New direction from coconut honey

Born and raised in Can Gio, a land famous for its mangrove forests recognized by UNESCO as "Vietnam's first World Biosphere Reserve", Tran Thanh Lieu was very worried when he saw the area of ​​his hometown's water coconut forest increasingly shrinking. The potential of the water coconut tree has not been properly exploited, only the leaves are used by people to roof their houses and the coconut meat is sold to tourists.

With the desire to promote her hometown's specialties to more people, Tran Thanh Lieu and a friend came up with the idea: Producing canned water coconut products. Initially, Thanh Lieu maintained her job at Ho Chi Minh City National University while starting a business. While her friend was in charge of technical research, Thanh Lieu focused on sales and production... The more she worked, the more passionate she became about the business. The two continued to research and realized that the sap of the water coconut tree could be used to produce vinegar, wine, alcohol and sugar. This discovery opened up a new direction for them. In 2019, Ms. Lieu decided to quit her job at the University to focus on her business.

In 2024, Ms. Tran Thanh Lieu's project (2nd from left) won first prize in the "Women's Creative Startup and Green Transformation" regional competition in the Southern region.

"It took us about 2 years of research, taking care of the coconut trees and monitoring the honey extraction process, before we produced the first bottles of coconut honey. Despite many hardships, when we thought about how we could contribute to the sustainable development of our coconut forests and see people having jobs right on our homeland, we overcame all the difficulties and hardships," recalled Tran Thanh Lieu, Deputy Director of Vietnipa Coconut Joint Stock Company.

In fact, in the early days of starting a business, very few people saw the opportunity in the startup project that her group had worked so hard to research. Ms. Lieu shared: "Once, I met a farmer. He was surprised when I suggested keeping the coconut stalks to grow honey. He even smiled and said: "I have been cutting coconuts since before I was born. No one has ever done that, the water coconut tree does not have honey". But with her perseverance, especially when people saw the product with their own eyes and tried it, they changed their minds."

"I realized that you should never think that you have done your best because you can always do better. Every completed task is a lesson learned, every step is an opportunity to improve yourself. Starting a business is a journey of continuous learning, not allowing yourself to be complacent."

Ms. Tran Thanh Lieu , Deputy Director of Vietnipa Coconut Joint Stock Company

Not only outsiders but also relatives were skeptical about Thanh Lieu's decision to change careers. Her parents' worries were understandable when their daughter had a stable job, but suddenly wanted to give up everything to pursue a business of a type of tree that many people in the countryside wanted to cut down to get land or switch to aquaculture... Thanh Lieu faced a difficult choice. "I had to persistently convince my parents, and then when they saw my products becoming more and more known, saw me participating in startup competitions and winning high prizes, my parents felt secure. And now wherever they go, my parents bring their daughter's products to introduce," Ms. Lieu confided.

After 6 years of establishment and development, Vietnipa Coconut Water Joint Stock Company has increasingly diversified its products, with product lines such as: Instant drinks from coconut water, organic coconut water honey, organic concentrated coconut water honey, organic diet coconut water sugar... Currently, the Company's products are sold in many supermarket systems such as CoopMart, Go, Satra Mart, Emart... In 2024, Ms. Lieu's "Organic coconut water sugar" project won first prize in the "Women's creative start-up and green transformation" contest at the Southern region level and won third prize in the national contest. Ms. Lieu said: "The difference of the product is that it contains many natural minerals, helps to rehydrate, replenish minerals when tired, and supports weight loss according to medical instructions. Coconut water honey is suitable for dieters and people with diabetes".

Ms. Lieu guides farmers in harvesting water coconuts and the process of extracting coconut honey.

Not only does her project aim to protect the riverside ecosystem, increase the value of water coconut trees and promote sustainable development. Water coconut trees grow naturally, each coconut bush produces many fruit clusters, when the fruit falls, it will germinate into seedlings. Thanks to a reasonable harvesting process, combined with technical guidance, Ms. Lieu and her colleagues have implemented a model of greening vacant areas by planting seedlings, contributing to the effective development of raw material areas. Currently, the project creates jobs for 25 regular workers and dozens of seasonal workers.

"My greatest joy is creating jobs for local women. In the past, many women were only housewives or had to leave their hometowns to make a living. Now, they have a livelihood right at home, with many tasks such as packaging products or taking care of plants. Our project has cooperated with local farmers, instructing them on water coconut care techniques, helping them have a stable income without having to leave their hometowns to work far away," Ms. Lieu said excitedly.

Coconut sap is secreted from the coconut stem.

Product promotion opportunities from startup competitions

For Ms. Lieu, participating in the "Women Entrepreneurship" competitions is not only a channel to promote products but also an opportunity for her to look back on her past entrepreneurial journey and draw many lessons for the road ahead. In fact, the process of preparing the application for the "Women Entrepreneurship" competition helped her evaluate the results achieved and determine the next direction. The startup competitions also opened up opportunities to introduce the project to the community of women entrepreneurs - the potential customer group that her company is targeting. In particular, when presenting the project to the Jury, she introduced and promoted the value of the typical tree species of Can Gio land.

One of the lessons that Ms. Lieu has learned from her entrepreneurial journey is that in addition to external factors, internal factors are also very important. A project that wants to develop sustainably needs to be linked to the community, not only in economic value but also in connection and attracting the participation of local farmers. The entrepreneur himself must constantly strive and learn every day, each completed task is a time to gain experience, each step is an opportunity to improve himself.

You may not know, the life span of a water coconut tree is up to 50 years. However, due to its continuous growth characteristics, the water coconut fruit falls and is replaced by a new tree, so it can be exploited indefinitely. If properly cared for after harvesting the fruit, the water coconut stem can continue to live for another 30 days, secreting about 1 liter of honey per day.

Source: https://phunuvietnam.vn/mat-ngot-tu-vung-dat-can-gio-20250411122758504.htm