Starting a business from gac fruit

Mr. Tran Thanh Phuc introduces gac products to visitors at the Trade Promotion Fair, OCOP products - Rach Gia, An Giang in 2025. Photo: KIEU DIEM

I met Mr. Phuc at the Trade Promotion Fair, OCOP products - Rach Gia, An Giang 2025 when he was enthusiastically introducing each bottle of gac essential oil and each red lipstick to visitors.

To have these products, in 2019, Mr. Phuc started with the idea of mobilizing about 20 young people in the commune to grow gac fruit to sell fresh fruit to help young people in the commune start a business. Instead of just selling fresh fruit, Mr. Phuc nurtured the dream of increasing the value of gac fruit by processing and creating value-added product lines. Mr. Phuc researched, tested and overcame many failures to create 9 unique products from gac fruit such as: Essential oil, lipstick, wine, vermicelli, pho, massage oil, gac jam with passion fruit and rock sugar, cooking oil, gac sauce. Each product not only has nutritional value, is good for health but also opens up a new direction in exploiting the value of local agricultural products, helping young people increase their income and affirm the creative spirit of rural youth.

According to Mr. Phuc, gac is a nutritious fruit, good for human health, containing many vitamins, antioxidants... helps improve eyesight, beautify the skin, good for the heart, reduce blood cholesterol, prevent cancer, slow down the proliferation of cancer cells... Each product is a long journey of testing, adjusting and improving. Some products take up to 6 months of research such as gac lipstick to ensure adequate hardness, good moisturizing, not dry lips. Gac vermicelli and pho also have to be tested many times to find the right type of rice for the noodles to be chewy, retain the natural color and flavor. All products are made entirely from natural ingredients, no colorants, no preservatives.

Not only focusing on creating quality products, Mr. Phuc also makes use of the meat, seeds and peel of gac fruit. Mr. Phuc uses the meat of gac fruit as food, and the seeds are pressed for oil. As for the peel of gac fruit, which is thought to be discarded, he uses it as fish food.

Currently, Mr. Phuc's gac products are available on e-commerce platforms such as Shopee, TikTok, Facebook and are distributed by some agents in the province. Product prices range from 25,000 - 150,000 VND depending on the type. Some supermarket chains in Phu Quoc special zone and Long Xuyen ward have expressed their desire to cooperate to put the products on the shelves.

In the middle of the booth with the typical red color of gac fruit, Mr. Phuc shared: "I hope that the products from my hometown gac fruit will be known by many people so that the youth in the commune can have a stable source of income." For Mr. Phuc, each time he participates in the fair is not only to sell products but also an opportunity to listen to feedback to perfect the products, learn from experience, learn how to approach consumers and spread the belief in starting a business.

What is valuable about Mr. Phuc is not only his dynamism and creativity but also his spirit of sharing and spreading. After the merger, Mr. Phuc is a member of the Inspection Committee of the Thanh Dong Commune Party Committee. He is no longer the commune-level Youth Union Secretary, but he is still enthusiastic in the youth start-up movement, ready to guide techniques and share experiences in growing and processing gac fruit with the youth in the commune.

The biggest motivation for Mr. Phuc to persevere is not only the desire to start a business but also the desire to contribute to creating sustainable livelihoods for rural youth. “I do not do it alone. I do it to encourage my friends to go with me. I believe that if every rural youth knows how to take advantage of local advantages, innovate their ways of doing things and link products to real market needs; when each young person finds a way to start a business in their own hometown, they will have a sustainable career,” Mr. Phuc expressed.

Charming

Source: https://baoangiang.com.vn/khoi-nghiep-tu-trai-gac-a463965.html