Supporting women with knowledge and capital
After 8 years (2017 - 2025), the Provincial Women's Union organized 850 training courses on business start-ups and communication on innovative start-ups for nearly 60,000 members. In particular, it organized for female start-ups to participate in forums such as Women's Start-up Day, "Building a local innovative start-up ecosystem"... with the participation of speakers, national and international experts (France, Korea, Japan) and 120 managers and businesses. Thereby, creating opportunities for women to access and listen to introductions of projects, ideas, scientific and technological products, innovative start-ups from OCOP products and directly introduce, exchange and share their ideas and start-up products. At the same time, experts, successful businesses, and managers guide and support the production and sale of start-up products, build and connect the start-up ecosystem according to economic regional linkages. Thereby, 250 start-up products in the fields of agriculture, handicrafts, production, animal husbandry, and services of women in the province are still maintained in the newly established communes and wards and are promoted, introduced, and connected with the national start-up ecosystem.
The Provincial Women's Union coordinated with the Bank for Social Policies, international organizations such as UNDP, CARE... to support more than 20 billion VND in loans and start-up funding for women to invest in production and business. Thereby, more than 100 start-up ideas were supported, of which more than 70 production and business models operated effectively, creating stable jobs for many ethnic minority women. This is an impressive figure showing the spread of the Project to women at the grassroots level, the disadvantaged in society, especially in remote areas, where ethnic minority women have limited access to information and support services.
The implementation of the Project has brought about a fundamental change in the awareness and actions of grassroots women from being accustomed to "working small and retailing", many women have dared to think about large-scale, high-quality production and have made efforts to build brands, reputation, make financial plans, and seek partners - Comrade Hoang Thi Thuong, Vice President of the Provincial Women's Union affirmed.
Awakening the potential and strengths of communes and wards
Equipped with knowledge of KNMT and supported with loans, women at the grassroots level are confident and bold in starting their own businesses. Each successful start-up product of women is based on exploiting the potential and advantages of the commune and ward.
Thanh Cong and Tinh Tuc communes... have the advantage of growing arrowroot to produce famous delicious vermicelli. From that advantage, many Dao, Tay and Nung ethnic women choose to produce high-quality OCOP vermicelli to escape poverty and get rich legitimately. Ms. Du Thi Uyen, Dao ethnic, Phja Den hamlet, Thanh Cong commune shared: Previously, the commune and hamlet had the advantage of growing arrowroot to make vermicelli. Although I and many households in the hamlet worked hard to make handmade vermicelli, I did not pay attention to quality and brand, so the efficiency was not high and I was still a poor household. From 2020 to 2022, with technical support, capital and plant varieties from the government, I boldly borrowed capital to invest in producing high-quality OCOP vermicelli that supermarkets and traders from other provinces came to buy at home, earning over 300 million VND/year. Up to now, many Phja Den women's households have implemented this model, with income from 200 - 300 million VND/year or more.
The women's start-up movement has spread, creating a "push" for all levels and sectors, especially the new commune and ward governments operating under the 2-level local government model, to "look back at themselves", review the potential strengths of each region to encourage women to build local strength products for start-ups. The Provincial Women's Union plays a good role as a "connector", helping women choose from their strengths in crops, livestock, and traditional occupations, boldly investing in forming small and medium-sized production and business models, stabilizing and developing high-quality OCOP products.
Implementing Decision No. 939/QD-TTg dated June 30, 2017 approving the Project "Supporting women to start a business" until 2025; Plan No. 25/KH-UBND dated March 27, 2018 of the Provincial People's Committee, from 2017 to 2025, the whole province has 171 OCOP product entities achieving 4 and 3 stars, belonging to 4 product groups, including: 155 food products, 10 beverage products, 5 handicraft products, 1 tourism service product. In which, the group of female subjects has 27 cooperatives, 10 cooperatives, 7 enterprises, 73 production and business households. OCOP products meet quality standards, food hygiene and safety regulations, are trusted and highly appreciated by consumers in and outside the province. |
In the communes of Tong Cot and Ha Quang... where there is a tradition of corn and peanut cultivation, Tay, Nung and Mong ethnic women have established cooperatives and production and business households to develop fermented corn wine, corn cakes, peanut oil, peanut candy, dried corn flour... Dong Khe and Thach An communes have promoted the planting and production of black jelly as a key product, forming many black jelly processing cooperatives owned by women, typically Duc Long cooperative with more than 30 member households participating in product production, packaging and bringing to the market in the province and the lowlands, building QR codes to trace the origin.
