Success is giving opportunities to others.

Coming to Hoang Trung commune, Hoang Hoa district, Thanh Hoa province, mentioning Ms. Pham Thi Ngan, Director of Trung Kien Export Handicraft Cooperative, everyone knows her as an example of a woman who has devoted all her heart to building a job support for hundreds of poor women, the elderly, and people with disabilities in the locality.

The journey of development begins with handicrafts

Born in 1963, Ms. Pham Thi Ngan is a pure rural woman. In the 2000s, she learned sedge weaving, box crocheting, lace embroidery... from vocational training classes in the commune. From her skillful hands, she gradually became a skilled worker, and was then trusted by the local authorities to be in charge of a group of women doing the job.

However, small-scale production, unstable orders do not help workers maintain a stable income. Struggling with that reality, in 2008, she and her husband decided to establish Trung Kien Small Craft Export Cooperative - a production model aiming at dual goals: developing the family economy and creating stable jobs for disadvantaged women, the elderly and the disabled.

Ms. Ngan with supermarket bags exported to foreign markets.

That was the beginning of a long and arduous journey – from borrowing capital from the bank, learning about the market, finding orders, to training women who had never known needles or sewing machines. But it was also during that journey that the courage, passion and love for the community of the new female director were most clearly tempered.

Community-based production model

Trung Kien Cooperative currently has a main production facility located in Hoang Trung commune and 2 small production facilities in Hoang Khanh and Hoang Ha communes, both producing 2 main products: supermarket bags and box hangers for export under a model associated with a number of companies in Ha Nam province. The main products of the Cooperative are environmentally friendly supermarket bags and handicrafts made from rattan, sedge, banana leaves, and plastic strings, which are exported to many markets.

The cooperative currently attracts about 50 regular workers and creates jobs for 70 seasonal workers in the area. On average, the cooperative produces about 200,000 bags and 1,000 handicraft products each month, bringing in a stable revenue of about 2 billion VND/year and a profit of 35-40 million VND/month. The average income at the cooperative is currently from 4 to 5 million VND/person/month; the group working at the factory alone can earn 7-10 million VND/month. Women who receive goods to work at home - most of whom are caregivers of young children and the elderly - can also earn 2-3 million VND/month, enough to improve their family's life.

In particular, the cooperative also provides training and creates jobs for many people with disabilities, poor households, and lonely elderly people. Many local families have young people working far away, leaving only children and the elderly at home. They take on work to do at home, but their health is poor and they cannot bring goods to the cooperative. Ms. Ngan asks her husband to bring the goods to people's homes to collect them. Whoever needs to learn a trade, she enthusiastically guides them to do it to meet the standards and absolutely does not charge them. She said, "I am always willing to support lonely situations as much as I can."

Ms. Ngan's Trung Kien Cooperative employs many local elderly, women and disabled people.

Community "fire keeper"

Busy as the Director of the Cooperative, Ms. Ngan still continuously contributes to the locality in many different roles: Party cell secretary and head of Trung Hau village, member of the Executive Committee of the Commune Women's Union, and representative of the Commune People's Council. Despite the large workload, she still arranges her work scientifically, taking advantage of every hour to manage production, support workers, take care of her family and do a good job in social work.

In addition to her business, she also actively participates in charity activities: giving gifts to families with meritorious services and the disabled; planting 200m of flower paths with her sisters, cleaning up village roads and alleys. For her, "giving" is an indispensable part of her philosophy of life.

Thanks to her tireless contributions, Ms. Ngan has been awarded many certificates of merit by the Provincial People's Committee and Women's Unions at all levels. In particular, the Community Award of the project "Growing my business" is a worthy recognition for the humane production model she built.

Ms. Pham Thi Ngan (in red ao dai) received the Community Award - Business Development Award in May 2025

The Business Development Award is an activity within the framework of the project "Grow My Business: Enhancing the capacity to support the development of women-owned micro, small and growing enterprises in Vietnam" funded by The Asia Foundation and the Center for Women's Development as the project owner. The award is for female owners of micro, small and small enterprises, household businesses, and also students of the project to help them start, maintain and develop sustainable businesses.

In the second round of awards, the Awards received 65 applications from 3 project partner organizations and were evaluated based on 4 specific criteria: Economic efficiency, Future sustainability, Environmental protection, Support for women and communities. The Advisory Board worked through 2 rounds: reviewing applications and direct interviews at the homes of potential candidates, to find those who deserved to receive important awards.

Raising awareness, helping female entrepreneurs identify risks and prevent fraud

Source: https://phunuvietnam.vn/thanh-cong-la-dem-den-co-hoi-cho-nguoi-khac-20250522162421682.htm