Society

"New age women need to dare to think and dare to do"

My Ha - Diep Thanh • DNUM_AIZADZCACF 20:59

At the age of 35, Ms. Truong Thi Han (born in 1985), a farmer in Tho Thanh commune, Yen Thanh district, decided to start a business with a project related to handicrafts, the Xau Coi project. After 6 years, the project has created jobs for more than 100 workers and her products have "crossed the border" to be present in many countries around the world.

Content: My Ha - Technique: Diep Thanh

At the age of 35, Ms. Truong Thi Han (born in 1985), a farmer in Tho Thanh commune, Yen Thanh district, decided to start a business with a project related to handicrafts, the Xau Coi project. After 6 years, the project has created jobs for more than 100 workers and her products have "crossed the border" to be present in many countries around the world.

Celebrating International Women's Day, Ms. Truong Thi Han shared with Nghe An Newspaper about her journey from farmer to cooperative owner.

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PV:When talking about starting a business, many people often think of young people, knowledgeable, ambitious and with some economic background. So, for a 35-year-old woman with 3 children and never been out in society like you, starting a business must have been a very surprising decision?

Ms. Truong Thi Han:My family has a tradition of carpentry and I grew up with the profession as a matter of course. Where I grew up, there were many families who followed the carpentry profession but there was only one woman, I learned wood carving. After nearly 15 years of working in the profession, although it was not too difficult financially, one day I realized that this job was no longer suitable for me, because it was too hard and tiring. As a woman, there were times when I had to struggle with large tree roots that were beyond my strength. In the long run, I was afraid that I would not have the strength to do it.

When I decided to change my career, I was very worried. My family did not agree, because if I did carpentry, I would earn 300,000 VND per day. As fate would have it, one time I was walking along the Vech Bac canal and saw a lot of sedge growing long, no one was exploiting it, blocking the flow. Then I thought that in my hometown, there were raw materials, and there was also a lot of local labor. For a long time, my sisters had only worked on 3 sao of rice fields and then went out, there was too much free time.

When I shared that idea with my father-in-law, he agreed to go with me to an acquaintance's house in Phu Xuyen Craft Village (Chuong My - Hanoi), a craft village in Ha Nam and Ninh Binh provinces to learn. The first time I saw products made from sedge, I wondered why so many beautiful products could be made from sedge. Then I asked to stay and learn, and I followed their example by knitting stitches. I remember there was a very difficult knitting technique, which was knitting a round knob. Yet after only 3 days, I was able to weave it and the person who taught me said that no one had ever learned it so quickly. Maybe because I had previously studied and worked as a sculptor, so I had the techniques and experience. Therefore, when I was instructed on how to weave sedge, I only needed to know how to make stitches, how to weave, how to frame, how to care for the cups evenly, carefully and meticulously, then I could do it.

PV:It is known that in 2019, you started your business. Can you tell us about your first steps?

Ms. Truong Thi Han:The place where we are sitting now (my parents-in-law's house) is my first workshop with 30 sisters participating in production. The sisters are all from the same village, they agreed to join because I invited them "this job is very interesting, easy to do and the materials are available, let's do it. If we don't earn much, we can still have a pack of instant noodles to eat".

Starting a business from Sedge Thread is a story that I started with a simple goal, which is to preserve the traditional craft of my hometown and turn them into modern products, suitable for the green consumption trend. In the early days of implementation, to help the women get acquainted with the sedge weaving technique, I invited craftsmen from Ha Tay to teach the women in the neighborhood. At first, when they first learned, many women were discouraged because the work was meticulous and weaving was difficult. After teaching for more than a week, the women gradually got used to it. The first products made did not guarantee quality, the technique was still poor. However, I still bought them from everyone at 50% of the real product price. The products made were only sold domestically.

In the early days, I only dared to accept small orders. However, production was not easy and I accepted losses. During difficult times, I always told myself not to be discouraged, I was determined to do it. Many products that my colleagues finished during the day, I had to spend time fixing them at night. Afraid that they would be discouraged, I had to encourage them to work, hoping that each person would try a little harder each day, accepting that each person would suffer a little loss. Personally, I also accepted losses to sustain the long-term. It took nearly a year for us to get used to the process and have orders, although the initial orders were very small, only about 40 million VND.

