Make use of young grapefruits that are thought to be discarded

"My family's second child is over 5 years old this year. My child's age is also the time when I started my business - a challenging but memorable journey," Ms. Tran Thi Hai Ly began her story. In 2019, while on maternity leave after giving birth to her second child, while passing by a local's grapefruit garden to buy grapefruit to display, witnessing young grapefruits being cut and thrown away by local people, Ms. Ly came up with the idea of ​​making use of them and she decided to... start a business.

According to Ms. Ly, her decision to start a business was not hasty but calculated and considered. Dong Thap is a locality rich in indigenous resources, including grapefruit trees. The grapefruits lying in the ditches that she saw were organically grown, pruned by the gardeners so that the remaining grapefruits on the trees could grow better. This is also the main source of raw materials for her to make products for the market. Meanwhile, the trend of green consumption is increasingly attracting more and more people's attention.

Thinking is doing. With a small amount of money at first, Ms. Ly bought raw grapefruit and started researching and making dried grapefruit peel snacks. "At first, it was very difficult, having to go through many experiments before finally succeeding. The initial products I used as gifts and gradually sold to acquaintances and friends. When I received positive feedback, I brought them to the market," Ms. Ly recalled. After that, Ms. Ly decided to expand production and register a business household. At the same time, she also invested in additional equipment and machinery to serve production.

Not stopping there, she also diversified her products to expand the market. Up to now, from young green-skinned grapefruit, Ly has made more than 10 products such as dried grapefruit peel snacks, grapefruit peel tea, grapefruit peel honey balls, grapefruit peel powder, grapefruit jam, grapefruit peel juice with tamarind... Many of these products have achieved 3-star OCOP certification. To ensure the source of raw materials, she has linked up to purchase organic grapefruit, with an area of ​​15,000m2, helping farmers increase their income. "Currently, Phuc Dat brand grapefruit products are chosen by many consumers. The products have been distributed to supermarkets, specialty stores, and tourist areas in and outside the province. Currently, the facility also contributes to creating regular jobs for 7 female workers in the locality, with an income of 4-5 million VND/month," said Ly.

Passion is "winged"

Ms. Tran Thuy Hai Ly confided that to achieve the results she has today, she herself has gone through many challenges. In the beginning, because her children were still young, arranging time to take care of them, manage family affairs, and still spend time starting a business was not easy. To meet the delivery schedule for customers, she did not hesitate to work through the night. "My husband is a teacher, busy with lesson plans and assignments, so he could not support me much. At that time, I did not have much capital, I had to borrow from my parents and relatives. Over the years, I have saved up all the profits I have made to invest in buying machinery to produce quality products for the market," Ms. Ly confided.

Despite the difficulties, Ms. Ly admitted that she was lucky to receive the sharing and support of many organizations and units, especially the Women's Union at all levels. According to Ms. Ly, after a short time of starting a business, she was known and supported by the Women's Union at all levels in the province. In particular, it is necessary to mention that the Union at all levels created conditions for her to participate in training courses on startups; conferences to promote and advertise products...

"I received a lot of support and sharing from the Association's staff. This helped my passion grow stronger and stronger, urging me to try harder and make more efforts to not disappoint the trust that everyone has placed in me," she shared.

In 2024, the project "Processing and producing dried grapefruit peel snacks and products from young green-skinned grapefruit peel" (Phuc Dat dried grapefruit peel snack business) of Ms. Tran Thuy Hai Ly entered the regional final round of the "Women's creative start-up and green transformation" contest - Southern region organized by the Central Committee of the Vietnam Women's Union and won the Encouragement Prize. Ms. Ly shared that each start-up competition gives her more knowledge and lessons to make her project more complete and effective.

At the "Women's Creative Startup and Green Transformation" Startup Competition, she received many comments and shares about the project from experts. In particular, experts said that she needed to focus more on investing and changing some details about product labels and packaging. "This is a completely valid opinion. To win over consumers, in addition to quality, beautiful and eye-catching packaging is a very important factor. In particular, experts advised me to edit the logo to make it more suitable when supplying products to foreign markets. I completely agree with these comments and have proceeded to remake a new logo for the brand," said Ms. Ly.

Ms. Ly believes that it is never too late for women to start a business. She herself has witnessed women over 60 years old who are still passionate about starting a business. This is also the motivation for her to continue to make more efforts on the path of pursuing her passion. "My wish and plan in the coming years is to convert from a household business to an enterprise, expand the factory and continue to invest in the current production line. Not only distributing products domestically, I also aim to export my products to other countries, thereby continuing to create more jobs for local women," said Ms. Ly.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Kim Hanh, Chairwoman of the Women's Union of Tan Khanh Dong Commune (Sa Dec City, Dong Thap Province), said that when first approached, the Union assessed Ms. Tran Thuy Hai Ly's startup product as quite unique. While most of the dried grapefruit peel products on the market at that time were dried soft, Ms. Ly's product was dried crispy. However, at that time, Ms. Ly's product packaging was very simple, mainly sold to a number of small distribution points in the area. Recognizing the novelty and development potential of the product, the Union supported Ms. Ly with capital and knowledge, helping the product to become more and more complete. In addition, the Union also supported the procedures and documents for registering OCOP products.

"We have supported and facilitated Ms. Ly to participate in training courses on startup knowledge. In addition, we also introduced and promoted her startup products on social networking platforms. In particular, we have guided and consulted her to come up with design ideas and choose appropriate packaging for the product, thereby contributing to helping Ms. Ly's startup products become more and more chosen by consumers," Ms. Nguyen Thi Kim Hanh shared.

Source: https://phunuvietnam.vn/gian-nan-lam-snack-tu-vo-buoi-say-20250418143907415.htm