Female CEO of Nghe An and her inspirational story

Vu Thi Thai An: Aspiration for a global enterprise

Born in 1991, in a business family in Vinh Tan ward (Vinh city), after graduating from high school, Vu Thi Thai An took the entrance exam to the Faculty of Public Relations, Academy of Journalism and Communication, after that, An won a scholarship to study in the UK for a Master's degree in International Event Management. During her years of studying in the UK, she had the opportunity to travel to many places around the world. Each trip for An was not only an interesting experience, "a day of travel, a day of learning" and from there, she formed an idea to start a tourism business.

Vu Thi Thai An shared: “Ten years ago, when I traveled with two Canadian friends from North to South, I realized that foreigners in Vietnam had difficulty communicating and getting used to the Vietnamese environment and culture.

Similarly, 8 years ago when I traveled to Europe alone, I also tried booking travel-related apps at that time but there was no commitment from the service provider and it took a lot of time for the user. The founding members of the group themselves have traveled a lot and realized that each place has language barriers and cultural barriers, that's what made me and my friends decide to create Tubudd."

Tubudd (a variation of “tour buddy”) officially operated in Vietnam since 2018, originating from the idea of ​​a group of Vietnamese students studying abroad in Manchester (UK) led by An. Tubudd was born and is a technology platform serving the search and connection of tourists with locals, including both professional and amateur tour guides.

The Tubudd platform is very simple to operate. Travelers just need to visit the Tubudd website or download the Tubudd application on their smartphone and choose a destination, local guides with full personal information are available for tourists to choose from. "Ordering" a buddy, tourists will have a companion who is knowledgeable about the places they will visit during the trip. Customers can also contact the system for direct consultation. And regardless of whether it is 1 or 2 months later, or immediately the next day of departure, there will be a local friend at the airport to welcome them, and start their journey of discovery with them.

This travel technology platform offers travelers experiences from a local perspective and can get closer to the local culture. Another advantage of Tubudd over traditional travel companies is that travelers do not need to follow a pre-scheduled tour with others. Instead, a local tour guide will help guests plan their itinerary or follow the itinerary, going to the places they want. In addition, the local tour guide is also a friendly friend to groups of tourists traveling with families, an interpreter for events, conferences of companies, etc.

After working abroad for 1 year, in 2018, Thai An brought the Tubudd Project back to Vietnam to operate. When asked, "Is An's return to Vietnam to start a business to "repay his homeland" by creating jobs for young people; to promote and spread Vietnam to tourists from all over the world?", An did not hesitate to answer: "Thinking like that is too big! By bringing Tubudd back to Vietnam, I only want to contribute a part, with what I can do to help foreigners have a different, more positive view of Vietnam and, in some way, help young Vietnamese people have more playgrounds, more opportunities to work and gain knowledge with foreigners".

After returning to Vietnam for a year, everything had just begun to be built when the Covid-19 pandemic broke out, disrupting all activities including tourism. Tubudd was no exception, everything changed completely, not being able to welcome foreign tourists, and even domestic ones... There was a time when Tubudd considered whether to close or continue, but luckily, customers still came. As the leader, Thai An gradually steered Tubudd to maintain revenue, profit, and pay regular salaries to employees.

Thai An admitted that being born and raised in Nghe An, Nghe An's personality is his nature, whatever he does, he is determined to do it to the end. After overcoming the pandemic, all members of the group pulled themselves together, completed the project and continued to bring their products to "fight" not only in other markets but also in competitions.

Surprisingly, in 2022, Tubudd officially became the only representative of Vietnam to participate in the Global Startup Cup (EWC). Surpassing more than 10,000 other projects in the world, Tubudd was in the TOP 250 best projects globally; in 2023, TOP 3 "She's Next Visa Vietnam Grant Winner" Award; TOP 5 "NET ZERO TO HERO ESG Challenge in Taiwan" Competition; TOP 10 "She Loves Tech Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia" Competition; In 2024, Tubudd entered the TOP 10 Startup World Cup - a global startup competition, aiming to find and support innovative startups in the world; TOP 3 Techfest 2024...

Currently, Tubudd has 900 local tour guides (called “buddies”) in 40 cities, 12 countries worldwide, of which 700 are in Vietnam. Tubudd is also a development partner of travel startups such as Tripbtoz, dichungtaxi.com, ADDI Global,... to provide comprehensive services to customers.

33 years old, with 2 university degrees, a master's degree in the UK, published a book, built a business with dozens of awards, but Vu Thi Thai An has never been satisfied with herself, with the successes she has achieved. "When you have a dream and try your best to achieve that dream, then unintentionally, a beautiful "garden" will be created, if everyone builds a garden like that, it will create a very large, very beautiful picture of life, like building an aspirational country... My own aspiration is a global business, bringing benefits to the world, not just within the scope of one country", Thai An shared.

Tran Thi Hong Tham: Salt Girl

After successfully researching molasses and processing salt to launch products such as nutritional salt, salt reduction salt, foot bath salt, etc. to the market in 2024, the Nanosalt Salt Project of Tran Thi Hong Tham (born in 1992), in Quynh Van commune, Quynh Luu district) has made great strides in increasing the value of traditional grain salt, creating a stable livelihood for many salt farmers.

