Female 8X master's degree holder returns to hometown to start a business: Start small with little capital

Masters hoe the land, plant trees in the face of gossip

Having studied abroad and worked at a large public university in Ho Chi Minh City, in 2019, Ms. Nguyen Thi Minh Ngoc suddenly decided to return to her hometown to start a business with agricultural products from the Central Highlands.

From a person who was only familiar with books, Ms. Ngoc became a real farmer when she went to the fields every day to hoe the land and plant trees in her hometown, Dak Hring commune, Dak Ha district, Kon Tum province. While working, she reassured her parents against gossips and rumors such as: " I heard that you studied properly but now you work on the fields." "I heard that you are very good, you went to study abroad and then came back to farm ",...

Seeing her family's and her neighbors' agricultural products ready for harvest but no one to buy them, Ms. Ngoc decided to both grow and purchase raw materials from her neighbors to start a business in the field of food production and processing, agricultural products, dried fruits and medicinal herbs. Apanax Company Limited was born from that time.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Minh Ngoc next to her family's coffee plantation. Photo: NVCC.

However, because she did not anticipate the initial cost and wanted to meet all the standards, the estimated cost of only a few hundred million VND increased 10 times, making her sweat to find capital.

“Honestly, my whole family opposed me because it was too risky. A girl who only knew how to study for years, never did any business, always had a rosy view of life and was also gullible,... then mortgaged her parents' entire life's assets to the bank when the amount of money needed to be raised kept increasing. But then my parents agreed after hearing me persuading them every day, but if they started, they had to follow through,...”, Ms. Ngoc shared.

A large factory was built, after 3 months, Apanax supplied the market with dried banana and jackfruit products. Since then, the people here no longer have to throw away banana bunches and jackfruits, making their lives less miserable.

However, the company had not been in operation for long when the Covid-19 pandemic hit, and the factory had to continuously stop operating due to social distancing.

After the pandemic, all factory activities resumed. On average, the company purchases 30-50 tons of bananas and about 100 tons of jackfruit from farmers each month. On peak days, it can purchase 2 tons of bananas and 4 tons of jackfruit per day.

Dried jackfruit and dried banana products have gradually won over customers through agents and supermarkets. Up to now, the company's main products have been sold at stores selling clean products, specialty products and OCOP products, and large supermarkets in provinces and cities.

In 2024, the mother of three was taking care of her newborn baby while running her business. Many nights she stayed up all night looking after her baby and writing projects. Her baby, who was not yet 1 year old, followed her everywhere when she attended meetings and trade promotion events.

2024 is also a big year for Apanax when two products are recognized as 4-star OCOP products at the provincial level, and are also certified as Provincial Rural Industrial Products 2024 by the Kon Tum Provincial People's Committee.

These two products were also certified as Typical Rural Industrial Products in the Central Highlands - Central region in 2024 by the Department of Industry and Trade (Ministry of Industry and Trade).

Apanax is also a rare enterprise in Kon Tum province to be certified as a High-tech Agricultural Enterprise by the Provincial People's Committee.

Director of Apanax Company Nguyen Thi Minh Ngoc received the Certificate of typical rural industrial products of Kon Tum province in 2024. Photo: NVCC.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Minh Ngoc herself was awarded the first prize in the contest “Kon Tum Women Start-up to Promote Local Resources and Green Transformation in 2024” organized by the Provincial Women’s Union. At the same time, she was one of ten delegates from Kon Tum province selected to attend the 9th National Youth Union Congress in Hanoi.

Notably, at the end of November 2024, Apanax had two products granted Intellectual Property certificates by the Department of Intellectual Property.

“These are truly beautiful, memorable memories in life, there are experiences that cannot be bought even with a lot of money. I am grateful to the Dak Ha District Youth Union and Kon Tum Provincial Youth Union, and the Dak Ha District Youth Union for creating conditions and helping me. Looking back at the achievements in 2024, I see that the formula of staying up all night to take care of a newborn baby, handle company work and write a startup project is really worth it.”

Lessons for startups

Looking back over 5 years after starting her business, Ms. Ngoc said: The lesson for entrepreneurs is to be mentally prepared, learn carefully about what you intend to do and prepare well.

“If you work for someone else and feel pressured enough to want to give up, don’t think about starting a business because starting a business is five to ten times more stressful. When you work for someone else, you only need to worry about doing your job well, but when you start a business, you need to worry about everything, big or small,” said Nguyen Thi Minh Ngoc.

Another important point is to have your own financial resources or have somewhere to borrow.

“In startups, financial resources are very important because everything requires money while there is no revenue at the beginning. Most startups “die” because there is no cash flow to manage. Therefore, when starting a business, you must have a plan if within 6 months - 1 year you do not have revenue, where will the money come from to maintain your startup project?”

When asked how much capital should be invested to start a business, the female director said that the capital scale depends on the field, but any field can start small with an initial capital of several tens or hundreds of millions of VND. You should not start a business with a large capital because it can easily make you exhausted when there is no revenue at first.

“Start with small capital and scale, it is not too late to expand when you have customers. For example, with Apanax, I was too perfectionist trying to get ISO or HACCP certification from the beginning, while in reality, I only needed to meet the food safety certification of the competent authority. It is best to start with a small scale, then invest in larger expansion to avoid being overwhelmed and drowning in too much initial capital and debt.”

In addition, Ms. Ngoc shared that the initial investment should focus on the most important things, without being too meticulous or paying too much attention to the appearance of the factory.

“I invested too many unnecessary things in the workshop, for example, it was not necessary to use the best paint or the best door for the workshop, because it was not a permanent home, my workshop could be expanded or the layout could be changed…

And whether the investment is large or small, if working in the food industry, it is essential to have advice from a specialist to arrange the factory according to the one-way principle from finished product to output and ensure food hygiene and safety."