Starting a business in your hometown with digital technology

While many young people in the city start up with modern business models, many young ethnic minorities choose to start their own businesses right in their villages. They take advantage of the power of digital technology to spread indigenous culture, and at the same time bring highland products to markets and consumers everywhere.

From sharing life in the highlands to opening up new business directions

Ban Thi Duyen - a Red Dao girl from Chau Que commune started her journey with a simple but inspiring idea: to record and share everyday moments in the village. From images of people going to the fields, picking wild vegetables, tending cinnamon, planting rice to meals full of mountain flavor into rustic, authentic films that spread on TikTok and Facebook.

"One day, I suddenly realized that the people and the countryside here are so beautiful. Beautiful from the streams, hills, forests or vast cinnamon fields... the peace, rusticity, authenticity, simplicity of the highlands. I came up with the idea of ​​sharing about daily life in the village, the peace that this place has" - Ban Thi Duyen said.

With the love and emotions of a native, Duyen has recorded the life of the highlands through rustic, authentic footage, touching the hearts of viewers and attracting hundreds of thousands of followers. She did not expect that the simplicity of the mountains and forests would have such a strong influence.

Ban Thi Duyen shares the daily life of the village on social networks.

In her videos , Duyen and the villagers are the main characters in the forest, working in the fields, taking care of cinnamon, harvesting rice, picking medicinal leaves... Since then, she has received many inquiries and inquiries about cinnamon products and traditional herbs of the Red Dao people in her homeland. From the love of the online community, Duyen saw an opportunity to introduce, promote and consume the products of her homeland.

Social networks open up opportunities for Ban Thi Duyen to introduce and promote
products of the homeland

Since then, Duyen has started to introduce typical products of her hometown through social networks such as: cinnamon essential oil, cinnamon powder, cinnamon sticks, blood tonic tea, gam extract, bath leaves, postpartum medicine... These products are familiar in the lives of families and villagers, now Duyen brings them in a new, modern, closer and more unique form. Therefore, in the videos of labor and production associated with the products, the promotion becomes more natural, attractive, attracting viewers, learning and interacting.

Ban Thi Duyen has TikTok and Facebook accounts that attract a large number of followers.

To date, Duyen’s TikTok account “cogaidaodo123” has more than 135,000 followers, more than 3 million likes; the fanpage has reached nearly 300,000 interested people. Duyen’s hometown products are known by many people and the demand for purchasing has increased. Through products sold directly through social networks, she not only promotes her hometown products but also creates more jobs for people in the village.

“Technology has opened new doors for people in the highlands like me. I can stay in my village and still work, do business and spread ethnic culture everywhere” - Duyen said happily.

From spreading culinary culture to expanding business

If Duyen tells stories through images and mountain products, Ha Thi Hang - a Thai Muong Lo girl in Pa Khet residential group, Trung Tam ward, chooses cuisine to share stories with the online community.

With the TikTok account “Hang Muong Lo”, Hang skillfully brings footage imbued with the flavor of her homeland, introducing the culinary quintessence of the Thai people. In the rustic kitchen space, her mother-in-law and grandmother-in-law with skillful hands and rich experience become the main characters telling stories through each dish: pa pỉnh tộp (grilled stream fish), five-color sticky rice, jumping shrimp salad, buffalo pia, Chinese sausage, bamboo rice, stone moss, bamboo shoots… All create a unique appeal, both rustic and captivating to viewers.

Ha Thi Hang tells the story of Thai Muong Lo cuisine on TikTok.

Not only introducing the dishes, Hang also talked about the meaning and cultural origin behind them. “Each dish is associated with a festival, with a story about family, about the feelings of the Thai Muong Lo people. I want everyone to understand that cuisine is not just for eating, but also a way to tell a cultural story. Each dish is not only delicious but also a slice of the culture of the Thai Muong Lo people” - Ha Thi Hang expressed.

Culinary culture of Thai people in Muong Lo through the sharing of Ha Thi Hang
attract many people's attention and follow-up.

Although the channel has only been built for more than a year, Hang's TikTok account now has over 53,000 followers and over 800,000 likes.

From the interest of the online community, Hang began to expand her business in agricultural products and Northwest specialties, such as: Mu Cang Chai honey, Tram Tau taro, chili bamboo shoots, sticky rice cakes, dried meat... on social networks. She both sold directly at Muong Lo market and livestreamed in the evening to introduce the products. Up to now, online sales revenue accounts for a large proportion of her business.

Ha Thi Hang found an opportunity to expand her business on digital platforms.

Master digital technology , boldly try

From how to film and edit videos to how to chat with the audience, both Duyen and Hang learned everything online, then persistently practiced with just a phone, both turned their passion into real work.

“At first, I also found technology difficult, but I thought that if I considered it a challenge, it would always be difficult. I tried and considered it an opportunity to change my life” - Ban Thi Duyen shared.

Now, Duyen uploads new videos every week, all of which she films herself, sometimes with the help of her younger brother. With each completed clip, Duyen always feels happy and full of energy.

“Ideas for video content are never-ending. Just stepping out of the house, looking at the mountains and forests, looking at the villagers, I have something to tell” - Duyen smiled with eyes filled with love for her homeland in the highlands.

For Hang, she was determined from the start: "I follow many Tiktokers, I think that if they can do it, I can do it too."

"There are still many culinary cultural features of the Thai Muong Lo people that I want more people to know about" - Hang shared more.

The two young girls share the same spirit of self-study to master digital technology, so that each girl can perfect her channel building and video making skills, create content that attracts the attention of many people and open up a new path for herself to start a business.

Ban Thi Duyen and Ha Thi Hang (first, second, from right) participate in an activity to promote the local digital economy.

Grasping technology and daring to try, Ban Thi Duyen and Ha Thi Hang created their own
the path to starting your own business right from your hometown.

In the context of digital transformation spreading to all regions, young ethnic minority people, especially young ethnic minority women like Duyen and Hang, are proving that as long as they know how to grasp technology and dare to start, right in their own villages, they can completely open up a wide-open path to entrepreneurship from their hometown products.

Source: https://baolaocai.vn/khoi-nghiep-tai-que-huong-tu-cong-nghe-so-post886574.html