"Love your job, live by it"

(Baonghean) - We met Hoang Minh Khanh when he had just returned from the Provincial Youth Union Congress. We had to take the opportunity to chat with him before he set off to deliver the goods. Amidst the chaos of raw materials and products, along with the noisy sounds of saws, splitters, and staplers, he told us about his entrepreneurial journey with all his enthusiasm and passion...

Bamboo and rattan weaving workshop of Mr. Hoang Minh Khanh in hamlet 12, Hung Long commune (Hung Nguyen).

Born in 1982, the only child in a poor farming family, his parents were often sick, so after graduating from high school, Khanh had to put aside his dream of going to university, stay home to work, support his family and participate in local Youth Union activities. Hung Long (Hung Nguyen) is a purely agricultural commune along the Lam River, the lives of the households are still difficult; Hamlet 12 where Khanh's family lives is located under the dike, so it is often flooded during the rainy season, making life even more difficult. Khanh had thought many times about going to the South to work as a worker like many other young people, but seeing his parents getting older and weaker, Khanh was determined to stay in his homeland, find a way to make a living, and struggle to find a way to escape poverty.

At the end of 2007, a relative of Khanh's mother in Vinh City opened a shop selling flower wreaths and offered to have Khanh weave raw products. From then on, Khanh had a side job. Although the income was not much, through the delivery trips, Khanh had the opportunity to "expand his horizons". He saw that at a nearby fresh flower shop, there was occasionally a truck from Ha Tay (now Hanoi) carrying to this shop rattan and bamboo products for flower arrangements such as flower baskets, flower wreaths and gift baskets... He came up with the idea of ​​opening a rattan and bamboo handicraft production facility. He pooled his money to buy the products, brought them home, disassembled them to learn how to weave them and tried them out. With his skillful hands, after a short time, Khanh was able to weave all the above products himself and instructed other family members on how to do it. However, the biggest difficulty was finding the source of raw materials.

Of the 6 raw materials used to make the product, Nghe An only has rattan, bamboo, giang, and lung, which are all the way up in the mountainous districts in the West. The heo must be sourced from Huong Khe and Huong Son districts of Ha Tinh province; the bamboo must be sourced from the Northwestern provinces such as Yen Bai, Ha Giang..., and the coconut fiber is all the way up in the Southern provinces such as Khanh Hoa, Ben Tre... Not discouraged, Khanh took a bus to the North, the South, and the forest to buy raw materials and mobilized all family members to join in making the products. Because they produced by themselves without any orders, at first, Khanh and his wife had to bring the products to Vinh City, to each store and fresh flower stall to offer them at a cheaper price than similar products brought in from the North and ask for their opinions. From then on, Khanh struggled to think of ways to make the products more beautiful and sophisticated.

Khanh's diligence and hard work were rewarded when he received his first orders; and many fresh flower shops in Vinh City chose Khanh's products. Once he had established his reputation and attracted many orders, Khanh thought about expanding his production scale to increase his income and create jobs for local people. From that desire, he gathered young people and idle workers in the village, organized free vocational training and distributed raw materials for them to make at home. Along with that, Khanh boldly borrowed money from the bank to expand the factory, invested in equipment such as saws, air compressors, staplers, etc., and bought small trucks to transport raw materials and products. To overcome the interruption of production during the rainy season, with the support of the local government, Khanh bought a piece of land of more than 600 square meters near the People's Committee of Hung Long commune to open a second production facility.

With his utmost efforts, Hoang Minh Khanh has become a young "millionaire" in the countryside. Up to now, his facility has produced 16 types of products, attracting 10 workers with a salary of more than 2 million VND/month. In addition, there are more than 60 workers who regularly receive goods to work at home, with wages calculated based on the product. Ms. Le Thi Hoai in Hamlet 12, Hung Long Commune - a worker in the workshop said: "Mr. Khanh is a very approachable young boss and is very enthusiastic in instructing us in our daily work. Thanks to his workshop, many idle workers in the hamlet have jobs, increasing their income for themselves and their families."

Khanh's products are not only consumed in Vinh City and neighboring districts but also in Thanh Hoa, Ha Tinh, and Da Nang. Each year, Hoang Minh Khanh's facility produces 200,000 - 250,000 products of all kinds with a total revenue of 3.5 - 4 billion VND, after deducting expenses, the net profit is about 500 million VND. According to Khanh, rattan and bamboo products, including synthetic rattan fibers, are popular with customers. To survive in this profession, one must not only love the profession and be skillful, but also quickly grasp the market and have an appropriate business strategy.

Not only active in production, Khanh also actively participates in local social activities, was elected as Secretary of the Party Cell of Hamlet 12, and a delegate of the People's Council of Hung Long Commune. He is one of the typical young faces receiving a certificate of merit from the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee in 2011 and is one of 300 outstanding young farmers nationwide to be awarded the Luong Dinh Cua Award by the Central Youth Union in 2012. Khanh shared: "From my own experience, I just want to advise young people who are starting their careers that if they are passionate about any job or profession, they must do it with all their passion to overcome difficulties, hardships, challenges and even failures. If you love your job, you will be able to live by it."

Minh Quan