Nguyen Thi Thu Trang (b. 1990) has a stable job and income with a company in Ho Chi Minh City, but still decided to move to her hometown in Tan An Municipality, Dak Po District, Gia Lai Province. to return to start a business. .

Thu Trang joined the HCM City Biotechnology Center in 2012 as a poor student who graduated in Biotechnology from the University of Agriculture and Forestry in Ho Chi Minh City. This is where Trang worked and studied to earn a master’s degree in biotechnology. In order to change the working environment and do her best, Trang rejoined Anh Dao Agricultural Science and Technology Joint Stock Company.

“I work in a dynamic environment with a stable income, but still have the pain of wanting to do something in my own country,” said Thu Trang. So in 2017, Trang decided to return to her hometown and lease land to grow cloves and a range of other medicinal plants, such as ginseng.

With little capital and almost no business experience, which poses a major challenge on Trang’s start-up journey. But beyond that, the enthusiasm and desire to bring local products to domestic and foreign markets has given strength and confidence to this poor country girl.

“There are many medicinal plants on the plateau with favorable climate and soil, it is a “medicine camp” from the home garden to the ancient forest. This gave me more confidence and determination to bring the whole fragrance. Flavors, home products.” “Coming into the market with quality products, tea-flavored, medicinal herbs…have become high-value products,” Trang confided.

In 2018 the first raw products were born and the units signed consumption contracts. However, since the price of raw products is not high at present, Thu Trang decided to invest in comprehensive processing and produce a product called Linh Lang Tra in the form of soluble packaging, which will add ingredients such as clove, reishi, chi, mulberry, passion fruit… Accordingly the product value also gradually increased.

In 2022, LiLa Herbal Medicine Co., Ltd. officially established by Thu Trang as director and achieved quite good performance.

Thu Trang added that the company now has many products on the market, including alfalfa tea, including teas like reishi, clove, mulberry, peanut and forest reishi. On average, the company launches 300 kg of all types of instant tea each month, including pumpkin tea, tam ventricular tea and alfalfa tea. Herbal teas such as mint and chamomile tea. The company also has a rather strange product, milk tea, a kinh for women. Products are packaged to ensure quality, which is why they are favored by consumers.

LiLa Herbal Medicine Co.,Ltd. not only opens up areas for herb cultivation and buys forest reishi to be processed into many products, but also works with farmers to develop medicinal herbs. For cloves in particular, the company buys VND 5,000/kg of fresh leaves. In the first year, about 4 tons of leaves were harvested, in the second year, people collected branches and sold them for VND 25,000/kg, and in the third year, they could collect roots and tubers.

“Only about 2 hectares of carnations need to be planted, from the second year people have a good income. “It is expected that by 2024, my company will work with farmers to grow medicinal plants such as cloves, mint…,” Thu Trang said.

Before Trang’s company’s products are released, they are researched and tested by employees who are pharmacists and traditional medicine doctors in Ho Chi Minh City. According to Trang, the market for these product lines still has a lot of room for development as people pay more and more attention to healthcare.

Another benefit is that all are grown and exploited to ensure quality and control the source of input materials. That’s consumer confidence. “In 2022, the company’s alfalfa tea product was recognized as a 3-star OCOP of Gia Lai Province,” said Trang.

The company’s products are distributed through drugstores, fan pages, etc. Although the products are not big, they are sold well and get positive feedback from users. In addition to developing medicinal herbs in-house, the company is also creating more jobs for people. In 2024, the company will plan to expand the medicinal herb cultivation area and launch more products.

Trang’s idea to set up a company to establish and develop a clean medical material area and manufacture instant herbal tea products in Kon Ha Nung highland is one of Gia Lai’s four startup ideas and projects. She has just entered the regional competition round of the “Women’s Start-up for the Advancement of Indigenous Resources” competition established by the Central Vietnam Women’s Union.