8x female president brings 'Rice village beauty' to the world

Love for Vietnamese rice and bold decisions

After decades of living in Germany with her family, businesswoman Dang Thuy Linh, born in 1981, decided to return to Vietnam.

“Based on my love for my homeland and the desire for everyone to use Vietnamese agricultural products with clear origins and meeting export standards, I chose APG ECO as the place to realize my ambition of building a chain of high-value Vietnamese agricultural products in the domestic and international markets,” APG ECO Board of Directors Chairwoman Dang Thuy Linh recalled the major turning point in her life.

Taking on the responsibility of Chairwoman of the Board of Directors, the 8x businesswoman immediately determined: APG ECO must aim to become one of the leading online rice distribution companies in Vietnam.

Located in the ecosystem of APG Securities Company, owning 5 rice factories in the Mekong Delta, APG ECO has many favorable conditions, but the journey to conquer the rice market is not "as easy as pie".

Chairwoman of APG ECO Board of Directors Dang Thuy Linh. Photo: Provided by the character

In the early days of entering the market, especially with a product line that is not new, there were many competitors such as grocery stores, markets, supermarkets, etc., the APG ECO team encountered many difficulties in marketing and convincing customers to change their rice buying habits from familiar sources to buying rice online. Especially when the majority of Vietnamese people want to "touch" the rice when buying to feel secure about the product quality.

“The first batch of goods arrived at the warehouse, the APG ECO team was quite confused, not knowing how to approach customers when my policy was not to open an agency, not to give deep discounts, not to sell at stores. In the early days, we looked forward to each order and together found solutions to change customers’ shopping behavior online.

After receiving the first orders, the spirit of the APG ECO team became more excited, continuing to confidently implement the strategy I had built. Later, when market fluctuations affected revenue, the team also tried many times to persuade me to diversify sales channels both online and directly, but I still refused to change," Ms. Linh recalled.

Quality standards are the key factor that gradually convinces customers to find, love and be "loyal" to APG ECO's rice products.

“We strictly control all stages from rice varieties, planting, care and packaging so that customers receive quality products as committed. All products are manufactured according to export standards, meeting even the most demanding markets such as Europe, America, etc.

The factory has invested in modern machinery lines, such as installing a rice drying system imported from Japan to ensure the quality of rice after drying. Currently, APG ECO has developed 6 rice processing and milling factories as well as linked with hundreds of households in the provinces of An Giang, Soc Trang , Hau Giang, etc., encouraging people to produce organically," said Ms. Linh.

The female president also soon realized that applying technology and digital transformation brings many benefits: improving the quality of agricultural products; bringing agricultural products to consumers quickly and conveniently; buyers can easily search for product information, origin, and feel more secure when buying...

“Instead of focusing only on output, when implementing digital technology applications, we focus more on quality. By applying technology platforms to farming techniques, field management, harvesting, post-harvest processing, etc. to ensure quality, applying digital technology has helped APG ECO build consumer trust and contribute to building agricultural value chains from field to table,” Ms. Linh emphasized.

In particular, quickly catching the trend of shopping on social networks, the Chairman of APG ECO boldly sold rice on TikTok - a platform that applies many subsidy activities such as free shipping and promotional discounts.

The 8x female president's "willingness to spend" is shown through a series of bold decisions: livestreaming to sell products 12 hours/day, even when only one eye is watching, she still serves enthusiastically; customers can buy and cook to try, if they find it not delicious, they can return it within 6 days; home delivery within 12 hours...

“High risk, high reward”! With an average of 1,000 orders/day and many livestream sessions selling hundreds of millions of VND, APG Eco has become the rice seller with the highest revenue on the TikTok platform.

“Thanks to digital transformation, APG ECO has reached many young customers - a loyal customer base in the future. Applying technology is also a stepping stone for APG ECO to spread its brand in the market in a short time,” emphasized Chairwoman Dang Thuy Linh, and shared her experience: “When transforming digitally, businesses should carefully prepare the foundation from human resources, operating processes, technical equipment, and transportation methods to connect into a smooth circle, avoiding the case where a “link” has a problem that will affect the entire process.”

