Dedicated and courageous businesswoman
(Baonghean) - Born and raised in a poor farming family with many children, growing up and studying in Dien Thap (Dien Chau), experiencing ups and downs in life, on a thorny journey of starting a business, Ms. Ngo Thi Thuong finally found the right path for herself.
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| The garment factory line of Phu Linh Trading Company Limited (in Dien Lam commune, Dien Chau) currently creates jobs for 750 local workers. Photo: Luong Mai |
The Hard Years
Born in Hamlet 6, Dien Thap Commune (Dien Chau), her poor parents had 8 children to study. Ngo Thi Thuong's childhood was spent cutting grass and herding buffaloes... Her dream was simply to have enough conditions, find a stable job, and escape poverty. Her dream was somewhat unfinished when, after finishing 12th grade, her father became seriously ill and passed away. Her mother and brother sent her to a sewing class in Vinh City.
Thanks to her eagerness to learn and dynamism, after 3 months of apprenticeship, she managed to open a small family tailor shop in her hometown and attracted quite a lot of customers with an initial line of 16 workers coming to learn and cooperate in business. The opportunity came to her at that time after marrying Mr. Tang Hong Ngon (from Dien Lam commune), he always supported and accompanied her to achieve success in the tailoring profession in her hometown Dien Lam today.
When her husband went away to do business and suffered losses in 2013, she decided to follow him abroad to find a job and trade to accumulate capital, while not giving up her passion and learning sewing experience at many companies. Her dream of a modern, industrial-scale garment factory that would create jobs for many of her hometown's workers originated from those days away from home.
Start a business in your homeland
In January 2017, returning to their hometown, they established Phu Linh Trading Company Limited in Hamlet 2, Dien Lam Commune. The company's production line was invested with tens of billions of VND, with a modern, closed scale including a system of fabric cutting machines, steam irons, fabric inspection machines, sewing machines, and large-size printers. Up to now, the factory has 13 sewing lines, attracting over 750 workers in the district and neighboring districts. The company's products are exported to European and American countries such as zacket shirts, regular shirts, feathers, etc. In 2017, the company exported 150,000 products, with revenue reaching 30 billion VND, contributing nearly 3 billion VND to the state budget.
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| Ms. Ngo Thi Thuong (far right), Deputy Director of the company, discusses techniques with sewing lines. Photo: Luong Mai |
The garment industry requires diligence and meticulousness, which is suitable for women, so the company has 90% female workers, which is a great advantage. However, for women, in addition to their common work, they also have to take on the role of mother and wife, so their concerns for family and children are also distracted. To help women in the company feel secure in their work, in addition to appropriate policies and regimes, Ms. Thuong spends a lot of time close to and encourages female workers, regularly visits and encourages workers in poor and difficult circumstances, especially in the early days when there was no profit, but her point of view is to always ensure the salary regime for hundreds of workers so that they can focus on their work.
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| Ms. Ngo Thi Thuong - Deputy Director of Phu Linh Trading Company Limited. Photo: Luong Mai |
Her secret is to always be concerned with improving the quality of production stages, innovating designs, and taking good care of customers. Thanks to the right direction, dynamism in cooperation mechanisms and market sensitivity, the company led by her and her husband (current CEO) has increasingly affirmed its brand in the export garment market in the district, in the province and the whole country in general.
Having been with Phu Linh Trading Company Limited (Hamlet 2, Dien Lam Commune) since its establishment, for more than a year now, Ms. Dam Thi Thao - Head of Sewing Line 2 of Phu Linh Trading Company Limited excitedly said: "My sewing line currently has 31 workers from many communes of Quynh Luu, Dien Chau and Yen Thanh districts. Workers have a stable salary from 4.4 to 6 million VND/person/month, their lives are guaranteed in all aspects, so they are excited to work well and stick with the company".
In line with the main goal of production and business, Ms. Thuong and Mr. Ngon always pay attention to social security work in the locality, allocating hundreds of millions of VND from business revenue to support, encourage and visit poor households, those in difficult circumstances in the area and poor workers' families. It is known that the company is supporting and helping Dien Hung commune to complete a sewing workshop with 5 production lines and 200 workers. Contributing to stabilizing life and helping children have the opportunity to escape poverty.To achieve the success she has today, Ms. Thuong is always grateful for the support of the agencies at all levels, especially the People's Committee of Dien Chau district and the local government of Dien Lam commune, who always create favorable conditions for her to have the opportunity to invest in the right direction and a stable and sustainable production and business environment.
Sharing with us about her future plans, Ms. Ngo Thi Thuong expressed her determination and concerns in maintaining and improving the quality of products, expanding the market and enhancing competitiveness. She hopes to have a better opportunity in terms of land to invest in expanding production scale, striving to create stable jobs for 2,500 rural workers by 2020.
In the context of the garment industry facing fierce competition from many domestic and foreign invested garment companies, Ms. Thuong is quite bold in her decisions to build relationships with domestic garment partners to build brands such as Ha Thanh Garment Factory (Bac Giang), MS Vina (Thanh Hoa), Nam Tiep Garment Factory (Nam Dinh). The company has developed 10 more garment processing units for itself such as An Khanh Phuoc Company (Dien Yen - Dien Chau), Ngan Nhan Joint Stock Company (Quang Tri), Garment Processing Facility at Detention Camp No. 6 (Thanh Chuong), each garment processing facility produces an average of 15 - 30 thousand products/month.