With the desire to "put on a new coat" to show off her hometown's wax coconut, Ms. Lam Ngoc Tu (born in 1989) and her partner created the Vicosap wax coconut product.
+ It is known that Vicosap wax coconut is a fairly new product on the market, can you tell us where this idea came from?
My husband is a native of Cau Ke, Thanh Phu, Tra Vinh. Although he left his hometown to start a career at the age of 18, he still remembers the warm land of Tra Vinh and never stops longing to return and contribute to building his hometown to be more beautiful and rich.
He often feels sad when looking back at his hometown specialty - Cau Ke wax coconut, which is only sold on the roadside, rustic and simple like the villagers all year round in the rain and sun. This is a rare type of solid coconut with high nutritional and economic value.
Besides, the wax coconut farmers in Cau Ke have an unstable life and do not have a good source of income from this very rare fruit. Understanding my husband's feelings, I decided to quit my job to return to my hometown and join him in establishing Cau Ke Wax Coconut Processing Company Limited (Vicosap).
+ How are coconut wax products born?
In July 2020, Vicosap was born in difficult conditions of material, electricity and water. Everything was in short supply because Thanh Phu is one of the remote communes of Tra Vinh. The factory was built on the basis of self-renovating the family's residential land with an area of 500m2 and an initial investment capital of more than 500 million VND, mortgaged at the bank.
Of which, the investment cost to build a factory with a management process according to ISO 22000 standards is more than 200 million VND, the rest is the cost of purchasing raw materials, used machinery and equipment and investing in technology research and product processing.
Born right at the time of the Covid-19 outbreak, pressure from loans and low productivity due to old or damaged equipment were the main factors causing the business to suffer losses in 2020.
+ So how did you overcome difficulties to have a solid foundation like today?
In December 2020, Vicosap participated in the Tra Vinh Province Innovative Startup Ideas Contest with the topic "Enhancing the value of Tra Vinh wax coconut specialties" and won the first prize. The award marked the first step full of effort and hope for the journey of "changing a new coat" for Cau Ke wax coconut of my wife and I.
With the attention, support and spiritual and material assistance from local and government leaders, Vicosap has had the opportunity to receive a lot of information about support policies from the Central and local governments.
We are consulted and supported with training on skills and policies related to production and business in the food manufacturing and processing industry... At the same time, we are supported in upgrading machinery and equipment.
This is an important step to help modernize production and processing processes, improve business capacity and expand distribution channels as well as product consumption markets, helping Vicosap overcome the initial difficult period.
+ It is known that you have many products that meet OCOP standards?
In March 2021, Vicosap's efforts were recognized when all 5 products were certified with 4-star OCOP at the provincial level. This is a passport that helps Vicosap enjoy preferential policies of the State for enterprises with products certified with OCOP.
In 2021, for the first time, Vicosap successfully conquered the demanding Japanese market, opening up a new and promising direction for wax coconut agricultural products of Cau Ke land. In 2022, wax coconut products were exported to the UK and the US.
In 2023, the product received the Certificate of Typical OCOP Product of the Mekong Delta region.
I am happier now that I can create jobs for 17 full-time workers (more than 80% female workers) and more than 10 seasonal workers, mainly also female workers in the locality.
At the same time, we also partly solve the output problem for wax coconut farmers, helping them improve their income and life.
+ Thank you!
Contact: Ms. Lam Ngoc Tu, Deputy Director of Cau Ke Wax Coconut Processing Company Limited.
Address: No. 253/5, Hamlet 2, Thanh Phu Commune, Cau Ke District, Tra Vinh Province
Phone: 0906.991220 Website: www.duasapvicosap.com
Product price from 25,000 VND
Source: https://phunuvietnam.vn/khoac-ao-moi-cho-dua-sap-tra-vinh-20240508150000991.htm
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