Typical Micro-Entrepreneur with sustainable business and production model 

Mrs. Luyen was born and raised in a rural agricultural family in the northern part of Vietnam. In the past, similar to other local households, their income mainly depended on a few acres of farmland and small livestock activities. Although working very hard, they just earned enough for food and schooling of their children. Even when their children were sick, they had no money to buy medicine, thus they had to borrow from their relatives.

In 2008, TYM started its activities in the village of Phu Man (Yen Phong, Bac Ninh). Mrs. Luyen and other local women had access to TYM’s funding for economic development. With the first loan of VND 5 million, she invested in opening a sacks sewing workshop which was their dream a long time ago.

At the beginning time, they faced a lot of difficulties. They had to balance such the small investment with plenty of expenses including payment for employees, find outlets for their products, capture the market demand, and care for their children at the old-school age. After taking into account all the above things, they decided that her husband would directly act as deliverer and at the same time technical guider for the employees so as to reduce labor costs, meanwhile, she would keep records of revenues and expenditures, take orders and do other tasks not required much travelling. The decision partly contributed to the success of their family business, because during the delivery of the goods, her husband would have chances to directly listen to the feedbacks of customers. Then, he meticulously recorded all the comments for suitable adjustment of the products to better fit customer needs. Their diligence brought them with more orders, and their business became more successful. The orders were not only from local customers but also the ones at neighboring villages such as Trung Nghia, Dong Tho, Van Mon, and even further districts like Tu Son, Tien Du, Bac Giang, Ha Dong (Hanoi).

When their business achieved better results, they decided to expand their scale with a larger workshop, thereby creating more jobs for other family members and some local women living in disadvantaged circumstances. Currently, they are providing permanent jobs for 15 fulltime employees and 06 seasonal workers with an average income of VND 3 million/month.

Mrs. Luyen shared that thanks to the TYM’s fund, her family could not only make their dream come true, but also become active in the capital sources for production. Loans from TYM provide a stable, lasting funding source. TYM’s officers are enthusiastic. Particularly, the gradual repayment mechanism is a motivation for doing business and building up savings habit for members and their families. Joining TYM, in addition to credit services, members, through center meetings, are also communicated and shared by TYM’s technical officers knowledge of basic finance, business skills. This has contributed to the success of Mrs. Luyen’s family in particular, and other women in general. She said that was the reasons why she always promoted information about TYM to other women and encouraged them to join TYM for economic development opportunities as her family did.

In 2014, with the success in the effectively use of microfinance capital and the contributions to the local development, she was honored to be recognized as a Typical Micro Entrepreneur with sustainable production and business model under the framework of the CMA 2014 sponsored by the Citi Foundation.

Bac Ninh Branch