Starting a business with red arrowroot tea

Each person has a different idea for starting a business, but they all have one thing in common: they all know how to exploit local resources, process advantageous fruits and useful plants to bring higher nutritional value, support disease prevention, serve life and society, and create jobs for a part of local young workers. Processing red arrowroot tea bags by young man Nguyen Truong Hau is part of such a startup idea.

The story of Nguyen Truong Hau (Phu Trinh Ward, Phan Thiet City) starting a tea processing business from red arrowroot is quite interesting in the 2nd Innovation and Startup Competition of Binh Thuan Province, in early May. Truong Hau shared that red arrowroot is also known as wild banana tree, galangal potato, peach potato; belongs to the group of herbaceous plants, purple in both stem and root, beautiful red flowers, and capsule-shaped fruit. All 3 parts of the plant: root, stem, and flower are used as medicine. Red arrowroot grows in many northern mountainous provinces; in the south, this herbal plant is present in the mountainous forest area of Binh Thuan, concentrated in Ham Thuan Nam, Ham Thuan Bac, Duc Linh, and Tanh Linh districts. This herbal plant is considered to have many medicinal uses, such as helping to increase blood flow to the heart muscle, clean blood vessels, and lower blood pressure; used in the treatment and prevention of cardiovascular diseases.

Nguyen Truong Hau received the Potential Award at the competition.

During his outings, Hau accidentally discovered red arrowroot growing in abundance in the hills of Ham Thanh commune, Ham Thuan Nam district. He considered it a lucky thing for his business, and the idea of starting a business gradually took shape. Having already learned about the medicinal properties of this precious plant, Hau and his friends soon pooled capital to open a trial processing workshop for "Red arrowroot tea bags". The main source of raw materials is purchased from people who have wild arrowroot and some planted in gardens in Ham Thanh commune. Recently, Hau has brought wild arrowroot to cultivate in some areas in Ham Liem commune, Ham Thuan Bac district, and will soon have more raw materials for tea processing. The young entrepreneur shared the separate processing process of the herbal plant: harvesting red arrowroot, taking the flowers, stems, leaves, and roots, washing them, leaving them to dry for about half a day; putting all the above ingredients into a small cutting machine, drying them in the sun; then putting them into a roasting and drying machine. Then the machine chops and closes the tea bags automatically.

Red galangal grows abundantly in the mountains of Binh Thuan, a source of herbs for making tea.

In his presentation to the judges of the recent Innovation and Startup Competition, Nguyen Truong Hau said: “I want to develop red arrowroot material areas in areas with suitable soil in the province, in order to create a rich source of raw materials for processing tea from this herb. Products processed from herbs have health care effects for the elderly, such as supporting lowering blood pressure, increasing blood flow to the heart muscle and dilating blood vessels. The development of tea processing facilities will create more jobs for young people in the region, with stable income”. In recent times, red arrowroot tea bags have been well received and consumed by customers in the province. Processing facilities are gradually focusing on quality, meeting the increasing needs of tea users in and outside the province. The solution "Red arrowroot tea bag product ecosystem and Hu-Ca Bite production process" by Nguyen Truong Hau was recognized as the Potential Award of the 2nd Binh Thuan Province Innovation and Startup Competition, 2022 - 2024.