Having chosen to leave his hometown with the hope of having a stable job, in the end, Mr. Nguyen Xuan Huy (Nam Dan, Nghe An) still decided to leave the city to return to his hometown, start a business to build a "green career". He not only contributes to the development of his hometown's agricultural products but also aspires to create a gift brand with a strong Nghe character.

Born and raised in the heart of the fragrant countryside, from a young age, Mr. Nguyen Xuan Huy was taught by his grandparents and parents to value love and loyalty. As he grew older, witnessing many hard-working, patient, and patient people who still could not escape poverty, Mr. Huy became more and more concerned and worried about finding ways to contribute to the development of his homeland.

Ever since he was a student at the University of Transport, Huy had been nurturing the dream of starting a business. However, what field to start a business in, where to start, what are the strengths… always swirled in his mind!

Despite many years of struggling to make a living, Mr. Huy has never forgotten that concern. He thinks that Nghe An is a province with a lot of potential and advantages in agricultural production and development, and valuable agricultural products. However, the number of typical and impressive products with the hometown's own brand that can be given as gifts is not much. Looking at Thai Nguyen, which is famous for its tea specialty, looking at Ben Tre, which has coconut candy specialty... Yet, Nghe An has a famous lotus village associated with a noble and valuable plant, but there is no product created from lotus plants grown using organic methods, worthy of wearing the brand of Uncle Ho's hometown.

The more he struggled and the more he aspired, Nguyen Xuan Huy began his entrepreneurial journey with lotus. For 2 years, he devoted all his time to learning and researching about tea and lotus products. He also traveled to all provinces from North to South, researching green agriculture, organic farming methods, lotus varieties, farming conditions, etc.

He realized that each lotus growing region will produce different materials, due to the differences in soil and climate of each region. For example, in the southern provinces, the mild weather will create large lotus flowers, high crop yield. In Nghe An, the climate is harsh, the lotus blooming season is in the hot, dry season.

Although the lotus yield in Nghe An is not as high as in other regions, however, the standard lotus flowers bring very good fragrance value. Perhaps, Nghe An lotus is also diligent, trying to rise from the barren like the people here, so it has such a special fragrance. Nghe An lotus seeds are not as big and long as Dong Thap lotus seeds, but they are very fragrant and crumbly.

When he reached maturity in terms of experience and experience, and was quite stable in terms of financial potential, in November 2022, Mr. Nguyen Xuan Huy decided to establish and launch a gift brand.Phuc An Farm, spreading typical gifts from local agricultural products, proudly giving them as gifts and introducing them to friends everywhere.

Nguyen Xuan Huy's journey to start a business with organic agriculture and build a "green career" has gone through countless difficulties, challenges, and many "bloody" lessons.

Building a new brand is already extremely difficult, and choosing to follow the clean agriculture trend while still retaining the unique local culture makes it even more difficult.

Mr. Huy shared that the biggest difficulty he encountered was changing farmers' awareness and habits about organic farming. Previously, people were used to growing lotus just to sell flowers, so they often used pesticides on lotus. When he came to mobilize and convince each household to switch to completely organic farming, most of them were skeptical and did not believe in the effectiveness. Some people even asked: "Why don't you stay in the big city to work, why go back to the countryside to grow lotus and work so hard?" At that time, Mr. Nguyen Xuan Huy just smiled and replied: "Without me, the big city would still develop, but my hometown would still be poor. I want to contribute a small part to building my hometown. I hope that what I do can inspire young people to join hands to build Nghe An to become more and more self-reliant and developed."

With his perseverance and patience, some households agreed to sign contracts, cooperate and commit to growing lotus using organic methods, without spraying pesticides, only using organic fertilizers provided by the company. At first, he agreed to buy finished products at a much higher price than the market price. Over time, he has made more and more strict requirements in the growing process, so the yield has decreased. From planting, fertilizing, harvesting, to processing to create finished products, all are strictly carried out according to a closed process.

He also closely manages, accompanies, and closely monitors households right from the first stage of planting, instructing on how to cultivate, fertilize, and provide organic fertilizers... Instructing people on how to have lotus flowers that meet the standards and the most beautiful period of the lotus flowers to harvest, preserving the most quintessential flavor of nature. People can be completely assured in the cultivation and output of the products.

After solving the core problem of raw materials, he continued to improve the quality and appearance of the products, taking care of each gift to the customers in the most meticulous and beautiful way. Therefore, Phuc An Farm not only brings the typical flavor of Nghe An agricultural products but also sends customers a deep insight into the culture and traditions of the homeland.

The distinctive mark of Phuc An Farm gift boxes compared to many other products in the same segment lies in the paintings drawn by the hands of local artisans. The paintings of landscapes, famous landmarks of Nghe An or the landscape of flowers and leaves, the simple countryside are extremely eye-catching. The lid of the gift box can be used as a beautiful decorative painting. Through that, Phuc An Farm also contributes to honoring and promoting the culture, traditional beauty and tourism of Nghe An. When receiving Phuc An Farm products, everyone can feel that each gift box is like an "ambassador" of Nghe An tourism.

Despite many difficulties, Mr. Nguyen Xuan Huy still constantly strives, perseveres, and believes in following the path he has chosen and is now gradually reaping "sweet fruit".

In 2023, Phuc An Farm excellently won second prize at the Competition.“Searching for innovative startup talents in Nghe An expansion”Phuc An Farm is also honored to represent Nghe An province at Trade Promotion Conferences in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and other provinces and cities.

Currently, Mr. Nguyen Xuan Huy has expanded 13 hectares of lotus cultivation, lotus varieties with characteristic aroma, suitable for making tea such as lotus, lotus... In addition to producing lotus tea, Phuc An Farm also has many products processed from flowers in Uncle Ho's homeland such as lotus heart tea, lotus leaf tea, wood lotus tea, red lotus tea, dried lotus seeds, dried lotus roots and jams from other agricultural products... In which, lotus flower tea, lotus leaf tea and red lotus tea of ​​Phuc An Farm have achieved 3-star OCOP certification at the provincial level.

Mr. Huy also pays special attention to the product introduction and distribution network system. At Kim Lien Relic Site (Nam Dan, Nghe An), a thatched-roof booth was built with the typical Nghe An countryside style, displaying and introducing Phuc An Farm products and Nghe An OCOP products to visitors; in addition, there are more than 10 stores and points of sale in the province.

Along with that, there are 3 units cooperating and distributing products to the provinces, especially exporting to the Lao People's Democratic Republic. It is known that in the near future, some products of Phuc An Farm will be exported to Asian countries such as China, Korea, Japan and India.

Mr. Nguyen Xuan Huy - founder of Phuc An Farm shared: I hope that the products made by Phuc An Farm will become the pride of the people of Nghe An, and wherever they go, they will be ready to bring them as gifts. We have been working tirelessly with Nghe An farmers to build new values ​​for our hometown's agricultural products, creating products imbued with traditional Vietnamese values, bringing those values ​​further, not only to domestic consumers but also to international friends.