'Farmer woman' starts a business from... waste

By turning waste into dishwashing liquid and biological floor cleaner, Ms. Hong not only escaped poverty but also created jobs for hundreds of women in the area. Especially with this model, people join hands to collect waste, making the living environment cleaner.

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Ms. Hong introduces her products. Photo: VGP/Luu Huong

Overcoming fate

Ms. Trinh Thi Hong, 50 years old, residing in Hoa Minh ward, Lien Chieu district, Da Nang city, lost her parents when she was young. Ms. Hong and her five siblings grew up in the love, care and sharing of the neighbors, so she dreams of one day doing many useful things to help the community, especially poor households.

Although life is still difficult and she has breast cancer, she still tries to overcome her fate. During the day she works as a worker in a garment factory, and at night she continues to go to cultural supplementary classes. She also actively participates in the activities of the Women's Union of the group and ward.

The opportunity to start her own business came to her in 2012, when she was sent to the Philippines to attend a conference on developing poor communities in Asia. Here, she listened to presentations on innovative practices that benefit society and the community. She was most impressed with the method of composting plant waste to create environmentally friendly biological products.

“I brought the idea back to my country and noticed that in front of every house in the area there were many Styrofoam boxes for waste. I thought how great it would be if this waste could be turned into usable products that would also make the living environment cleaner. That thought urged me to start doing it right away,” Ms. Hong confided.

Despite many failures, Ms. Hong did not give up but continued to learn from her experiences to achieve success. “At that time, everyone said I was crazy because I spent all day picking up trash and trying to figure out what to do,” Ms. Hong happily shared.

After 5 years, with perseverance and learning, success smiled on her, the biological dishwashing and floor cleaning product named "Minh Hong" was born.

After successfully creating biological dishwashing liquid and floor cleaner products by composting vegetable waste, Ms. Trinh Thi Hong shared her "secret" with women in difficult circumstances to follow.

Currently, 126 women in Hoa Minh area and neighboring areas have become her "collaborators" with an average monthly income of 3-5 million VND.

According to Ms. Hong's method, the ingredients to process waste into cleaning solution include 3 kg of plant waste (leaves, vegetables, flowers, tubers, fruits...) washed, cut into about 3 cm; 10 kg of water and 300 g of starch sugar mixed well and incubated in a sealed container for 30 days.

At the end of this stage, a yellow crude solution will be obtained. Every 10 liters of solution will produce 2 liters of finished product through the filtration, extraction, etc. process. To create viscosity, foam, and aroma, the product will be incubated for another 45 days with eggplant and turmeric starch preparations.

According to Ms. Hong, turning waste into cleaning solutions is very useful for every family, both saving living expenses and benefiting health. More specifically, through this model, people join hands to collect waste, thereby making the living environment cleaner.

Start-up

In January 2016, Ms. Hong decided to participate in the startup incubation process of the Danang Business Incubator with the desire to receive more systematic training and apply higher technology to her production process. After 6 months of incubation, she established her own business named Minh Hong with more specific business plans.

Also in September 2016, she signed a contract with Intimex supermarket to bring products to consumers.

Ms. Huynh Thi Le, Chairwoman of the Women's Union of Hoa Minh Ward, who is also Ms. Hong's "collaborator", shared: "As a diligent and eager-to-learn person, even though she failed after many attempts, she will succeed. Now my whole family spends their free time working extra and on average I receive 4-5 million VND per month."

Besides participating in production, every week Ms. Hong also teaches the profession to women in the ward and neighboring areas to replicate this model, helping families in difficult circumstances escape poverty.

Ms. Hong's dishwashing liquid product from organic waste. Photo: VGP/Luu Huong

Ms. Hong is currently the Head of the Front Work Committee of Hoa Phu 5 residential area, Hoa Minh ward, famous for her "good hand" in movements to support the poor.

Talking about her model, Ms. Hong said that many businesses have come to her to cooperate in product development or buy the production process at very high prices, but she refused them all because she could not guarantee two factors: keeping the environment clean and livelihoods for the poor.

“I do not do business for my own benefit, but I want to create a useful product to help poor women and those in difficult circumstances find jobs. This is my wish and my gratitude to the community that has taken care of me and helped me through difficult times,” said Ms. Hong.

According to Luu Huong/chinhphu.vn