Start-up style 'deaf not afraid of guns'

The first time we met Hoang Thi Thanh Huyen - founder of Moc Huong Vietnam Co., Ltd. - we felt like we were talking to a scientific researcher, not a businesswoman.

Having studied Chemistry - Pharmacy, had a stable job at a cosmetic raw material trading company with a salary of 10-15 million VND/month, but in 2015, Huyen decided to start a business with a unique reason: "I want to be proactive in the job I like to have time for my family".

Just got married, with 200 million VND in hand, Huyen contributed capital to start a business with a friend, a total of 400 million VND, rented a pretty shop in Ha Dong (Hanoi), hired staff, asked friends abroad for advice on buying quality ingredients...

With a "foreign-loving" mentality, wanting to bring the best things in the world to Vietnam, Huyen only buys imported ingredients, certified by FDA (US Food and Drug Administration), then researches many handmade products such as lip balm, moisturizer,... quickly having a fairly stable customer base.

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Hoang Thi Thanh Huyen has a "unique" entrepreneurial mindset. Photo: NVCC

“Vietnam has many medicinal herbs that can be used to make cosmetics, but the growing areas are not invested in meeting the standards and criteria for cosmetic production. This is one of the reasons why we have to buy raw materials from abroad,” Huyen explained.

Not long after the sale, a large shipment was seized by customs. At that time, Huyen realized that cosmetics must be produced in a qualified factory and must have a declaration from the Ministry of Health to be circulated on the market.

“Cosmetics is a money-burning industry. Lacking business experience, the 400 million VND startup capital was gone. If I had known these things before, I would not have done it. I told myself that I was truly a ‘deaf person who is not afraid of guns’. The path I chose was not as simple as I thought, but involved legal issues and many other complicated issues,” the founder of Moc Huong recalled.

“If I could start over, I would probably work for a while to gain experience instead of starting a business so recklessly. Starting a business requires not only perseverance but also wisdom and enough experience,” Huyen shared.

Fate with cosmetics from natural ingredients

In 2018-2019, mixed creams and industrial cosmetics were very popular in the Vietnamese market. Some people were sensitive to chemicals and had rashes when using the products.

Sympathizing with people with sensitive skin, Huyen came up with the idea of ​​finding natural ingredients to produce benign cosmetics for users.

Once visiting the mustard flower growing area, Huyen suddenly remembered the story of her old boss - wanting to research the smell of old coriander to create a product with a typical Tet scent. According to tradition, on the last day of the year, many families boil water with old coriander leaves to bathe to dispel bad luck and unhappiness of the old year, ready to welcome a better new year.

“I heard that this area grows a lot of cilantro every Tet to sell in the city, so I decided to go to the village to buy some, but asked many houses but they didn’t have any. Finally, I found a house with only 2-3 small rows in the field.

The homeowner said that most young people now do not want to waste time boiling water from the old coriander plant to bathe. There are few customers and the sale is not profitable, so people do not want to grow it anymore. I thought it would be a pity to lose such a good and beautiful custom. That gave me more motivation to do research,” Huyen said.

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Moc Huong's old scent bath water production line is quite modern. Photo: NVCC

The first product she made was distilled water from the old coriander plant. Huyen asked a clean vegetable store to sell it for her at 90,000 VND/bottle. In just under a week, 300 products were sold out. Many people responded very positively because for the first time there was a product that only needed to be bought and mixed into a bath, with the right scent of the old coriander plant.

After just one Tet season, Huyen earned billions of dong from the bath water of the old coriander plant at the end of the year. All debts were paid, and there was even money left over.

In 2019, Huyen and her colleagues decided to upgrade their business model from a handmade production facility to a company, registering the Moc Huong brand. The business completely changed its mindset, switching from using foreign materials to Vietnamese materials, renting a factory with a fairly modern production line.

For many years, Huyen and her colleagues have continuously researched, improved, and perfected products based on customer reviews. The old coriander water is not only more concentrated for more economical use, but also combined with many other scents such as lemongrass to diversify the product...

Until now, Moc Huong old scented bath water is still one of the natural cosmetic products that many housewives love to buy every traditional Tet holiday.

Besides old coriander water, Moc Huong also has other best-selling products such as liquid soap, which does not have excess lye, is more benign than bar soap, and retains more essential oils.

However, like many other startups in the natural products industry, Moc Huong's process of bringing products to customers encountered many difficulties. Many people were not patient enough to use the products long enough to feel the effects of the products.

With the mindset of a researcher, Huyen would learn about anything she didn't know, even bringing her entire product formula to ask good researchers. Gradually, Moc Huong's products have conquered a wider range of customers.

Values ​​greater than money

With a lean startup model, Moc Huong currently has only about 10 operating staff.

Entering the business world, it is difficult to avoid stumbling. There was a time when Moc Huong was shaken and unsteady by the times. Because it was not able to keep up with the business trend on TikTok, customers decreased sharply. There was a time when employees were willing to accept 3 months without pay to help the company overcome the difficult period.

However, with the guidance of respected teachers, and the support of many researchers and large businesses in the industry, Huyen and Moc Huong calmly overcame the storms.

The greatest value after 10 years of starting a business for Huyen is not the billion-dollar revenue but the joy and smiles of the farmers who sell cosmetic ingredients to Moc Huong.

“We buy old coriander from people in an area that has suffered from floods for many years. This Tet, we just paid nearly 1 billion VND to farmers in a mountainous commune in Lang Son to buy raw materials to make coriander essential oil. I am very happy to be able to contribute to creating value for the community, not just for my own business,” Huyen confided.

Recently, Huyen visited the custard apple growing area in Lang Son with many trees hundreds of years old. The commune chairman expressed: "Luckily, you guys are the ones who buy the output, so people don't destroy the custard apple forest to plant anise because selling anise brings in more money." Thanks to that, the old natural forest is preserved, contributing to realizing Vietnam's Net Zero goal.