Many women in Da Nang have turned their simple startup stories into an inspiration for the community.

Startup fulcrum

“My mother has unusual feet like everyone else, so any shoes she bought at the market or at the store makes her painful. At these times like this, I wondered why I couldn’t make sandals that won't hurt my mother's feet”. That was the prologue to Nguyen Thi Thanh Truc’s presentation about her startup idea at the final round of the Da Nang Women’s Union-launched 'Startup ideas in 2021' contest.

Luong Thi Anh Thu (middle) won the first prize at the Da Nang Women’s Union-launched 'Startup ideas in 2021' contest for her "Cleansing essence from natural herbs" idea. Photo: T.S

As her confidence to the contest’s judges, Truc continued to talk about the fulcrum to give her an idea to participate in the contest: "No foot is the same as another, so why do all footwear have the same shapes and designs?”. Since then, she came up with the idea of opening the shoemaking shop using eco-friendly leather named ‘May’.

Accordingly, ‘May’ staff will measure each guest's feet to make shoes using eco-friendly leather. After making and handing shoes over to the customers, MAY still keep in touch with customers in order to perfect its products until the customers are completely satisfied.

“We want to go to the end in terms of quality and hope that customers will continue to accompany us for a long time” said the female native of Cam Le District.

As for Luong Thi Anh Thu living in Thanh Khe District, she developed her startup idea from her very sensitive skin.

Thu said her skin is sensitive to all soaps on the market whether domestically-made or imported ones. If she use soaps, she will be allergic. This has motivated her to conduct research and create cleansing essence from natural herbs.

Despite many failures, with perseverance and absolute faith in natural herbs, she finally got her skin-friendly products, and more importantly, her products have won trust of many customers.

Meanwhile, Nguyen Thi Thu Hong, who is living in the mountainous commune of Hoa Ninh in Hoa Vang District, is fascinated by murmuring streams and green lawns.

With her special love for nature, Hong and her husband build a camping area ‘Hooc Nga Field’ in late 2019. Since its operation, the venue has become more inviting to young people in the city.

After five years of implementing the ‘Supporting women to start a business’ project from 2017-2021, the municipal Women’s Union has supported over 800 startup ideas from its members, thereby creating stable jobs for thousands of women.

Inspirational story

Vice Chairwoman of the Da Nang Women’s Union Nguyen Thi Huyen informed that, since 2017, the district-level Women’s Union chapters have organised 30 training courses on startup for thousands of women. Also, many women have been facilitated to borrow nearly VND100 billion from the Fund for Women's Development to do business.

Not only succeeding with the startup idea "Turn waste into useful products for the community", Mrs. Tran Thi Thu Hong, Director of the Minh Hong Biotechnology Co. Ltd, located in Hoa Minh Ward, Lien Chieu District, is also a strong inspiration to the other young people who want to start their own businesses.

Initiated by Mrs. Hong, such models as ‘Love capital contribution group’, ‘2T savings group’, and ‘Youth team involved in environment protection activities’ have attracted hundreds of participants over recent years.

Mrs. Hong advised women in particular, and young people in general, to live life to the fullest with their passion. “Working hard will make the impossible possible. I am happy that my story has inspired many women, so that they can boldly start their own businesses” added she.

Reporting by THANH VAN - Translating by M.DUNG