The story of TYM’s member Pham Thi Ngan

That is the story of Mrs. Nguyen Phuong Lan, leader of center 39 at Tam Quang residential group, Gia Khanh town, Binh Xuyen district, Vinh Phuc province.

Mrs. Pham Thi Ngan (born in 1963) is a TYM’s member of center 87, under Transaction Office 03 of TYM – Thanh Hoa Branch, Thanh Hoa province. Mrs. Ngan is currently living in Trung Hau village, Hoang Trung commune, Hoang Hoa district.

ICooperative, which produced environmentally friendly bamboo and rattan products. Right from the inception of the cooperative establishment and until now, the couple has always oriented the cooperative development towards the goal of supporting jobs and increasing income for women, poor, vulnerable, and disabled people in the locality. Mrs. Ngan also wishes that the activities of Trung Kien Export Handicraft Cooperative would go for environmental friendliness, reducing plastic bag waste, contributing to a green, clean and beautiful environment.

Precisely from those specific goals, the couple always strives to explore, learn and improve further for the cooperative to expand and develop. From a small-scale cooperative with initial loans mainly borrowed from banks, so far her family has rented more land and built a factory with an area of nearly 2,000 square meters. In 2015, the cooperative was licensed and searched for more export supermarket bags, bringing more jobs and income for people.
In 2017, 2018, when TYM started to operate in the village, Mrs. Ngan registered to join TYM and borrowed the highest loan amount at that time which was VND 30 million to support some expenses such as salary payment, buying raw materials and machinery. In 2020 and 2021, Mrs. Ngan consecutively borrowed Economic Development loans of VND 50 million to invest more in the cooperative. Up to now, nearly 5 years of joining TYM, she always repaid fully, on time, and borrowed new loans at TYM when she finished previous loans. Currently, she is borrowing VND 50 million, in the near future she plans to apply for a loan of VND 100 million to buy more materials for storage. With the size of the cooperative, TYM’s loans has become a stable, long-term source of additional capital and timely support for Mrs. Ngan when there is a shortage of capital to import raw materials and pay workers. TYM’s loans are flexible, TYM’s staff is enthusiastic, responsible and very close, so she is very interested in TYM’s activities and has been involved for a long time.

“Since joining TYM until now, I realize that in addition to having the opportunity to borrow loans, deposit savings for investment and economic development, members also benefit from very attractive policies. The principal and interest of loans are divided into installments. In addition, TYM’s members are also allowed to participate in many other useful activities and programs to support the community such as giving gifts on July 27 to TYM’s members’ husbands who contributed to the revolution, giving gifts on the occasion of the Lunar New Year to poor and near poor households. At the same time, being a long-time member of TYM, also the party secretary of Trung Hau village, more than anyone, I can see the benefits TYM brings to VWU’s members at the grassroots level,” Mrs. Ngan shared.

The cooperative’s activities currently have 2 main areas: sewing, processing export supermarket bags with environmentally friendly self-biodegradable materials and export handicraft products. The cooperative’s product processing uses rattan, bamboo, banana leaf, straw, and sedge, which is available in the area, so it does not pollute the environment and is close to nature. Although using and processing natural materials at the workshop, her cooperative does not affect the living environment of the surrounding people. On an area of ​​nearly 2,000 m2, Mrs. Ngan’s family facilities create jobs and regular income for nearly 120 people, including 30 workers working in the factory and nearly 100 households living around the area. Many workers are members of Vietnam Women’s Union, the elderly, people with disabilities in the locality and neighboring communes. In particular, in her cooperative, there are 3 disabled workers, including a 19-year-old young man who used to be wandering around, but when sent to the cooperative and was guided by Mrs. Ngan, he now knows how to work with income from VND 1.2 to 1.5 million / month. Over the past years, the cooperative has helped women and their families increase their average income from 3 VND million to 4-5 VND million / person / month. For factory workers, the average income is from VND 5 to 7 million / month; from VND 2 to 3 million / month if the households take the goods to work at home. Mrs. Ngan employs elderly people, women and people with disabilities because according to her and her husband’s wishes since the establishment of the cooperative, they want to create jobs and increase income for these people.

“After being honored to welcome the delegation to visit the model on May 17, 2022, especially receiving the encouragement from the Chairwoman of Vietnam Women’s Union Ha Thi Nga, my wife and I have more motivation to expand the scale of the cooperative, to support and help more poor and disadvantaged women, the elderly and people with disabilities in difficult circumstances to have stable incomes. When I saw the media from the central to local levels reporting about the visit of the central Vietnam Women’s Union and international visitors to my cooperative, many people congratulated and encouraged me. I feel touched because my family’s small contribution to the common development of the locality has been recognized. I find myself more useful, more valuable. I hope that through my story, women will be more brave to enrich themselves, their families and benefit society. I look forward to the more attention of VWU and TYM to avail more loans to expand the model and scale of the Cooperative, purchase more materials and help more people with difficult situations,” Mrs. Ngan shared emotionally.