Constantly innovate and create in business

With sincerity, perseverance and a spirit of learning, Ms. Nguyen Thi Le Thanh hopes that Ninh Binh's hometown dishes will be known and trusted by many people.

Born and raised in Gia Vien (Ninh Binh), a place famous for its shrimp paste, in 2019, Ms. Nguyen Thi Le Thanh decided to start a business with the product "Thanh Nguyen Steamed Meat with Shrimp Paste". Ms. Thanh shared that in the early days of starting a business, the difficulty for her was finding a way to make steamed meat with shrimp paste that both ensured quality, had the flavor of her hometown, and also had to suit the taste of most consumers.

Therefore, on the journey of researching and finding the right flavor, Ms. Thanh had to throw away tons of pork many times. Determined to take "heart" as her business philosophy, she is willing to listen to feedback from customers to improve the product.

"Once I stood in the rain just to hope that a customer would agree to experience my product again after being dissatisfied. And now she is one of my "regular" customers," Ms. Thanh recalled.

With the desire for absolutely safe products, with the support of experts from the Institute of Food Technology, she launched a product of steamed meat with shrimp paste without preservatives. The product has been certified with 4-star OCOP, "Typical rural industrial product of the Northern region".

After a while, she developed the production facility into Thanh Nguyen Agricultural Production and Trading Cooperative. In 2022, Thanh Nguyen Cooperative faced many difficulties due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. To help the Cooperative overcome the difficulties, Ms. Thanh quickly found a new direction:

Ms. Nguyen Thi Le Thanh (sitting, 4th from left) introduces her products to women members in an activity organized by the local Women's Union.

Promote the application of digital technology in online business; diversify business lines by providing food to schools and industrial parks, and providing catering services.

In production, with the determination to "reinvest as much as possible", Ms. Thanh constantly upgrades machinery and equipment in production, applying the advanced quality management system HACCP (principles of establishing a food safety management system) to strictly control the production process, minimizing damaged products.

This helps Thanh Nguyen Cooperative to grow more and more, achieving a revenue of 7 billion VND in 2023, 3 times higher than the previous year. The Cooperative creates jobs for about 40 workers, most of whom are women.

In early 2023, Ms. Thanh decided to quit her government job and devote herself to building the brand "Thanh Nguyen Braised Pork with Shrimp Paste". At the same time, Ms. Thanh built the Com Que restaurant in Hoa Lu ancient town (Ninh Binh). But the restaurant business was not favorable.

At this time, she received feedback from many overseas Vietnamese who wanted the dish of steamed pork with shrimp paste to be exported abroad, meeting the needs of people living far away from home. With more motivation, Ms. Thanh exported Thanh Nguyen steamed pork with shrimp paste to countries such as Cambodia, Laos, Korea, etc.

One of the lessons Thanh learned from her startup process is "slow but steady", gradually developing and constantly improving knowledge and skills to build a livestream sales channel, do advertising communications for the brand, learn foreign languages...

Source: https://phunuvietnam.vn/khong-ngung-doi-moi-sang-tao-khi-kinh-doanh-dac-san-ninh-binh-20240619095435565.htm