The success of the 2024 Women Entrepreneurs Grand Prize winner encourages 'women' to pursue their dreams

2024 is the 6th year that the Central Committee of the Vietnam Women's Union (VWU) has organized the Women's Startup Competition with the theme "Women's creative startups and green transformation". The competition is organized to motivate and encourage women of all classes and ages to actively participate in startups and innovation.

Spreading faith and encouraging women to pursue their dreams

On October 12, 2024, at the National Final Award Ceremony of the 2024 "Women's Creative Startup and Green Transformation" Competition organized by the Vietnam Women's Union, Ms. Nguyen Thi Men, Mom Beauty Production and Trading Company Limited, from Nghe An province with the Project "Nutrition Ecosystem from Green Agricultural Products" was honored to win the Special Prize - the most prestigious award of the competition with the Project "Nutrition Ecosystem from Green Agricultural Products".

According to information from the Vietnam Women's Union, with the initial desire to create a drink from seeds, containing full nutrients for her children, Ms. Men developed a line of nutritional food products from seeds and grains. Knowing the clean farming methods of the people, along with understanding the difficulties in finding outlets for local agricultural products, Ms. Nguyen Thi Men boldly purchased agricultural products and established Mombeauty Production & Trading Company Limited.

According to Ms. Men, at the beginning, she encountered many difficulties such as no capital, no connections, young children, and even no personal means of transportation. The young mother searched, researched, learned from nutrition experts, tested, and came up with her own formula for each product suitable for each target group: Children, pregnant mothers, the elderly, etc. At this stage, many people did not know about the benefits and nutrition that nuts bring, plus the appearance of many competitors made her feel discouraged at times. However, with the trust and support of customers, encouragement from relatives, and the heart of a mother, she did not allow herself to give up.

Aiming at green consumption, the company has researched and processed a variety of seed products such as: nutritious cereals, weight loss seed milk, seed bars, seed teas, etc. During the production process, the company always puts food safety criteria first, always publicizing the production stages. Every day, the company welcomes customers and distributors to directly experience all stages of the production process. In particular, the company applies technology to invest and support the conversion of traditional farming areas to green production, recycling agricultural by-products into bio-fertilizers. Products are manufactured on modern technological lines to help save energy and reduce emissions such as: using seed washing water and unqualified seeds to produce bio-fertilizers for use in raw material areas; organic farming, no pesticides to help protect soil and water resources; Use recyclable or biodegradable packaging to reduce plastic waste and environmental pollution.

After more than 3 years of implementation, Ms. Men has expanded the sales system with 2,000 agents and 73 stores nationwide. The company also owns 4 factories with a total area of ​​over 1,900m2 meeting ISO standards with modern machinery and has been awarded many awards such as: TOP 10 famous brands - products/services of ASEAN 2022; Top 10 Golden Stars of Vietnamese Brands in 2020 and 2023; OCCOP certificate of 4-star quality awarded by Nghe An Provincial People's Committee...

Thanks to its great impact and opening up a new direction for Vietnam's agricultural sector with a four to six-fold increase through processing and consumer distribution, Ms. Nguyen Thi Men's "Nutrition ecosystem from green agricultural products" project was highly appreciated by the expert council and was awarded a special prize in the "Women's Creative Startup and Green Transformation" Competition in 2024.

For Ms. Men personally, from effective production and business activities, Ms. Nguyen Thi Men's company has created direct jobs for 50 female workers at the factory and many women at the chain of 70 product stores nationwide. Her company is also a bridge to consume agricultural products for 19 farming households specializing in grain cultivation in Tan Ky, Nam Dan, Nghia Dan, Hung Nguyen districts with stable quantities. Ms. Men herself is always actively participating in social activities, supporting women, caring for orphans and community activities in the locality.

On October 12, 2024, Mr. Nguyen Duc Hai - Vice Chairman of the National Assembly and Ms. Ha Thi Nga - President of the Vietnam Women's Union awarded the Special Prize of the 2024 "Women's Creative Startup and Green Transformation" Competition to Ms. Nguyen Thi Men. (Source: Minh Trang - Vietnam Women's Union)

Break down barriers and get involved in promoting social progress

2024 is the sixth year that the Central Committee of the Vietnam Women's Union has organized the Women's Startup Competition with the theme "Women's creative startups and green transformation". This is one of the key activities of the Project "Supporting women's startups in the period 2017 - 2025" approved by the Prime Minister. 40 Startup Projects entering the National Finals include 25 projects of enterprises and business households owned by women (62.5%) and 15 projects (accounting for 37.5%) of collective economic models (cooperatives and cooperative groups) managed by women and creating jobs for female workers. Of which, 10 Startup Projects (accounting for 25%) are for disadvantaged and specific women. The participating fields show that agriculture, forestry and fishery account for the highest proportion of 50.4%; the industrial and product manufacturing sector accounts for 13.1%; Education, tourism, services, finance: 8.2%; healthcare, health care, beauty technology: 7.4%; social impact business: 8.9%, other fields: 12.0%... Speaking at the award ceremony on October 12, 2024, President of the Vietnam Women's Union Ha Thi Nga emphasized that the "Women's Creative Startup and Green Transformation" Contest affirms the important role of women in the construction and development of an increasingly prosperous and prosperous country.

Reality has shown that, due to many objective and subjective reasons, women's start-ups and innovation always face certain difficulties. At the workshop organized by the Vietnam Women's Academy on November 17, 2023 to share scientific research results related to women's start-ups and business innovation, and to share factors affecting women's intention to start a business in the Northeast region, Dr. Dao Thi Huong (University of Economics and Business Administration, Thai Nguyen University) said that in recent years, provinces in the Northeast region have attracted women to participate in start-ups in various fields such as agriculture, forestry, small-scale industry, trade and tourism. However, the number of women who have successfully started a business is still limited. To start a business, in addition to overcoming lack of confidence and complacency, women also face many difficulties and challenges, including gender stereotypes, limited access to resources and markets, and business management skills.

According to Associate Professor Dr. Tran Quang Tien, Director of the Vietnam Women's Academy, the context of today's era, characterized by rapid changes in the political, socio-economic, technological and ecological environments, is opening up many opportunities as well as challenges for women's start-up and innovation activities. Therefore, one of the major issues being raised is how women can best promote their potential, take advantage of opportunities, advantages and overcome challenges and difficulties to participate more effectively in start-up and innovation activities, contributing positively to today's socio-economic development.

According to statistics, women-owned businesses account for 26.5% of the total number of Vietnamese businesses, and one in four private businesses in Vietnam is led by women. Women contribute up to 40% of the wealth of the Vietnamese economy. In addition to their role in socio-economic development, women-owned businesses demonstrate many advantages such as employing more female workers, paying higher social insurance premiums, lower job creation costs, and solving many social challenges.

It can be said that the role of women is undeniable, but what women should do when they still face barriers is to be confident in themselves, remove barriers and participate in promoting social progress. This is also shared by Ms. Nguyen Thi Men, who won the Special Prize of the "Women's Creative Startup and Green Transformation" Competition in 2024: "Starting a business from scratch, facing countless difficulties and challenges. However, with perseverance, determination, passion, concern and creativity, I have gradually risen up, achieved the goals set for myself, for the company, for employees, for the desire to contribute to the community. I want to spread the belief and encourage women around me to dare to pursue their dreams. I believe that when we dare to start a business, constantly strive every day for good things, we will have certain successes".

Hong Minh