Successful start-up with perilla 'thanks' to COVID-19

Minister Le Minh Hoan (3rd from left) listens to students' sharing about the model of monitoring temperature and humidity for greenhouses - Photo: C.TUỆ

On June 15, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development organized a conference on startups and innovation for agricultural students at the College of Agricultural Mechanics.

Starting a business requires perseverance

Sharing her successful startup experience with students, Ms. Tran Anh Xuan (also known as "Xuan Thi To", 34 years old, in Sa Pa, Lao Cai) said that after graduating from the Vietnam Academy of Agriculture, she went to Sa Pa to do crop research for a while, then she separated to start an agricultural business.

According to Ms. Xuan, in 2017, she and some colleagues founded Sa Pa Secrets Cooperative.

"At that time, Sa Pa tourism was developing very strongly, we came up with the idea of ​​combining agriculture with tourism.

After a year of having products and being well received by the market, the cooperative "went all in" to borrow capital and expand the agricultural model combined with tourism.

Just after the investment was completed, COVID-19 hit. At that time, the cooperative only operated for a week, then had to continuously stop due to social distancing.

At that time, the agricultural and tourism model failed and blew away more than 1 billion VND of my investment capital" - Ms. Xuan said and said that during that time she encountered many difficulties, her family members were very worried, encouraged her to stay calm, but she was still confident that nothing would happen because "as long as you can breathe, you can still fix it".

But "in every difficulty there is a silver lining": the COVID-19 pandemic has increased the demand for perilla. Since then, she has focused on growing perilla organically to extract products from perilla leaves and stems to support the treatment of COVID-19.

Perilla products were highly appreciated by everyone at that time, so her cooperative continuously expanded the planting area and invested in factories.

"Although there were times when I encountered some difficulties over the years, with the spirit of not giving up, the cooperative now has a factory system to cook essential oils, cook extracts, make tea and make perilla powder with a capacity of 30,000 products/year.

At the same time, the cooperative is cooperating with a unit to produce cosmetics with 70,000 products/year" - Ms. Xuan said and informed that currently on average each year the cooperative is selling and distributing 100,000 products to the market, including export orders to foreign countries. Annual revenue grows 30-50%/year.

After nearly 10 years of starting a business in the agricultural sector, Ms. Xuan advises students who are thinking of starting a business in the agricultural sector to take advantage of learning opportunities while still in school.

"Agriculture is risky and difficult, so you should persevere and not be afraid of difficulties. Third, take advantage of and build relationships around you to make starting a business easier," Ms. Xuan added.

Ms. "Xuan Thi To" shares her startup experience with students - Photo: C.TUỆ

"Need to change to the philosophy of practical learning - practical work"

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan said the conference aimed to reposition startups and innovation in the ministry's school system.

According to Mr. Hoan, schools have all the elements that can help students start a business, because the products are not only processing or growing, but also packaging, marketing, digital technology applications... Therefore, the educational environment is the most favorable environment for starting a business, because there are all the subjects integrated into one product.

"Sometimes, practical learning and practice are separated. Sometimes we consider it a movement to compete, but that is not the final destination. We need to change the form of learning from purely theoretical to combining theory with practice.

When students come up with ideas, teachers nurture them so that the end product is commercialized.

This activates students and teachers to work together towards the ultimate goal of students becoming small bosses, then becoming big bosses, and even dreaming of a Jack Ma," said Mr. Hoan.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/khoi-nghiep-thanh-cong-voi-cay-tia-to-nho-dich-covid-19-2024061518215506.htm