The communes of Tra Linh, Trung Khanh, Dam Thuy, Quang Uyen are famous for tangerines, leaf wine, grass duck, Khao cake, chestnut green rice, endemic vegetables, knife forging villages, Phja Thap incense making, handmade do paper... which have been developed by the commune's women into OCOP products associated with community tourism experiences. Women's groups grow chestnuts and tangerines, provide homestay services, organize experiential tours, guide tourists to cook and enjoy specialties. Many commune women also livestream to sell products right in tangerine gardens, chestnut gardens, make chestnut green rice... which has become a popular form. Women's cooperatives and production and business households help each other in production, share experiences, provide technical support and find outlets. Initially, the products only served local people. After receiving support from the Provincial Women's Union in accessing capital, connecting to markets, training in trade skills, product marketing and packaging design, many cooperatives and production households led by women invested in machinery and registered their brands. Currently, many products of cooperatives, cooperatives and production households led by women have appeared at OCOP fairs in the Northern region, on Postmart.vn and e-commerce platforms of major supermarkets in and outside the province.
Ms. Nong Thi Luyen, Nuoc Hai dry vermicelli production cooperative, Hoa An commune shared: Before, I only knew how to make, did not know how to improve product quality, did not know how to sell. Through participating in startup forums, I have more knowledge to innovate, improve product quality, design, and product instructions to gain consumer trust. Currently, our vermicelli products are supplied to supermarkets and points of sale in the province.
Forming the KNĐMST ecosystem
The highlight in the implementation of the Project is that the Provincial Women's Union has organized a network to support startups in clusters, creating conditions for women to receive support from experts and businesses to develop ideas, invest in products and bring them to market, etc. Establishing cooperatives and cooperatives owned by women, operating in the fields of clean food production, herbal medicine, brocade weaving, preliminary processing of agricultural products, production of vermicelli, organic vegetables, etc. The Provincial Women's Union also accompanies, connects to build models, supports legal procedures, trademark registration, traceability and brings products owned by women to production and business models on digital platforms. Since then, vermicelli products from Nguyen Binh and Thanh Cong communes, organic vegetables from Thuc Phan ward, black jelly from Thach An commune, fragrant sticky rice from Xuan Truong, herbs, black pork sausage from Bao Lac commune... have not only been present at the provincial OCOP fair, but also on e-commerce platforms such as Postmart, Voso, and Zalo OA. This is an important step that helps women not only sell products but also learn how to operate a modern business, from production to marketing.
The Provincial Women's Union organizes training courses on digital platform skills, helping women know how to livestream, promote products on social networks, and build electronic booths in accordance with the law. Many sales models via Facebook, Zalo, TikTok... have helped increase revenue by 30-40%... Women participating in KNĐMST are given the opportunity to participate in forums, display and introduce products and connect with many businesses and KNĐMST models in provinces and cities. Thereby, many large enterprises outside the province have signed contracts to consume high-quality products from the start-up model of Cao Bang women such as: purchasing herbs, smoked black pork, brocade products, corn wine with leaf yeast, black jelly, dong vermicelli, Xuan Truong fragrant sticky rice, Pi Pat sticky rice...
Along with expanding the space and space of communes and wards according to the 2-level local government model, it is an opportunity for commune and ward authorities to continue to review local potential and advantages to encourage grassroots women to continue to promote start-ups, enhance digital transformation training, link with large enterprises and international organizations to create a network to accompany women in starting businesses in a sustainable way, contributing to local socio-economic development.
Chairwoman of the Provincial Women's Union Doan Thi Le An: After 8 years of implementing the Project (2017 - 2025), the Provincial Women's Union has trained thousands of grassroots women in knowledge of innovative technology. Since then, many women who used to feel poor and lacked confidence have changed their mindset of "working small, selling retail", daring to choose local advantages to build products for many innovative technology models, make financial plans, find partners, bring products to market, confidently embarking on the journey to get rich with their own hands, minds and perseverance. |
Source: https://baocaobang.vn/phu-nu-khoi-nghiep-gop-phan-khai-thac-tiem-nang-the-manh-xa-phuong-3178622.html
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