Born in 1994, Ms. Lan got married in difficult circumstances, without a stable job. Her husband followed the traditional profession of making agarwood from his grandfather. The turning point came when she joined the Women's Association of Hamlet 10 (Phuc Trach Commune) and was introduced to preferential loans for women starting a business. Thanks to that, she boldly borrowed 90 million VND to start planting Aquilaria trees (also known as Agarwood) on an area of 1 hectare with about 10,000 trees. Despite difficulties with weather and pests, she has so far maintained 5,000-6,000 trees.
Agarwood trees can be harvested after about 10 years of planting, each tree can bring in 500,000-1 million VND; if left longer, the value can be up to 3-5 million VND/tree. Although the care time is long, Ms. Lan believes that this is a sustainable way to increase her family's income. While waiting for the trees to grow, she also sells online to increase her income.
Ms. Lan next to the agarwood garden of more than 5,000 trees built from a loan of 90 million VND through the Women's Union of Phuc Trach commune, a turning point that helped her start a business from difficult circumstances.
Preferential capital - "Support" for startup dreams
For Ms. Lan, the 90 million VND loan was a big boost in her entrepreneurial journey. With the loan, she invested in buying agarwood seedlings, hired workers and gradually expanded production. The loan had a principal repayment period of 3-5 years, with interest paid monthly, so she was not under too much pressure. From a small model, her family gradually had a stable income.
In addition to growing trees, Ms. Lan also produces agarwood products such as agarwood incense, agarwood buds, and feng shui burning items. Good quality agarwood is exported to make perfumes, medicinal herbs, and high-end feng shui items. There is a huge demand in both domestic and foreign markets.
High-class agarwood incense products under the Hoang Lan brand - one of the agarwood product lines produced by Ms. Lan, meeting the needs of domestic and foreign markets.
Thanks to that, her family's life has improved significantly. Her production facility creates jobs for about 10 local workers. "Of these, 3 are permanent workers, with a monthly salary of about 9 million VND; the rest are seasonal workers with a salary of 300,000-500,000 VND/day. Notably, there is a worker who is an ethnic minority from Nghe An , who has been with the facility for a long time," Ms. Lan shared.
Not only is she the owner, Ms. Lan also directly participates in production: making incense, rolling incense, taking care of trees... both saving costs and mastering the production process. She hopes to continue to access more capital to expand production, improve product quality, and create more jobs for people in the area. According to Ms. Lan, when her own economy is stable, she will have the conditions to spread entrepreneurial opportunities to many other women.
Workers at Ms. Hoang Huong Lan's agarwood production facility - which provides stable jobs for about 10 workers.
Women's Union - A solid bridge for women to rise up
According to Ms. Nguyen Thi Huong, Chairwoman of the Women's Union of Phuc Trach Commune, the loan that Ms. Lan received was a job creation loan, part of a livelihood creation program implemented by the Central Committee of the Vietnam Women's Union through the TYM Microcredit Fund. This is a preferential capital source for poor and disadvantaged women who need to develop their economy. The Women's Union of the commune began accessing this capital source in 2016, but the allocation is still limited due to depending on annual targets, while the actual needs of members are increasing.
The Association always prioritizes supporting women with real needs and feasible economic models like Ms. Lan's case. Access to capital not only helps women develop their economy but also creates jobs for many people around them. In the past three years, activities to support women in starting a business have been increasingly promoted. In addition to training and communication courses, the Association mainly connects members with the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies and the Vietnam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development to borrow capital.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Huong, Chairwoman of the Women's Union of Phuc Trach commune (standing) visited Ms. Lan's agarwood production facility and disseminated information about preferential loans.
Currently, the Women's Union of Phuc Trach commune is managing more than 50 billion VND of outstanding loans from preferential loan programs. Of which, 186 households in 4 villages borrow through the Social Policy Bank, while nearly 1,900 households are connected to capital from the Vietnam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development. Common loan amounts range from 50-90 million VND and 100-200 million VND depending on the channel. Thanks to simple procedures and close support from the Union's officials and grassroots branches, the rate of members accessing capital is very high, most of whom have loans to serve production development.
To inform each member, the Commune Women's Union maintains regular monthly branch meetings and organizes Zalo and Messenger groups to update credit programs. On the 3rd, 5th, 14th and 16th of each month, the Union holds regular meetings to disseminate information about loans and union activities. Thanks to this extensive and effective communication, many members have proactively accessed capital to invest in economic development in accordance with local conditions.
The Women's Union of Phuc Trach commune disseminates information on preferential loans to members via Zalo group, helping many people access them promptly to invest in economic development.
The rate of poor and near-poor households in the commune is currently only about 1.8%, equivalent to 56 households out of a total of more than 1,800 households. However, most people still need capital to expand production, especially two strengths: Phuc Trach grapefruit and Aquilaria trees. In the past 5 years, the movement to grow these two types of trees has developed strongly, almost every household grows them.
Some households have expanded their production scale with two to three gardens, gradually building a diversified economic model. Many young, dynamic members have boldly invested in a model combining grapefruit and agarwood cultivation, bringing high economic efficiency and aiming for sustainable development.
To improve the effectiveness of credit policy communication, in the coming time, the Association will continue to maintain direct and online propaganda forms, and propose expanding the scale of loan sources, especially job creation capital and start-up capital specifically for women.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Huong, President of Women's Union of Phuc Trach commune.
"The Association's biggest wish is to be allocated more preferential loan packages to support women in expanding production, investing in equipment, deep processing and increasing the value of on-site products - like the agarwood production model of Ms. Hoang Huong Lan," Ms. Huong expressed.
Currently, agarwood production facilities like Ms. Lan’s not only exploit raw materials from their own gardens but also have to purchase more from surrounding households. Therefore, access to additional capital to expand raw material areas and proactively produce is essential, not only to reduce costs, improve economic efficiency but also create more jobs for local workers. In its role as a bridge, the Women’s Union of Phuc Trach commune will continue to support women in difficult circumstances to access policies, boldly start a business and take control of the family economy.
Source: https://phunuvietnam.vn/tiep-can-nguon-von-vay-phu-nu-tre-khoi-nghiep-thanh-cong-20250624210254667.htm
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