The 2024 "Women's Creative Startups and Green Transformation" Competition demonstrates the efforts, creative entrepreneurial spirit and dedication of women who have not been afraid of difficulties and challenges to build breakthrough and pioneering startup projects in the field of green transformation. This is not only the result of continuous efforts, but also a testament to the creativity, innovation and strong determination of members and women in moving towards sustainable and environmentally friendly business models.
Women's Competition start up Organized annually by the Vietnam Women's Union, it has gradually become a large forum, a useful playground attracting the attention and response of a large number of members and women.
To make ideas come true
The story of the "herring" of Ms. Vo Thi Hanh Dung, Director of the 43Foods Green Food Cooperative (Da Nang City) is not only a desire to start a business, but also contributes to the restoration and development of craft villages, towards sustainability. Ms. Hanh Dung is living in Nam O (Hoa Khanh Bac Ward, Lien Chieu District), where people have long been attached to the sea.
With the products from the sea, the ships returning with full holds of shrimp and fish, the jars of traditional fish sauce that every household has; Chi Dung chose herring to start her business because this is a fish with high nutritional value, and fishermen in the Nam O sea always catch a lot.
However, due to the picky processing method, the fish is always sold at a low price, bringing in little income. After many times of researching recipes and experimenting, Ms. Hanh Dung used herring and some suitable ingredients to process the product set: Seasoning powder, herring floss, fish sauce, herring salad and herring soaked in oil.
Determined to choose the green startup path for sustainability, therefore, every process at the cooperative is always focused by Ms. Hanh Dung to protect the environment and aquatic resources. Therefore, all parts of the herring are used, and the wastewater from processing is also collected by her cooperative to make biological products to irrigate the vegetable garden, ensuring environmental hygiene.
There are startup projects participating in the competition, although they have just started operating, but they have shown a clear green transformation, not only contributing to environmental protection, but also a message about life, the aspiration to overcome difficulties of disadvantaged women, women with disabilities, and a flame to spread determination and faith in life for women.
Currently, 43Foods Cooperative is purchasing for 27 households that catch aquatic and seafood products specializing in herring; each year, it consumes about 150 tons of fish from fishermen to make products. Fish are only harvested from January to July, the remaining months are the fish breeding season; therefore, Ms. Hanh Dung also committed to not purchasing or catching fish with fishermen, avoiding the situation of overexploiting aquatic resources, ensuring a safe environment for fish breeding.
In recent days, Ms. Hanh Dung's mood is still joyful when the project "Enhancing the value of Vietnamese herring - sustainable business solution" entered the national finals and won second prize in the "Women's creative start-up and green transformation" contest. "I am very happy to be able to submit my product to this contest and hope that my project can spread to everyone," Ms. Hanh Dung shared.
Coming to this year's startup competition, Nguyen Thi Binh, Director of Thien Phuc Medicinal Herbs Agricultural Cooperative (Minh Lap Commune, Dong Hy District, Thai Nguyen Province), despite her small stature, carries within her great aspirations and ambitions in building and restoring her hometown's medicinal herb region, spreading the value of medicinal herb products associated with developing community tourism.
With the project "Application of science to develop a circular medicinal agricultural chain in an organic direction to create green energy", Ms. Binh was also honored to receive third prize in the final round of the competition.
Knowing the valuable effects of ginseng on human health, Ms. Nguyen Thi Binh and some local doctors researched and developed this precious ginseng.
"People often go to the forest to collect medicinal herbs to make medicine, but over time, the source of medicinal herbs has gradually depleted due to exploitation without conservation; this further motivated me to build and restore indigenous medicinal herbs, especially when people's health care needs are increasingly focused on, so I decided to start a business with ginseng and medicinal herbs," said Ms. Binh.
