Ms. Hai's (on the right) economic model creates jobs for many female members.

Persist

In a small workshop filled with the gentle aroma of incense in Thuy Xuan ward, Ms. Ngo Thi Hai and her colleagues are busy completing batches of herbal mosquito-repellent incense sticks to deliver to customers on time. Few people know that to achieve what she has today, Ms. Hai has gone through a challenging and arduous entrepreneurial journey. Starting with a loan channeled through the Women's Union of Thuy Xuan ward, Ms. Hai boldly purchased machinery to make incense sticks – a traditional craft in the area.

When she first started, Ms. Hai only had a few million dong in hand. With limited capital and experience, the market was highly competitive. While making incense sticks, Ms. Hai thought about creating a new, unique product with high practical application and, most importantly, safety. That's when she came up with the idea of ​​herbal mosquito repellent incense sticks. “Because the product was quite new, the market was hesitant when it was launched, and sales weren't high. There were times I wanted to give up, but then I thought, if I don't persevere, I'll never have the chance to change my life,” Ms. Hai recalled.

The more she worked, the more she realized the potential of her new product. She continued to experiment, trying out the most suitable blend, testing each batch of buds to create a product with a pleasant flavor. Many times, the product failed, the aroma wasn't right, and Ms. Hai had to start over. There were times when she ran out of capital, but thanks to loans from neighbors, she had more money to buy ingredients and pay her workers.

After persistent efforts, Ms. Hai successfully combined agarwood with natural ingredients such as soapberry, lemongrass leaves, and basil to create herbal mosquito repellent incense sticks – a new, environmentally friendly product.

From that idea, Ms. Hai continued to research and develop many other applied products such as mosquito repellent spray, mosquito repellent wax, cinnamon incense, and high-quality frankincense incense. Her products have a gentle fragrance, are non-toxic, and suitable for green living spaces. Currently, all products have registered trademarks and are gradually establishing their position in the market.

From handcrafted production to modern business

From her early days of making products by hand at home, Ms. Hai has now expanded her production scale, building a processing workshop right in Thuy Xuan ward with complete modern machinery. Each day, her workshop produces an average of 1,000 boxes of incense sticks and mosquito repellent incense sticks, and over 500 bundles of large incense sticks, supplying the market both within and outside the city. Notably, her business model has created stable employment for more than 10 local women members, with incomes ranging from 6 to 15 million VND per month.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Hanh, one of the workers who has been with the company since the beginning, shared: "Working at Ms. Hai's workshop is both stable and educational. Before, I worked freelance with an unstable income, but now I have a stable job and I get to work near home."

Besides creating jobs for workers at the workshop, Ms. Hai also equipped some members with machinery so they could take orders home for processing, helping them to have more flexible time and be more proactive in their family lives.

Ms. Doan Thi My Hanh, Vice Chairwoman of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee and Chairwoman of the Women's Union of Thuy Xuan Ward, assessed: Ms. Ngo Thi Hai is a prime example in the ward's movement of women entrepreneurs and successful businesswomen. Not only is she dynamic and creative, but she also knows how to effectively utilize loan capital to develop her family's economic model, helping many other members find jobs and increase their income. This is a sustainable economic development model, consistent with the "green entrepreneurship for women" orientation that the Union is currently promoting.

Text and photos: THAO VY

Source: https://huengaynay.vn/chinh-polit-xa-hoi/phu-nu/khoi-nghiep-sang-tao-160051.html