Quynh Luu district has 660 hectares of salt fields, with about 10,000 salt farmers, 12 salt cooperatives still operating, with an annual output of about 50,000 tons. Currently, Quynh Luu salt fields have the largest area and output in the Northern region and the North Central Coast. However, in recent years, Quynh Luu salt prices have fallen, salt farmers have faced difficulties with unstable income, and the salt fields have become deserted. Tham and her colleagues have always wondered how to increase the value of sand-dried salt grains of Quynh Luu district. And the Nanosalt salt project was born.

Accordingly, the project has used multi-layer separation technology to deeply process products from salt grains and brine (the water that comes out after harvesting salt grains). After 3 years, from the newly formed idea, the project has now come into operation, to date, the project has launched 4 product lines with 22 types of processed salt. All Nanosalt salt products on the market meet the highest standards in the salt industry. With health salt products, the standard is no colorants, no artificial flavorings, no synthetic preservatives.

At the end of the year, busy with domestic and foreign orders, Tran Thi Hong Tham is like a shuttle, sometimes present at the salt warehouses of salt farmers, sometimes in the production workshop, sometimes rolling up to the highlands of Ky Son to examine the ginger raw material area, then see her appear on TV with competitions, startup projects... Talking, Tham shared: "If in 2023, the Nanosalt Salt Project just started testing, then up to now, we have supplied the market with more than 1 million units of various salt products, providing thousands of tons of salt raw materials to the market of agricultural and food processors. Notably, recently (November 2024), the Nanosalt Salt Project won the First Prize of the "Rural Youth Entrepreneurship" Contest in 2024 organized by the Central Youth Union; was granted a Utility Solution Certificate by the Department of Intellectual Property, and is a representative of Vietnamese startups attending the ASEAN Intellectual Property Conference".

The Nanosalt salt project was highly appreciated by the Jury for many points such as technological innovation, project implementation ability, and feasibility. In particular, the project's social impact was highly appreciated by the Jury. The project has had many positive impacts, such as creating more jobs for salt farmers, utilizing surplus materials wasted in salt fields, and creating many salt products that are beneficial to human health. Tham said: “With new salt production technology, Nanosalt has cooperated with 12 traditional salt cooperatives in Nghe An to purchase molasses, purchasing about 300 tons of molasses and 50 tons of raw salt each month, creating additional income for salt farmers. From a wasted raw material in the salt fields, molasses has become a valuable commodity, an abundant raw material for processing many essential natural marine minerals, serving human health care. This is the first time a scientific project has awakened the medicinal value of salt grains, improving the economic efficiency of salt grains, helping salt farmers maintain and develop the traditional salt profession.”

Most recently, during a charity trip to Ky Son district, I saw that the Mong people were growing ginger on the high mountains, with a large yield and were having difficulty selling it. Through information gathering, this type of ginger has been granted a geographical indication, and is the type of ginger with the highest medicinal properties. Tham thought of combining Ky Son ginger with Nanosalt salt to create a set of health care products. Thinking is doing, Tham and his colleagues started to research and commercialize the product set combining deep sea salt - high mountain ginger into health care products such as: Ginger juice with tea tree salt; Ginger juice with Polygonum multiflorum Epsom salt for hair care; Ginger salt for foot bath; Ginger essential oil with Magnesium salt for massage...

In addition to creating deeply processed salt products, market research is always of special interest to project members. In addition to promoting traditional sales channels, Tran Thi Hong Tham has worked hard to build a nationwide distribution network with the motto "sharing benefits". At the same time, promoting sales channels on digital platforms. To date, Nanosalt has supplied the market with more than 1 million salt products of all kinds, providing thousands of tons of raw salt to agricultural and food processors. Building agents in 50 provinces and cities, more than 2,000 points of sale, regularly supplying salt to about 10,000 customers.

So, the dream of bringing Quynh salt across the sea and exporting it to other countries is gradually becoming a reality, as Nanosalt has gained the trust of many customers in many countries.

At the end of December 2024, Nanosalt had an official agent distributing goods in Laos. To achieve the success today, Tran Thi Hong Tham and Nanosalt herself have gone through many hardships and difficulties. However, as Tran Thi Hong Tham shared: “The journey of starting a business is a journey of self-improvement. It is not only about improving expertise and skills, but also about improving social awareness, sharing with colleagues, accompanying salt farmers, sympathizing and sharing with people who are more difficult than me. I am always willing to share the experiences I have accumulated on the journey of starting a business with young people who want to find their own way”. Therefore, despite being busy with work, Tham seems to have never refused any invitations from universities, colleges and forums to share start-up experiences with young people. Because for her, “giving is forever”.

As people with passion, great ambitions and always aiming for a "bigger" version of themselves, 2 female CEOs - 2 strap ups are always ready to accept all challenges, always keep the spirit of inspiring colleagues and people around them, their startup story really brings inspiration to young people...