In 2022, Ms. Nguyen Thi Binh decided to join and establish Thien Phuc Medicinal Herbs Agricultural Cooperative, with the desire to bring economic value to her family, create jobs for local people; at the same time, have safe, clean, and benign medicinal herbs to use to develop the economy for ethnic minorities, especially disadvantaged women to develop and preserve medicinal herbs as well as preserve indigenous culture and develop the local economy.
"Thien Phuc Medicinal Agricultural Cooperative brings to the market green, clean, and sustainable circular agricultural products from field to table through growing medicinal herbs and raising native chickens with a circular chain in an organic direction, with the motto "three no's: No use of chemical fertilizers, no pesticides, no herbicides", Ms. Binh shared.
Up to now, the cooperative has cooperated to grow more than 30 hectares of medicinal herbs and transferred the process to 15 cooperative groups, creating jobs for more than 50 members of the cooperative and disadvantaged women; at the same time, cooperated with the Commune Women's Union to purchase by-products and agricultural waste to make organic fertilizer.
After the process of product research and development, Thien Phuc cooperative has brought to the market many good products such as: Multi-purpose ginseng essence, ginseng tea, ginseng powder, ginseng chicken stew... and have been well received by consumers.
Surpass yourself
There are startup projects participating in the competition, although they have just started operating, but they have shown a clear green transformation, not only contributing to environmental protection, but also a message about life, the aspiration to overcome difficulties of disadvantaged women, women with disabilities, and a flame to spread determination and faith in life for women.
Despite having a severe mobility disability, Ms. Pham Thi Phuong (in Nghi Huong commune, Cua Lo, Nghe An) has made constant efforts to build a new farming system that ensures clean products and is environmentally friendly. Ms. Phuong's project "Growing pennywort using circulating hydroponics" is one of 40 outstanding projects honored at the award ceremony of the "Women's Creative Startup and Green Transformation" Competition in 2024.
Having clearly determined the direction, Ms. Phuong is always careful from the stage of selecting seeds to the planting medium and transferring plants to baskets. On the same area, Ms. Phuong has combined fish farming and pennywort in hydroponics, creating a closed symbiotic cycle, helping to create safe, chemical-free products, contributing to reducing environmental pollution and effectively utilizing land and water resources.
This year, the "Women's Creative Startup and Green Transformation" Competition received 2,545 startup projects from all localities to participate in the competition, an increase of 26% compared to the competition in 2023. This number shows the strong influence of the women's startup competition, and at the same time shows the interest and response of women's associations at all levels nationwide to the National Strategy on Green Growth for the period 2021-2030, vision 2050.
Finding a new direction for local people and inspiring people with disabilities, although Ms. Phuong's model is still young, the products have been sold in the local retail market, receiving positive feedback on quality compared to traditional pennywort, creating a source of quality pennywort and nutritional value; at the same time, completely replacing old farming methods, in order to optimize area and resources, creating a sustainable economy.
"As a member of the Nghe An Province Association of the Disabled, during my participation in activities, I found myself luckier than many other disabled people; therefore, I want to overcome my circumstances, affirm my own values to inspire people in the same situation so that everyone can become more confident in themselves and integrate into society," Ms. Phuong shared.
Accompanying Ms. Phuong are disabled people, although each has their own circumstances, they share the same ambition to bring this model into reality, cover the entire trellis system with green and operate stably, creating stable income for rural women as well as disabled women in the locality.
Vice President of Nghe An Provincial Women's Union Le Thi Huong Giang said that Ms. Pham Thi Phuong's project is at the level of testing ideas but has great potential to create jobs for local women, especially women with disabilities. This is a project that has demonstrated efforts to overcome oneself, self-reliance in all conditions and circumstances, spreading the will and entrepreneurial spirit to many other women.
This year, the "Women's Creative Startup and Green Transformation" Competition received 2,545 startup projects from all localities to participate in the competition, an increase of 26% compared to the competition in 2023. This number shows the strong influence of the women's startup competition, and at the same time shows the interest and response of women's associations at all levels nationwide to the National Strategy on Green Growth for the period 2021-2030, vision 2050.
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