'OCOP Journey' supports rural agricultural products in Nghe An

Representing a business in Nghe An participating in this program, Ms. Nguyen Thi Hang - Director of Hang Moon Herbal Import-Export Company Limited shared with Nghe An Newspaper reporters about the program for rural agricultural product manufacturers in marketing and consuming OCOP products.

PV:Hello, I understand that you are the only representative in Nghe An who successfully registered to participate in the “OCOP Journey” program, which was organized for the first time in Vietnam. Can you tell us about the approach of the business to participate in this program?

Ms. Nguyen Thi Hang:First of all, I would like to introduce more about the program. This is a television game show jointly organized by VTC Digital Television and a number of large domestic enterprises, nationwide. In 2024, this program will launch its first season, debuting at the end of June 2024.

According to the organizers, this is both a channel to propagate the Party and State's guidelines, policies and strategies in the agricultural economy, and a form of support for Vietnamese agricultural products to reach consumers. The key is to help production facilities and businesses with OCOP products increase sales, update trends and sales models in the digital age.

For myself, I was fortunate to know about the "OCOP Journey" program through the introduction of Mr. Dam Quang Thang, whom I met and studied with at a training class for businesses producing OCOP products organized by the Department of Science and Technology 2 years ago. Mr. Dam Quang Thang is a senior advisor to the National Startup Board and a member of the Jury of the National Startup Competition for many years. In addition, Mr. Dam Quang Thang is also Vice President of the Hanoi CEO Club with many years of experience in the field of business management. At the "OCOP Journey" program, Mr. Dam Quang Thang is one of the 5 judges with many sponsorship packages for excellent OCOP products.

PV: A quite useful and new program for OCOP product manufacturers. When participating, what standards do “players” need to meet? How to participate?

Ms. Nguyen Thi Hang:In essence, the “players” here are the products that are manufactured and processed based on local agricultural materials. And the standard is that first of all, the products must be processed and manufactured from local agricultural materials, of good quality, with potential when entering the market. And importantly, they must meet the standards and be recognized as local OCOP products.

When qualified to participate and successfully registered, players go through 3 rounds including the first round of introducing the reason for choosing to produce the product. The second round is a direct dialogue with 5 judges to convince them to sponsor their product. The final round is "OCOP Bus" with the form of a team game, both building a skit, handling situations and through that to introduce more clearly about the products of the members.

Through the games, I personally realized that I learned a lot of useful knowledge and skills. For example, presentation skills, handling situations in production and business, online sales skills, building product brands; and how to approach sales systems.

PV: Can you share more about the impressions and results that your OCOP products received through this program??

Ms. Nguyen Thi Hang:I was quite surprised and very happy because I was lucky to participate in the “OCOP Journey”. The most impressive content for me, and perhaps for all 19 members from provinces and cities across the country participating in this program, was the “CEO Finalization” round, also known as the capital calling round. This is the round that requires representatives of businesses with OCOP products to convince the jury members to agree to sponsor their products. Each judge is a representative of large businesses, distributors, experts in the fields of sales and marketing, and product branding.

I participated in this program on July 12 and was fortunate to be recognized as the Second Prize winner. More importantly, I received sponsorship packages from all 5 judges. In other words, with my product, I convinced 5 judges to agree to sponsor my product to help it develop and participate more deeply in the national market through the "funding round".

The “capital” of the program is the training courses on skills, knowledge and opportunities to participate in marketing and product distribution channels from the judges. And thanks to the success of the capital calling round, on August 19, I received the opportunity to go to Hanoi to promote the steps to participate in distributing my products in domestic supermarket systems for oral essential oil and perilla tea products of Hang Moon Import Export Company Limited.

PV: Can you elaborate on the benefits of receiving sponsorship from the jury members? What lessons can you draw from this for yourself as well as businesses and cooperatives in the field of production and consumption of OCOP products?

Ms. Nguyen Thi Hang:The jury's sponsorship packages are very necessary and useful for a business or cooperative to build a brand, market and consume OCOP products in the digital age. The sponsorship packages I received from the jury are: A sponsorship package of tens of millions of VND for training in sales marketing skills on the TikTok platform, a course on building a TikTok channel, and building product brands on this platform. For this sponsorship package, I chose a course to support the branding of oral essential oil products on the TikTok platform.

Next is the course on building a sustainable development strategy for OCOP products. I have now completed this course and started implementing it. One judge sponsored my product by allowing it to participate in the OCOP sales channel that he built and has a brand, with "huge" sales nationwide and in many countries around the world. This channel only sells Vietnamese OCOP products and mainly sells online. Another sponsorship package I received is a training course, support for taking care of sales channels on Shopee and TikTok, which is currently in the process of implementation.

And also through the “OCOP Journey” Program, participating businesses are able to learn and receive support in knowledge and skills on applying digital technology in product promotion and consumption. In addition, they are also given the opportunity to meet many business partners and access marketing and product distribution systems across the country. This is also what individuals and companies trading OCOP products currently lack and need support.

PV:Thank you for sharing. I wish you and your company will achieve more success in production and business!