At the "Green start-up, 10-year journey to create young agriculturalentrepreneurs" seminar on May 31, many successful young entrepreneursshared their start-up stories by using local resources.
They were the winners of start-up competitions organised by BSA, including LeMinh Vuong of Ninh Thuan province, who won a second prize in the start-upcontest in 2015 for a project to produce compost and breed earthworms, PhamDinh Ngai (Tra Vinh), who won the first prize in 2020 for his coconut flowernectar and sugar that meet ISO, HCCAP, international organic standards, and DoanHong Tham (Can Tho), second prize winner in 2022 for her herbal tea products,and Tran Dang Dat of Dat Foods with peanut butter.
They experienced ups and downs, but persevered to come up with quality andhealthy products and contribute to developing sustainable agriculture, theysaid.
Nguyen Lam Vien, chairman of Vinamit JSC, who has supported the start-upprogramme for many years, said Vietnam's agricultural products are increasinglyrecognised by the world as is reflected in the steadily increasing exports ofagro-forestry products.
Consumers globally are paying more attention to healthy andenvironment-friendly agricultural products, which offers young entrepreneurs agreat opportunity if they know how to take advantage, he said.
In fact, in recent years, many start-ups have exported products such asvegetable powders, noodles, coconut flower nectar, and cashew- based productsto major markets such as the US, Europe and Southeast Asia.
He said, unlike in the past, young entrepreneurs nowadays have good knowledge,management skills and agility.
Initiated in 2013 the innovative agricultural startup programme (changed to"Green Start-up" programme in 2023) has sought to support youngpeople starting businesses, act as a bridge connecting start-ups withenterprises under the Business Association of High-quality Vietnamese Products,and build a community of start-ups to make it easier for them to forge stronglinkages in the value chain and compare notes.
Vu Kim Anh, BSA’s deputy director and the person in charge of Green Start-up,said the programme has helped form an agricultural startup eco-system withthousands of young people who use local resources.
Under the programme, leading experts in technology, local resources, marketingand other areas provide start-ups with training in developing business andfinancial plans, investment solicitation skills, help them organise productionefficiently and safely, among others, she said.
"In addition to creating conditions for them to sell their products at agreen weekend market held on Saturdays and Sundays, we also encourage them toparticipate in programmes initiated by the international supermarket systems inVietnam, including Central Group with aprogramme to help small businesses participate in Vietnam's Goods Week inThailand since 2017, and Gigamall and Uniqlo with programmes to bringlocally-made products into their systems," she said.
Nguyen Cam Chi, chairwoman of the Foundation of Youth Empowerment (FYE), saidthe BSA has not only organised the start-up competitions in the past 10 years,but also created opportunities for start-ups to strengthen their business.
Most start-up projects already have products in the market, and from this yearthe FYE would help them export, she said.
Also at the event, the 2023 Green Startup Project Contest was launched.
To run until the end of October, the competition is open to individuals,collectives, enterprises, and co-operatives in agricultural specialtyprocessing or operating a circular economy model or projects that add value tolocal resources and have been operating for more than one year./.
VNA