Stumbling blocks in agricultural startups

Learning from the mistakes of those who have gone before can help young entrepreneurs avoid unnecessary failures. Here are three stories...

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1. Tran Cuong and his 9X friends decided to enter the clean agricultural products business - products that are not sprayed with chemicals or pesticides. In August 2015, after a period of preparation, they launched an application that helps customers order clean vegetables via smartphone.

The project received investment. The marketing campaign was launched with gifts of organic fruit and vegetables shipped from Da Lat to Ho Chi Minh City for those who downloaded the application first. But, just a short time later, the business stopped, the project ended. The reason: you accidentally discovered that the person in charge of the supply, someone you knew and trusted, did not provide clean agricultural products as promised. And as the project founder shared, you had to stop because you could not deceive consumers, could not let it affect your reputation.

It is necessary to look at your background to understand the story. Among the project founders, only one of you had experience in starting a business but in the field of delivery. You are familiar with technology but lack knowledge about agriculture, especially organic agriculture. With beautiful dreams, eagerness about the prospect of bringing clean products to consumers but lacking knowledge and experience, you soon believed the person in charge of supply when this person took you to a tomato garden cultivated according to the organic method that they implemented. "He talked very well about organic agricultural products, about his experience and connections with gardeners, plus the fact that we saw what he did in the tomato garden, we were convinced, believing that he could provide many other types of organic products without checking", Tran Cuong shared.

The key point for Cuong is to trust without checking because as Cuong said, it is difficult to cooperate without trusting each other. It is true that it is difficult to cooperate without trusting each other, but if you cannot build a transparent mechanism to check and bind interests to build and maintain trust, then trust is just "thinking to trust".

2. Finding a source of clean agricultural products is difficult, but maintaining the philosophy of clean agricultural products is much more difficult. Imagine your group is in the clean agricultural products business. The brand, let's call it ABC although this is a true story, has been built. Loyal customers are available. However, the company is still unstable, sometimes profitable, sometimes losing. Some founding members begin to waver in their belief. Suddenly, a customer, exactly a row, comes to order a large quantity, not necessarily clean in the sense of not sprayed with chemicals.

Products can be purchased at wholesale markets as long as the price and delivery are guaranteed, on time. Accept this offer or not? The views among the founders have begun to clash. The first opinion is that we should accept orders because everything is easy; buy and sell, the profit is immediately visible. This is very important in the context of the company's financial difficulties. The argument given by this group is that we still sell clean agricultural products to customers at the store and still sell normal orders to the big customer just now. Everything is clear. Everything is agreed upon and we are not cheating anyone.

The second opinion objected because if they accepted this order, the group would not be able to maintain the business philosophy as originally set out. This group believed that the customer from the restaurant was buying their clean brand, not their product. Imagine the situation where the customer - a secondary customer group - came to the restaurant and saw vegetables from ABC store, which specializes in clean agricultural products.

What happens? Obviously, we do not intend to deceive secondary customers, but it is very possible that they have been deceived. Both sides have two opinions. Right or wrong? Should or should not? They cannot find a common voice and the breakup is obvious. Think about this challenge if you are determined to follow the path of clean agricultural products business.

3. In a recent organic agriculture seminar in Ho Chi Minh City, a business introduced that they raise and supply organic pork, chicken... with certification from an organization from Japan. However, the two words "organic" are organic in their thinking, not according to the standards of any certification unit. And even the organization from Japan admitted via email exchange with TBKTSG Online that they do not have the authority to issue organic certificates. The certificate they issue is only a green certificate for products raised using their technology. So, there is a lack of clarity for consumers here. Your product may be very good, but transparency is necessary. Since not everyone knows about Japanese certification, let's take a similar example for easy comparison. Suppose that your product is GlobalGAP certified, but GlobalGAP is GlobalGAP, even if it is safe, it is completely different from organic certification.

Let's not consider the consumer's perspective for now. Think about your competitors. When you are vague about your product information, it will be a loophole that your competitors will exploit. Currently, you still have a good position in the market and do not have many competitors. However, please do not be subjective. Do what you can, say it. In business, transparency is always appreciated....

According to Vietnam Agriculture