CASE STORY: Dreaming of a start-up from the canna fields

An, a young woman from the Muong ethnic minority, comes from a small town that spans nearly 10 kilometres alongside the Red River in Yen Bai province, northern Vietnam. The area is filled with fertile alluvium, making it ideal for growing crops such as good quality canna rhizomes. Vermicelli made from canna root is a very popular product in Vietnam, as it's not only healthy, but also fragrant, soft and chewy.

Seeing the green fields of canna plants in her hometown, An realised that the local people could reap the benefits from this abundant source of raw material to produce a marketable product.

She did some research and found out that the local manufacturing process for this type of glass noodle relied on semi-automatic pressing techniques, which made production slow and costly, and did not meet consumer demand.

Although making canna vermicelli is a strenuous job that An never thought that she would choose, she was determined to start a business. She dreamed of creating a start-up that could provide people in her hometown with stable jobs and bring canna noodle products to the wider market.

An and two other young people decided to set up a workshop using a new, efficient and cost-effective method to produce canna vermicelli suitable for domestic and international markets.

With help from the EU-PARTICIPATE project to support youth start-ups, An and her friends were guided on the new production technology. EU-PARTICIPATE also supports young people to connect and build relationships with other businesses. Through the project, An met Huy, an experienced vermicelli maker in the region. He shared his experience and guided An and her friends on how to plant canna, how to harvest the rhizomes and how to select the high-quality starchy roots. With Huy’s guidance, the young business people learned vermicelli production methods that were new to people in their hometown. The noodles made using the new technology are really appreciated by consumers for being soft, easy to cook and delicious.

The EU-PARTICIPATE project also equips young people with essential entrepreneurial skills such as production and business management, linkage to supply chains, human resource management and marketing skills.

"It was very fortunate that we knew about the EU-PARTICIPATE project to support youth start-up initiatives at that time. We started writing the start-up proposal with the support of the Commune Project Management Board and the Vietnam Youth Federation of Tran Yen district. The continuous efforts of the team paid off when our proposal was officially approved and funded by the project. The vermicelli flattening and cutting machines that the team have long wanted have been given. Our dream finally came true," said An.

With their considerable efforts, the start-up was officially registered as Quy Mong Green Start-up Cooperative in March 2022. The cooperative's vermicelli products were awarded 3-star certification under Vietnam’s One Commune One Product (OCOP) programme for quality rural products.

Their vermicelli products are not only famous in Yen Bai but are also sold in big cities like Hanoi, Hai Phong, Lao Cai, Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City. An excitedly shared, “I’m so proud to introduce the vermicelli products made by my innovative team to friends from all over the world. We aim to export our products to Europe - a market that requires high quality but also has potential for future development".

Their cooperative can now provide regular employment for 10 - 12 people and their story inspires other young people in their commune to make use of new technologies in their economic endeavours, thereby improving economic autonomy for the next generation of Yen Bai province.

The project “Participate: Empowered CSOs and ethnic minority youth for active participation in decision making in Yen Bai, Vietnam” (2020-2023) is funded by the European Union and Save the Children Italia, and implemented in 9 communes in Tran Yen district, Yen Bai province.

By 2023, the project successfully achieved its objectives that four local target CSOs in Yen Bai province had capacity to support the social and economic empowerment of vulnerable ethnic minority youth, and promote their engagement and active participation in decision-making and in the promotion of gender equality. Over 1,700 local young people aged 16 to 24 benefited from the project. 131 initiated and carried out 22 youth-led projects (including 18 business start-ups and 4 social ones). All the initiatives have continued to run successfully after the end of the grant period.