In Soc Trang, after quitting his job at the hospital with a salary of over 20 million VND per month, Mr. Hua Tran Phong researched and created handicrafts from dried banana stalks, earning a profit of 500 million VND per year.
Phong's showroom, displaying handicrafts and household items made from dried banana leaves, paper, water hyacinth, and coconut fiber, is located in Ward 5, Soc Trang City. This is also where the 37-year-old meets partners who share his passion for green, environmentally friendly products.
After graduating with a degree in biotechnology in 2008, Phong worked for seven years at a large hospital in Can Tho , earning over 20 million VND per month. Despite the stable job, his passion for business, especially in traditional industries that utilize readily available materials, always motivated him.
Mr. Hua Tran Phong inspects household products made from dried banana stalks. Photo: An Minh.
In 2017, Mr. Phong decided to quit his job to focus on making handicrafts and household products. He started as a production manager at a cooperative making handicrafts from water hyacinth. Thanks to this job, Mr. Phong accumulated experience and gained an understanding of the market and consumer preferences. Later, he shifted his focus to selling dried banana peel raw materials to the Chinese market.
According to Mr. Phong, banana stalks are abundant in the Mekong Delta, but most people don't utilize this byproduct after harvesting the banana bunches. Dried banana stalks are very durable and can be used to create handicrafts and household items that are not only long-lasting but also beautiful.
In 2020, during the lockdown, Mr. Phong researched and developed a machine to spin dried banana stalks into fibers, aiming to reduce manual labor. After nearly a year of focused research, and ruining five machines along the way, he successfully created a machine that produces dried banana stalk fibers, with a capacity of approximately 15 kg of finished fiber per day. This was a major step forward, giving him confidence in his idea of creating handicrafts and household products from this material. "Processing the raw materials determines 50% of the success in making a finished product," he said.
The pot is made from dried banana stalks. Photo: An Minh
With quality raw materials, he continued researching how to make woven planters from dried banana stalks. Soon after, dozens of other products made from this material were also put on the shelves by Mr. Phong. To strongly develop environmentally friendly products, he boldly established a company. He introduced his products to distributors and on social media. In March 2021, a company in Hanoi proposed a partnership to export products made from dried banana stalks abroad.
Making household and handicraft products from dried banana stalks involves many steps. Mr. Phong has a team specializing in processing raw materials. First, the banana stalks are carefully selected and dried to a moisture content below 10%, ensuring they are durable but not discolored. Once the raw materials are ready, workers feed them into coils using a machine. From these banana stalks, a separate team weaves the finished products according to customer requirements. Finally, the products undergo finishing processes such as applying glue, drying, and attaching labels.
Currently, Mr. Phong's company has nearly 40 employees and produces about 500 types of products, mainly from dried banana stalks, paper, coconut fiber, etc. Dried banana stalks alone can be used to make about 400 types of handicrafts and household items such as hats, mats, plant pots, gift baskets, decorative lamps, trays for household and office items, trash cans, etc., priced from 15,000 to 500,000 VND per product.
Phong's company is currently providing jobs for over 30 workers. Photo: An Minh
Besides selling approximately 4,000 products per month in the domestic market, Phong's company exports goods to New Zealand, the United States, and China. After deducting expenses, the profit is around 500 million VND per year. However, currently, the business can only meet about 20% of customer demand.
"The biggest difficulty is that the main raw material can only be used during the sunny months; if it rains, the quality is not guaranteed," he said, adding that compared to water hyacinth, dried banana stalks take 10-14 days longer to process. Furthermore, transporting the banana fibers is more difficult, thus increasing costs. Meanwhile, only certain types of bananas with the right firmness and attractive color can be used.
To overcome this problem, Mr. Phong said he is working to build a sufficiently large production facility and develop a product line made from banana leaves. At the same time, he hopes to access preferential loan capital and trademark protection to help the company expand its scale and make the most of local raw materials.
An Minh
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