PV:From orders of only a few tens of millions of dong, she has now had larger orders of hundreds of millions of dong. Her Sedge String products have become "unique" in Nghe An and have been exported to European countries, and have been well received by many people. I am wondering, from the laborers who are mainly idle women farmers, how can she build an army with such "hard" skills to be able to make so many beautiful and creative products.

Ms. Truong Thi Han:We are operating under the cooperative model called Tho Thanh Handicraft Sedge Cooperative. In addition to me as the cooperative chairman, we have 30 other cooperative members in Yen Thanh, Dien Chau, Thanh Chuong and Tan Ky districts. Each member will manage a production group with the number of 7-8 people to several dozen people per group.

When there is an order, we will assign responsibility to each group and to professionalize, the groups will produce specific products such as household items, interior decoration. Choosing the cooperative model is suitable for me, because I think that, for someone who lacks a lot of experience and skills like me, if I become a boss, it will be very difficult. But if we develop under the cooperative model, everyone will be partners, supporting and helping each other.

Regarding the labor force in the cooperative, as I have shared, due to taking advantage of the leisure time in farming, our working age is very specific, there are people who are very young and working for the government, some are teachers. Besides, there are people who are 70 - 75 years old. Our current difficulty is that everyone identifies sedge weaving as a temporary job, very few people of working age want to stick with it for a long time. I myself have seen this and understand that many workers have not chosen sedge weaving as their main job because their income is still modest, only a few million VND/month. Therefore, what I always worry about is how to increase the cost of products to increase income for people.

Through the process of working with women, grandmothers and mothers, I have seen that, although they started out as farmers, many of our workers are talented and creative. As I shared before, the development of the sedge production profession has encountered many difficulties, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic and political instability in the world in recent years. The economy with many fluctuations has also affected people's income and purchasing power and affected orders. As a manufacturing unit, we used to follow orders from export units.

However, we now have to proactively go out to sell and offer our own designs to attract consumers and customers. One very happy thing is that all the designs we produce are designed and implemented by the women in the cooperatives. To encourage this, we organize design competitions and reward women who have beautiful designs. If there are orders, we will also assign them to the groups and if any group works quickly, they will be commended and encouraged.

PV:In 2024, you participated in the Women's Entrepreneurship Competition organized by the Women's Union and won third prize. I was also very impressed with the numbers you shared at this competition about the results you have achieved over the past 5 years. What was your most memorable thing about this competition and what did you learn after participating in the competition?

Ms. Truong Thi Han:The time to participate in the contest was also the time when we had to rush an export order to Europe and so perhaps compared to many other women, my preparation was not adequate. During the process of participating in the contest, I received a lot of support from the women of the commune, women of Yen Thanh district and women of the Provincial Women's Union.

This was also the first time I stood on stage to share about my project and for someone who was not used to presenting like me, it was really not easy. I remember when the judges asked me why I chose to start a business from sedge, at first I was very confused. I had almost forgotten all the knowledge written in the application form. However, after that, I thought “I will say it as I do it, just be honest”. And I participated in the competition with the right mindset of an insider. That was probably my most memorable memory of this competition.

After the startup competition and participating with the women in the Women's Union and other projects, I also learned a lot, especially in marketing and promoting products. Recently, when the foreign market became more and more difficult, I started to approach the domestic market by selling through TikTok and e-commerce platforms. Thanks to that, many of my products in stock were sold and I also expanded my customer base. These are the results after the startup competition.

PV:From a carpenter, a farmer, now you are the leader - Chairman of the cooperative. How has the process of starting a business, going into business and becoming an owner changed you? If there is another woman in the countryside who also wants to start a business, what would you share?

Ms. Truong Thi Han:Looking back on the journey, I think what helped me overcome difficulties was passion and perseverance. If we have no experience, let's do it, let's try. Experiences will help us draw our own lessons.

I was originally a shy person and like many other women in the village, I did not have a good education. However, after 5 years of starting a business, experiencing difficulties, failures and challenges, I have grown up a lot. Before, I did not know what trading and negotiating were, did not know how to develop myself, but now I am much more confident. I have mastered my life, created an income, dared to think, dared to do...

I also think that not only me, many other rural women, if they are really determined, can do it because the strengths of rural women are hard work, passion, if they don't do it, then don't do it, if they do it, they will do it thoroughly. Women of the new era need to be bold, dare to think, dare to do.

Of course, women also need to have harmony between family and work. Personally, I am fortunate to have the support of both parents, my husband and children. It is the family factor and trust that gives me more motivation to try.

PV:Thanks for joining the conversation!