Businessman Mac Nhu Nhan, Director of Vinhands Trading and Service Company Limited: Exporting loofah sponges abroad.
Knowing how to utilize discarded loofah fibers to make gifts, a skill he acquired during his school days, led businessman Mac Nhu Nhan to become the first person to produce and export processed loofah products abroad, bringing in tens of billions of VND annually.
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| Mr. Mac Nhu Nhan, Director of Vinhands Trading and Service Company Limited. |
Building a business from loofah
Businessman Mac Nhu Nhan's journey into business began with fate, connected to withered, old gourds that were thought to be only fit for the trash, or perhaps only repurposed as dishwashing sponges. For this entrepreneur born in 1980, these discarded items were transformed into wallets, hair clips, greeting cards, and more, which are now exported.
Telling us about his connection with loofah, Mr. Nhan said that he was born into a poor family in the mountainous town of Gia Lai , and his childhood was spent surrounded by his mother's loofah vines. At the age of 16, on every holiday, his friends would prepare small gifts to give each other. Because his family was poor and he couldn't afford to buy gifts for his friends, he thought of making gifts himself from loofah.
“Back then, whenever there were old loofah gourds, my mother would cut them up to wash dishes. While washing dishes with her, I held a loofah sponge and looked at the texture of the fibers. I thought to myself, 'I could cut them up, dye them, and make various souvenirs.' And then I started trying. The first thing I made was a hair clip to give to a female classmate on International Women's Day,” Mr. Nhan recalled.
It was also from the time his friends enjoyed the gifts he made from loofah that Mr. Nhan discovered that loofah has high elasticity and good structure thanks to its horizontal and vertical fibers. Even better, loofah doesn't get moldy, infested with termites, or woodworms, so users can rest assured that the fiber hasn't been treated with preservatives. However, loofah isn't easy to shape as desired, so Nhan spent a lot of time researching and finding solutions for processing the raw material.
Because I have a deep connection with the Central Highlands region, what I'm doing is not only fulfilling my childhood dream, but also helping farmers in Gia Lai, Kon Tum, Dak Lak provinces, and others to earn a stable income through growing loofah. 
- Mr. Mac Nhu Nhan, Director of Vinhands Trading and Service Company Limited
Many times, the finished products didn't meet the design specifications, blistering, being too thick or too thin, and had to be discarded. Finally, Mr. Nhan discovered the secret: pressing loofah fibers into large sheets, then using them like decals, paper, or leather to create shapes and assemble products. Some intricate loofah fiber products take him several days to complete.
"But then, after a long time dedicated to my hobby of making gifts from loofah, life had many ups and downs, so I temporarily set aside my loofah dream to make a living doing all sorts of jobs, such as carpentry, real estate brokerage, and selling pho to earn money to live day by day and support my family," Mr. Nhan said.
Later, Mr. Nhan's connection with loofah returned as if by fate. It was in 2012, while taking his wife to buy a wallet, he couldn't find one he liked, so he decided to make her a loofah wallet as a gift. Surprised by its delicate, beautiful, and elegant design, his wife encouraged him to make and sell them.
Following a suggestion from his wife, the man, who came from a family with a tradition in cải lương (Vietnamese traditional opera) and had no experience whatsoever in fine arts or handicrafts, decided to pool his resources for his loofah sponge dream. That same year, the Vi Lâm Loofah Sponge brand was born, named after Mr. Nhân's daughter.
A year later, he founded Vinhands Trading and Service Company Limited. He taught himself and began processing loofah into commercial products by experimenting with making fashion accessories and kitchenware, then taking them to fairs and exhibitions to sell.
“In 2013, I brought my products to a trade fair hoping that with thousands of visitors, I could at least sell a few dozen items. Although many customers stopped by to look at the products and were amazed by what they saw made from loofah, I didn't sell a single product,” Mr. Nhan recounted.
He explained that back then, people were curious about how loofah could be made into various products, but almost no one dared to try it. Not to mention, the price of dishwashing sponges, bath sponges, hair clips, etc., was 4-5 times higher than industrially produced items, which also made consumers hesitant.
However, Mr. Nhan persevered in attending trade fairs in Ho Chi Minh City, because, according to him, this was the best way to sell his goods, or at least to make people remember him.
