The girl from the land of pink lotus makes clean incense from lotus shells

Ms. Ngoc Anh introduces clean lotus incense products.

From idea to startup

As a native of Dong Thap, Ngoc Anh has always cherished a "lotus dream", the dream of creating better and safer products from Dong Thap lotus for everyone. Sharing about the idea of ​​creating clean incense products from lotus shells, Ms. Ngoc Anh said that the idea came when she was a student of the Faculty of Foreign Economics, University of Economics and Law, Ho Chi Minh City National University. The idea came to her when she and her group of friends conducted a scientific research project on the value chain of Dong Thap lotus.

After a period of research, Ngoc Anh realized that the source of lotus shells after separating the seeds was not optimally utilized, so she cherished the idea of ​​making lotus incense products from this by-product. "Thinking about making full use of the by-products from lotus shells to process some products would bring more economic value to farmers, minimizing environmental pollution. In addition, I am severely allergic to incense smoke, so I cannot stand the billowing incense smoke every time I go to temples when there are many people. From then on, I cherished the idea of ​​making a type of incense that is both low in smoke and fragrant without using chemicals," said Ms. Ngoc Anh.

In 2018, Ngoc Anh officially created lotus incense products to compete in startup competitions. The project was evaluated as feasible and won many awards at the competition. After that, she boldly returned to her hometown to start a business, and clean lotus incense brand Lien Tam was officially launched to consumers.

At first, Ms. Ngoc Anh encountered many difficulties due to lack of capital and experience. Thanks to her perseverance and hard work in learning about incense making techniques, marketing, financial management, and production management, the product gradually became known to consumers. Once forgotten after the seed processing process, the lotus shells are now selected and cared for by Ms. Ngoc Anh, creating pure lotus incense sticks, a solution for every family to maintain the practice of burning incense in their beliefs.

And 20 lines of lotus incense products

From the original pure incense products made from lotus shells, she has now researched and launched 20 product lines such as incense sticks and incense towers. In addition, she also mixes many different scents according to consumer tastes such as eucalyptus, cajuput, herbs, cinnamon, etc. It ensures a variety of scents, has little smoke, and is very safe for consumers.

The outstanding advantage of Lien Tam lotus incense products is that they are made from 100% natural ingredients from lotus, without using chemicals such as colorants, fragrances or substances that help the ash roll in the product. Lotus incense burns with less smoke compared to current incense lines made from wood powder, agarwood powder, and cinnamon. The natural smoke will limit the common eye irritation when the eyes come into contact with incense smoke.

The process of producing clean incense from lotus is also carried out by Ms. Ngoc Anh using manual methods combined with modern technology to ensure product quality. The raw materials are carefully selected, processed cleanly and go through the process of grinding, mixing in the right proportion with herbs, combined with natural glue powder from the Litsea tree in the Central Highlands, bamboo sticks to put into the press to create incense sticks, incense cones, incense towers... Finally, it is dried. Thanks to the investment in the drying room, the production quantity is guaranteed to be stable whether in the rainy or sunny season.

To have a stable source of lotus shells to make incense, Ms. Ngoc Anh buys raw materials from 10 households at a price of 4,000 VND/kg. Thanks to that, it helps farmers earn additional income from the lotus growing model. She also creates jobs for 5 regular and seasonal workers. Currently, Ms. Ngoc Anh makes 500-1,000 incense products of all kinds each month. The selling price is from 70,000-220,000 VND/product. With each product sold, she earns a profit of 15-20%.

In addition to focusing on product quality, Ms. Ngoc Anh is also interested in building the Dong Thap lotus incense brand. Thanks to her constant efforts, clean incense products from lotus have gradually affirmed their position in the market, receiving the support of a large number of consumers inside and outside the province. Not only bringing economic value, the production of clean incense from lotus by-products also contributes to reducing waste of resources, protecting the environment and enhancing the value of Dong Thap lotus. This is not only a creative direction but also a beautiful story about the attachment to the homeland, about the efforts to create green, clean and sustainable products of Dong Thap youth.

Article and photos: NGUYEN TRINH

Source: https://baocantho.com.vn/co-gai-dat-sen-hong-lam-nhang-sach-tu-vo-guong-sen-a185725.html