Former teacher couple makes cereal powder and earns nearly a billion VND/year

Ms. Nguyen Thi Tien (57 years old) and her husband - Mr. Tran Van Hung (58 years old), are former teachers of two primary schools in Thang Binh district ( Quang Nam ).

In 2016, Ms. Tien was teaching at Tran Cao Van Primary School (Thang Binh district), while her son was studying at university in Ho Chi Minh City.

“At that time, I often made cereals including black beans, red beans, black sesame, brown rice,... and packed them in plastic bags to send to my son. His friends tried it and found it delicious, so they asked me to make it. Seeing that I could help my son and my fellow students, I agreed to make it and sent my car in,” Ms. Tien said.

From homemade cereal bags for their son, the couple gradually developed their own brand.

Mr. Hung also retired early to help his wife.

Two years later, Ms. Tien applied for early retirement under the State's policy. During this time, she and her husband began to focus and become serious about developing cereal products.

“At that time, my husband was 5 years away from retirement age, but the family still decided to choose cereal powder as a startup product,” Ms. Tien shared.

Mr. Hung said that at first, he mainly supported his wife because starting a business at an age when few people were doing it was also very difficult. In the early days, he and his wife were confused and encountered many difficulties in making labels, packaging and selling products.

“We already had the production formula, but we were really worried. We had to ask our son and someone with experience to guide us on how to design beautiful packaging, what to name it, how to sell it, how to introduce the product. There were so many questions, the old couple was like a blank page when starting a business,” Mr. Hung confided.

A year later, with the support of her predecessors and her son, Ms. Tien and her husband launched the cereal powder product "Co Mot".

Explaining this unique name, Ms. Tien smiled and said: "My parents only have me, everyone always calls me One, so I used that name for my product."

Ms. Tien's cereal and instant ginger tea products are popular with many people.

“Making cereals is also hard work, you have to be really dedicated to the product. For example, with beans, we have to pick out rotten and damaged beans, wash them thoroughly. When roasting, it also needs to be done at the right level, undercooked beans will cause stomachache, and roasting for too long will burn and scorch,” said Ms. Tien.

To date, Ms. Tien has a small workshop making tea and cereals, located about 50m in front of her and her husband's 3-room house. In 2020, her cereal products met the 3-star OCOP standards of Quang Nam province.

As if given more motivation, in 2021, Ms. Tien and her husband continued to research and produce instant ginger tea.

Recalling that time, Mr. Hung said: "At first, nothing was easy. The ginger flavor was not up to par, which made my wife and I stuck in creating the most perfect product. There were sleepless nights, hundreds of kilograms of ginger were thrown away because it was not up to par."

Finally, after much research, she and her husband found the formula to make perfect ginger tea.

Ms. Tien's cereal products achieved 3-star OCOP of Quang Nam province.

Cereal powder and ginger tea are complete, that's when the "war" to penetrate the market begins.

Wandering around large grocery stores from Quang Nam to Da Nang City, with her son in Ho Chi Minh City, her and her husband's products gradually became known to many people.

Up to now, each month her workshop produces about more than 1,000 boxes of cereal and ginger tea, mainly by the hands of the couple, with a revenue of nearly 100 million VND.

Although in their fifties, the passion for entrepreneurship still urges the former teacher and her husband. Their wish is to open a larger factory and expand their products nationwide.

Ms. Tien said that she and her husband did not think that one day they would start a business at the age of fifty. They simply thought that if they retired, they would start with farming, raising fish, and growing vegetables that were suitable for this land.

“But through the difficult times, we always keep in mind that nothing is impossible. Starting a business at the age of 50 or 20, if you really have the heart and perseverance, the sweet results will come,” said Ms. Tien.

Source