The project titled ‘Developing the value chain of organic air-dried persimmons to create jobs and sustainable livelihoods for Tay and Nung ethnic women in the border area of Lang Son’ by Vuong Thi Thuong is one of three projects that won a first prize in the 2023 Women Startups Competition, which was hosted by the Vietnam Women's Union Central Committee.

The project is appreciated not only for creating income for local ethnic women but also for motivating their dare-to-do sprit in realising their startup dream.

Born and raised on a persimmon farm in Lang Son Province, Vuong Thi Thuong, Director of Toan Thuong Agricultural Cooperative, understands the hardships of persimmon growers. She decided to step out of her “safe zone” to set foot on the path of entrepreneurship by launching a project on producing organic air-dried persimmons.

Recalling the early days embarking on the startup journey, Thuong said that it often takes 20-25 days to produce a batch of air-dried persimmons.

However, the weather during the making of the first batch was unfavourable, the persimmons suffered from sooty mould and dropped off. Consequently, a tonne of persimmons was destroyed, wasting everyone's efforts in peeling, tying and hanging.

“I was so upset and discouraged that I intended to set aside my dream, but luckily, I receive enthusiastic support from team members to stand up after failure,” Thuong stated.

With the determination to increase the value of her hometown's persimmons, Thuong made deeper research and learned techniques of growing and processing dried persimmons.

She also applied modern science and technology to production such as using peeling machines, dryers, and heat treatment machines. In addition, she asked for consultancy from experts to work out proper preservation process for her products.

Thuong called on households in her district and two other cooperatives to expand the growing area of organic persimmons by 20 hectares.

She made bold investment in building a production factory with a total area of over 1,000 m2, including a processing area, a persimmon hanging greenhouse, a cold storage, and a range of other production equipment.

To date, in addition to selling 500 tonnes of fresh persimmons each month during the harvest season, Thuong’s cooperative also supplies the market with 500kg of air-dried persimmons each year.

Her economic model has created livelihoods for more than 100 local workers, including more than 30 Tay and Nung ethnic women in the locality.

In Bac Giang Province, after a long time working as an agricultural extension officer in Lien Chung Commune, Tan Yen District, Nguyen Thi Kim Dung came up with the idea of expanding the growing area for Danh Mountain ginseng — a specialty of her locality.

In 2020, Dung established the Lien Chung Ginseng Production and Consumption Cooperative. In her role as director of the cooperative, she has actively participated in training courses to improve her knowledge and share what she learnt to the members of the cooperative.

The cooperative has created regular jobs for 35 female workers, and more than 200 seasonal workers, helping them improve their income, while enhancing their role and voices in the family and the community.

Her startup project tiled ‘Building a brand, enhancing the value and commercialising Danh Mountain ginseng products’ won the second prize of the 2023 Women's Startup Competition.

Pham Thi Thanh, Deputy Head of the Department of Supporting Women's Economic Development under the Vietnam Women's Union, said that the annual Women's Startup Competition aims to discover and honour outstanding women-led startups while encouraging entrepreneurship and innovation among women.

Thuong and Chung’s projects are two of the successful women-led startups resulting from Project 939.

After more than six-year implementation, Project 939 has equipped all participating officials in women’s unions at all levels with methods to support women’s business development.

Around 18.2 million members of women’s unions at all level have accessed communications to raise their awareness of employment, and nearly 79,000 business ideas of women have received assistance.

Over 70,000 women started their businesses, nearly 5,000 women-managed cooperative groups and cooperatives been set up, and over 60,000 newly-established firms of women given advice to improve capacity and gaining access to resources for development.

The project has substantially contributed to the nationwide startup movement, gender equality, and comprehensive and sustainable national development.

Women, who account for more than 50% of the population and nearly 48% of the workforce in the country, have been granted special attention and favourable conditions.

Women’s contributions via startups have greatly helped with not only national economic development but also the settlement of social issues, political and social stability, and improvement of people’s material and spiritual lives.

Source: NDO