The story of the rice paper boy from the land of Nau who refused the 'deal' of 'Shark' Thai

Leaving the city to return to the countryside, building and developing Sachi - a multi-million dollar specialty rice paper company from the land of Nau, Mr. Nguyen Huu Vinh (37 years old, from Binh Dinh) has just refused the investment offer of "Shark" Nguyen Van Thai (co-founder and Vice President of Thai Huong Group) in Shark Tank season 7.

"I do not agree" was Mr. Vinh's answer to "Shark" Thai's proposal to invest 5 billion VND in exchange for 10% of Sachi's shares and lend the company an additional 10 billion VND. The two sides did not reach an agreement, but Mr. Thai's proposal was a valuation of up to millions of USD for Sachi. Because according to "Shark" Thai's valuation, this company is worth about 50 billion VND, approximately 2 million USD.

From the 3rd startup...

Nearly 7 years ago, in 2017, after graduating from university and obtaining a master's degree in agricultural economics (Ho Chi Minh City University of Agriculture and Forestry) and experiencing failed startups, Vinh returned to his hometown in Binh Dinh province.

His decision to "leave the city and return to the countryside" to start a new journey. That is the journey to bring the rice paper dish of the Nau region to the whole country. Rice paper, especially coconut water rice paper, from the Tam Quan countryside (Binh Dinh) has long been known not only in Binh Dinh or neighboring provinces. However, this type of cake is quite thick, so each time you eat it, you need a charcoal stove to grill it. Once grilled, the cake will usually soften quickly if not eaten immediately. That makes it difficult for urban people to enjoy the crispy, fatty coconut rice paper dish right away. Not to mention that rice paper can only be made during the sunny months, and in the rainy season there is not enough sunlight to dry the cake, so it cannot be produced. However, the boy from the Nau region has changed the game! Through the development process, applying techniques to process agricultural products such as automatic agricultural dryers, electric nut roasters and rice paper shaping machines, Mr. Vinh has started to launch pre-baked and packaged rice paper products. He also had to spend many months solving the packaging and vacuuming process to minimize the possibility of the rice paper breaking, because previously the product had been rejected by many stores for this reason. In 2019, when Mr. Vinh's automatic multi-shaped coconut milk rice paper machine system was awarded by the People's Committee of Binh Dinh province at the 11th Binh Dinh province technical innovation contest, it was also the time when Sachi rice paper appeared on the market. Just like that, not only popped rice and coconut milk rice paper, but many rice paper products such as sesame rice, seaweed, etc. under the Sachi brand have continuously expanded in the market. In about 2 years, including the difficult period due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Sachi has continuously developed when the product is present in 20 provinces and cities nationwide. In 2021, Sachi had a profit of about 800 million VND, not small for a startup company focusing on "countryside" dishes. This number is constantly increasing and most recently the company's profit reached about 3.3 billion VND in 2023. For young man Nguyen Huu Vinh, the third startup has achieved initial success.

...To a million dollar company, penetrating the US market

Not stopping at the above achievements, to reach further in the market, Sachi's production system and products have achieved 4-star OCOP certifications, ISO14001, ISO22000, FDA, and national-level typical rural industrial product certification granted by the Ministry of Industry and Trade in 2023. Sachi rice paper products are available in most supermarket systems nationwide such as: Emart, WinMart, Lotte, Co.opmart, BigC, Annam... No longer limited to the domestic market, Sachi has exported rice paper to Taiwan, Canada and even the US market, which is famous for its strict quality standards. This achievement of Mr. Vinh not only brings the taste of the homeland to overseas Vietnamese, but is also a step forward for a Vietnamese brand to the world. Sachi rice paper is cherished to become a "delicious variation" like a familiar Western snack. Along with the rise in the market, Sachi has also received investment, built factories, and expanded production. Realizing the potential of Sachi when the product is present in many provinces and cities, since 2022, IPP Group, a company specializing in distribution, has invested in Sachi. With the advantage of IPP's strong distribution channel, the result of this cooperation is that Sachi's revenue increased from 15 billion VND in 2022 to 24 billion VND in 2023 and is expected to reach 50 billion VND this year. In terms of long-term strategy, Sachi aims to achieve revenue of 250 billion VND by 2029. In terms of production capacity, Sachi currently has a capacity of up to 1,200 tons/year for grilled rice paper and 240 tons/year for dried vermicelli. With such performance, it is not difficult to understand why "Shark" Thai made the above investment offer to Mr. Nguyen Huu Vinh at Shark Tank Vietnam season 7. But the guy from Nau refused! Responding to Thanh Nien, Mr. Vinh shared: "I refused not because of arrogance or "power illusion", but simply because Sachi wanted to find a soulmate, who has a love for specialties and find a "shark" to support export, bring products internationally, maybe like "Shark" Hung Anh or "Shark" Phu".

Developing 2 factories To date, Sachi has had 2 factories. In the early days of its establishment, Sachi built the first factory. By early 2024, to increase production capacity to meet market demand, the company inaugurated an additional factory producing traditional products such as dried vermicelli and rice paper in Bong Son Industrial Park (Hoai Nhon Town, Binh Dinh Province) with an area of nearly 1.8 hectares, including 5,000 m² of factory space. The factory is equipped with technology to meet the requirements of product quality that meets export standards, towards clean, high-quality and environmentally friendly products. Including steam heat drying technology to ensure consistent product quality, regardless of the weather. All raw materials for the factory are purchased from farmers in Hoai Nhon Town and in 2024, the company will implement a linkage of raw material areas for the factory with a scale of 150 hectares of rice and 30 hectares of sesame. Sachi's purpose is to effectively utilize locally available raw materials such as rice, wheat flour, onions, garlic, salt, chili, etc.