. Sinh commented.

Source: https://baodanang.vn/khoi-nghiep-bang-chinh-nghe-truyen-thong-3297027.html