Mr. Nhan recounted: "I persistently visited the local markets and gradually managed to sell a few products. When people used them and saw the quality, they spread the word and more people learned about Vi Lam."
In 2015, Vi Lam opened a store in the heart of District 1 (Ho Chi Minh City), but due to poor marketing and personnel management, it closed down. Also in that year, Mr. Nhan began receiving his first export order for kitchenware to South Korea.
In addition, Director Vi Lam focuses on online business, bringing products to e-commerce platforms such as Shopee, Lazada, the company's website, and social media platform Facebook.
“Because I have a deep connection with the Central Highlands, what I'm doing is not only fulfilling my childhood dream, but also helping farmers in Gia Lai, Kon Tum, and Dak Lak provinces… to have a stable income through growing loofah. At the same time, I am determined to build a brand of green, clean, and environmentally friendly products from this characteristic Vietnamese fruit,” Mr. Nhan proudly said.
As proof, Mr. Nhan is not only successful in pioneering the loofah fiber product line, but he is also a startup speaker at many events. He is a role model and mentor for many young entrepreneurs on how to process, produce, and export products made from loofah fiber.
Crisis, losing everything, rebuilding, and resurgence.
In 2017, Mr. Nhan invested in a production factory and employed over 30 workers. The business started to gain momentum and generated profits and motivation, with monthly incomes reaching hundreds of millions, even billions of VND. This helped Vi Lam Loofah establish its brand in the domestic and international consumer goods market, with 80% of its products being exported.
“But then, a major incident happened to Vinhands Trading and Service Company Limited. In February 2022, the factory burned down, not only destroying all the raw materials and machinery, but also some personal assets such as vehicles. My wife and I were left with almost nothing,” Mr. Nhan recalled sadly.
At that time, even though the pandemic had just ended, orders were coming in steadily every month. Suddenly, a disaster struck; the machinery burned down, leaving them with no goods to deliver and forcing them to pay compensation for breach of contract. The couple had to rent land to set up a temporary shelter, gradually buy equipment, and decided to start their business again a month after the incident.
“Once you’ve started something, you have to see it through. Before, when we had nothing, we could still get started, so now we have more experience. Having partners who gave us extensions and people who cared enough to send us money in advance to help us recover is what motivated my wife and me to get back on our feet right after the ordeal,” Mr. Nhân recounted.
Having run out of capital, Mr. Nhan returned to taking orders for furniture, as carpentry was his first profession. In addition, he borrowed money to open a pho restaurant with the aim of "using short-term gains to fund long-term growth," rebuilding his loofah processing factory. Orders gradually increased, and Mr. Nhan began renting the factory to start his business again.
Currently, Mr. Nhan said that although the consumer market has not yet recovered strongly to pre-Covid-19 levels, recently, customers from Japan and the EU have been inquiring about and proposing cooperation with the company more frequently due to the quality of its products.
“A Japanese customer brought a sample of loofah from another place and compared it to Vi Lam's product, and they saw a world of difference. From then on, they placed an order with us. Actually, being a pioneer gives us an advantage, but every product we release gets copied and imitated. Even if the quality isn't as good, they do strong marketing, so sometimes we're at a disadvantage,” Mr. Nhan said sadly.
Nevertheless, Mr. Nhan remains proud that the quality of Vi Lam's products is something that other places cannot replicate. Proof of this is that customers in the US, South Korea, Japan, and several other Asian countries trust and highly appreciate products made from Vi Lam loofah.
According to Mr. Nhan, orders have decreased during this period, so revenue is only around 300-400 million VND per month. However, the company's export orders remain steady throughout the year.
Notably, the Gia Lai dry pho shop in the heart of Ho Chi Minh City not only fulfills this entrepreneur's dream but is also becoming more widely known for its unique product decoration using loofah fibers, such as paintings, lamps, and signage.
Mr. Nhan stated his intention to expand this store into a chain in the near future as a token of gratitude to the local brand – the place where he discovered his dream of creating the loofah brand it is today.
Source: https://baodautu.vn/doanh-nhan-mac-nhu-nhan-giam-doc-cong-ty-tnhh-thuong-mai-dich-vu-vinhands-dua-xo-muop-xuat-ngoai-d216453.html
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