Many young people have resigned from jobs in large cities to return to their hometowns and successfully establish agricultural production models, including circular and clean agriculture.
A prime example is Nguyen Huu Truc’s stingless bee breeding model at home, which generates hundreds of millions of Vietnamese dong per month. Born in 1992 in Bao An Ward, Phan Rang-Thap Cham City, Truc experienced several failures with traditional honey bee farming before a fortuitous discovery in 2015.
He unexpectedly discovered three stingless bee colonies while clearing out wooden and paper boxes used for traditional bee farming in his garden. With his passion and experience in bee farming, he decided to retain these three colonies for experimental breeding.
During the breeding process, Truc discovered that this bee species has high vitality, excellent disease resistance, and exceptional natural foraging capabilities. These bees do not consume sugar but collect flower nectar and pollen to create honey. Stingless bee honey offers a distinctive aroma and contains more nutritional elements than traditional honey.
With favourable food sources from flower gardens, the stingless bee colonies rapidly reproduced. Truc made the bold decision to quit his banking job to pursue this new entrepreneurial venture, focusing on expanding his bee colonies to sell breeding stock to those interested in honey production for health benefits.
In 2018, with 100 million VND borrowed from his family and an additional 100 million VND loan from Ninh Thuan Youth Union’s startup support fund, Truc constructed a breeding house spanning over 40 square metres in his garden.
He invested in ventilation systems, electric fans, and iron shelving for bee housing. He implemented colony separation techniques by breeding queen bee eggs separately.
In 2021, this model won the first prize at a youth innovative startup ideas competition in his home province of Ninh Thuan.
From 2021 to now, Truc has been selling 50-200 stingless bee colony stocks monthly, priced at two million VND per colony. His business has expanded from the initial three colonies to 400-500 colonies. He has become a primary breeding stock supplier nationwide and established a company called “Jichi Stingbees”.
Truc has also built a website and YouTube channels to promote stingless bee breeding models and products such as stingless bee honey and bee resin. In 2023 and 2024, his revenue from honey supply, breeding stocks, and related products exceeded 600 million VND annually. He has also collaborated with seven others to expand the model to 2,000-3,000 colonies.
There are also numerous successful youth entrepreneurs, including Le Minh Vuong, born in 1992 in Ho Hai Commune, Ninh Hai District with the model of combining circular agriculture with sustainable agricultural ecological tourism. This model received a consolation prize at a rural youth entrepreneurship competition organised by the Youth Union Central Committee in 2023.
In 2024, Vuong’s circular agricultural startup project involving earthworms was commended by the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development. The project generates hundreds of millions of VND annually and creates employment for local workers with incomes ranging from 4-6 million VND per month.
Similarly, Nguyen Ngoc Uyen Trinh, from Nhon Son Commune, Ninh Son District, launched a startup with the model of growing and processing Bengal currant products and won the first prize at the Ninh Thuan Innovative Startup Competition in 2024. To date, her Bengal currant garden spanning over 1,500 square metres generates 300 million VND in annual revenue and creates employment for numerous workers.
Le Trung Thu, born in 1993, in My Binh Ward, Phan Rang-Thap Cham City, shared that after graduating with a business administration degree from Van Lang University in 2015, he remained in Ho Chi Minh City to start his entrepreneurial journey. By 2021, despite running a profitable coffee business, he returned to Ninh Thuan to start an agricultural processing venture, aiming to address the issue of farmers experiencing price fluctuations after each harvest season.
After returning home, Thu established T&H Food Company with the Rangfarm brand. After two years of processing and trading products like dried grapes, dried apples, mango jam, and grape jam in a 50 square metre production facility generating substantial profits, he boldly invested in expanding the workshop to 250 square metres, equipping it with modern machinery such as cold drying machines and automatic filling machines for wine production to diversify products and increase production capacity.
From 2024 onwards, Thu has expanded his agencies across multiple provinces and cities with seven product lines, including dried grapes, dried apples, mango jam, grape jam, apple vinegar, wine, and distilled grape wine, achieving annual revenues exceeding one billion VND and providing employment for numerous workers.
Ninh Thuan Youth Union Secretary Hoang Huu Phuc said each young person has different product ideas and innovations for their startups, but they share a common trait of extensive practical production experience. They embody the aspiration to rise and become wealthy through intellectual prowess and youthful passion, becoming role models for other young people to learn from and emulate.
These new products from innovative models bring high economic value, creating unique differentiation that meets the “One Commune, One Product” programme requirements, benefiting not just themselves but also opening pathways for local farmers towards new production methods to enhance agricultural product value in the future.
The youth startup movement in Ninh Thuan Province is spreading with numerous innovative ideas. However, according to Ninh Thuan Youth Union Secretary Hoang Huu Phuc, the movement faces significant challenges, particularly in funding, which primarily relies on limited loans from the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies. This may discourage many young entrepreneurs from patiently realising their long-term strategic development ideas, resulting in startup outcomes falling short of expectations.
Thu said young entrepreneurs strongly desire access to preferential credit programme loans for employment, startup, and career establishment with favourable conditions. Specifically, they seek loan options that do not require asset mortgages or income proof, as new entrepreneurs find it challenging to meet such regulations.
He suggested the province establish a support centre serving as a destination for young people to research and exchange experiences, refining their startup ideas and projects. Additionally, the province should promptly establish a dedicated support unit to regularly meet and listen to the thoughts and aspirations of young entrepreneurs, promptly addressing obstacles to help them confidently contribute to the local socio-economic development.
Ninh Thuan Vice Chairman Nguyen Long Bien said that in mid-March, during a dialogue between provincial leadership and youth, provincial leaders listened to youth concerns, acknowledging proposals for support mechanisms and policies.
In the future, the province will continue improving mechanisms and policies, particularly developing and refining loan procedures for youth entrepreneurship and economic development projects to resolve difficulties and meet startup requirements in the new context.
The provincial Youth Union will develop and expand youth cooperation groups, savings and loan groups, and economic development collaborative models to mobilise support resources for young people. Authorities at all levels will also work to connect startup ideas with potential investors, supporting youth in successfully implementing innovative projects.