Bringing Vietnamese rice brand to the world

With many years of experience in the business world, Ms. Linh clearly understands the importance of branding for businesses that want to position their names in the agricultural supply chain.

“As a “newbie” in the industry, APG ECO wanted to choose a name that was different but still easy to remember. Instead of “World’s Best Rice”, we chose the name “Rice Beauty” with the idea of ​​​​personifying and enhancing the value of a product that has been associated with the image of a simple farmer for generations.

The brand “Beauty of the Rice Village” was developed with two product lines including ST25 rice and shrimp rice. The word “Beauty” also implies a clever boast about delicious rice, beautiful rice, high-quality rice that has been honored with international rice awards twice in 2019 and 2023,” Ms. Linh said about the birth of a rather strange agricultural brand.

The brand "Beauty of the Rice Village" is developed with 2 product lines including ST25 rice and shrimp rice. Photo: Character provided

In line with the global trend of green and sustainable economic development, in rice cultivation, APG ECO optimizes techniques to reduce post-harvest losses; carefully selects certified rice varieties and fertilizers. Along with that, the Vietnamese enterprise is also implementing a program to accompany customers in reusing rice packaging to develop new products such as shopping bags, handbags, etc., to contribute to reducing waste and creating more jobs for some charity projects.

Not only stopping at conquering the domestic market, since the establishment of APG ECO, the 8x female president has cherished the desire to bring Vietnamese rice to the international market.

“Vietnamese rice in particular and Vietnamese agricultural products in general are always interested and loved by international customers because the soil is favorable for many high-quality product lines. In the context of globalization, it is difficult for us to compete with the Chinese market in household products, but with Vietnamese agricultural products, we can confidently step out into the world and affirm the position of high-quality Vietnamese agricultural products,” Ms. Linh commented.

Currently, the brand "Beauty of the Rice Village" is present in Vietnamese supermarkets in Germany, France, the Netherlands, Poland...

Vietnamese rice distribution enterprises are speeding up preparations for many orders for European supermarkets; at the same time, they are cooperating with a number of e-commerce platforms to accompany products.

In addition, APG ECO is building an online shopping app (APG ECO App) to bring new experiences to customers globally.

Sharing the orientation to conquer the international market in the coming time, the Chairman of APG ECO said: “With the slogan “Eat clean – Live green – Be safe”, APG ECO aims to become one of the top choices for customers buying rice. We will expand our product portfolio to suit new markets, maintain quality to develop in the international market. And more than that, we hope that Vietnamese branded rice will be like a spiritual thread connecting Vietnamese people around the world with the roots of national culture”.

“As a rice distributor, finding a good rice supplier is something I always worry about, especially with ST25 rice, when there are many fake and counterfeit products on the market now. I have tried APG ECO rice to sell, it is always the product with the latest date. This is safe rice, with standards on the rice bag, my customers really like it because they can eat delicious rice at a stable price,” said the owner of a rice dealer in Tan Binh (HCMC).

“My family has always eaten ST25 rice. Recently, we bought bad rice at stores near our house but we were too embarrassed to complain, not knowing who to complain to. The other day, I saw APG ECO livestreaming on the Tiktok platform. I was most impressed by the eye-catching orange packaging, so I ordered it to try. When I opened the bag of rice, I could smell the aroma, the grains were not broken. When cooked, it was fragrant and sticky, the rice was dry, and when cooled, it was not hard. I also checked the QR code on the packaging so I knew where the rice originated. Everyone in my family likes it,” said Ms. Hang, a customer on the Tiktok channel.

Vietnamnet.vn

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/nu-chu-tich-8x-dua-my-nhan-lang-gao-ra-the-gioi-2297718.html