Eat with trash, sleep with trash
Unlike the demeanor of a director or a scientist , Ms. Trinh Thi Hong, Director of Minh Hong Biotechnology Joint Stock Company (Minh Hong Biotech) in Da Nang City, is extremely simple, cheerful and ordinary. If you don't ask carefully, it's rare to know that she has just finished 9th grade and is currently fighting the terrible disease of breast cancer.
Ms. Hong was born in 1965 in a poor family of 10 siblings and she lost both her parents when she was only 1 month and 8 days old. Her childhood was full of hardships, struggling to make ends meet, and because of that, her education was unfinished. Growing up, getting married, Ms. Hong worked as a factory worker and regularly participated in local women's work.
Ms. Hong (in blue shirt) is sharing her experience in composting organic waste with women.
PHOTO: PROVIDED BY AUTHOR
In 2011, the garbage truck in Hoa Minh broke down for several days, causing garbage to pile up on the street, emitting a foul smell. At that time, Ms. Hong thought about recycling organic waste. After that, Ms. Hong attended a training course at the Poor Community Development Conference in the Philippines and was fascinated by the model of recycling organic waste into biological products by Japanese women. When she returned to Vietnam, she researched and learned how to turn organic waste into detergent. For many days, she ate and slept with garbage, painstakingly researching to find a way to ferment and process waste into biological products.
Ms. Hong said: "Even in my family, everyone prevented me from researching garbage. My husband even told me if I was crazy to do this, to leave it to the scientists. But I thought it was not too difficult, many places in the world women have done it themselves, so I was determined to do it."
The input materials are leaves, vegetables and fruits mixed with 10 kg of water, 300 grams of sugar and starch and incubated in a sealed container for 1 month. After that, the crude solution is obtained but still has a foul smell, it needs to be incubated for about 45 days and through the stages of filtering, sterilization, mixing in turmeric starch extract, eggplant, lemon or soapberry to produce a dishwashing and floor cleaning solution that meets standards, cleans quickly and smells good. "The formula of 3 sugar, 3 waste, 10 water took me 4 years to find. My first product is 2T dishwashing liquid which has the advantage of being gentle on hands, saving water and is reasonably priced," Ms. Hong shared.
Not resting on her success, Ms. Hong continued to upgrade the product to create fragrance and clean residue. Currently, Ms. Hong has up to 8 products such as floor cleaner, laundry detergent, dishwashing liquid... with different scents. The product has been welcomed and highly appreciated by women in Hong Minh ward, especially in terms of its outstanding cleaning properties and non-sticky, environmentally friendly properties. In addition, the biological product also helps save water during the cleaning process because it requires fewer rinses than regular soap, has less foam, is less greasy and leaves a pleasant essential oil scent.
Currently, Ms. Hong owns 8 biological products made from organic waste.
PHOTO: PROVIDED BY AUTHOR
Get rich with women from trash
After 4 years of hard work, Ms. Hong did not "hide" the formula but shared it with thousands of women across the country with the hope of creating a livelihood for them to escape poverty. The reason she did this was because she had been taken care of by society in the past, so she wanted to repay the favor. In 2016, Ms. Hong joined the Da Nang Business Incubator and was provided with a lot of knowledge about business management and development, after which she founded a company.
Ms. Hong's company buys raw products at a price of 3,500 VND/liter from households, thereby helping each household earn an additional income of 3-7 million VND/month. With the above model, Ms. Hong's company has created jobs at home for about 150 women in difficult circumstances in Da Nang City, processing 1,308 tons of organic plant waste at the source/year, accounting for about 60% of organic waste in the community.
"Currently, Minh Hong Biotech has successfully researched and applied 3 technologies in 1 product including Nano technology, biological technology (Enzyme) and herbal essence technology, helping the product quality not only be good but also outstanding, bringing customers safety and environmental protection as confirmed: Nano antibacterial, biological stain removal, herbal essence to protect the skin", Ms. Hong said.
In addition, Ms. Hong shared her experience at training sessions organized by the Women's Union at all levels such as in Hung Yen, Thai Nguyen... "I have written detailed formulas and brought them to each women's association so that women can produce raw products at home. Besides helping to recycle a large amount of organic waste discharged into the environment, vegetable residue and wastewater from Minh Hong's products can also be used to fertilize plants, water plants, and kill mosquito larvae without causing harm to water sources," said Ms. Hong.
Ms. Bui Thi Kim Van, living in Hoa Minh ward (old) said: "Previously, leftover vegetables and fruits were often thrown everywhere, and if not cleaned up for a few days, they would rot and give off a foul smell. Since learning how to compost from Ms. Hong, women have followed suit. Every family has a few bins of raw compost and then brings them to Ms. Hong to process into biological products, then takes them home to use, which is very cost-effective, reduces organic waste in public places, and improves the environment significantly."
Ms. Hong gives gifts to women in difficult circumstances.
PHOTO: PROVIDED BY AUTHOR
Dedicated to the community
If it was only for the purpose of enriching herself, Ms. Hong would have become a billionaire long ago. When she first completed the formula, some businesses came to offer to buy Ms. Hong's formula for 5 billion VND, a huge amount for a poor woman. However, Ms. Hong did not hesitate to refuse, not because she was worried about losing the copyright but because she was afraid that she would not be able to help other women escape poverty. "5 billion to buy a house, buy a car, enjoy it all and it will all be gone and only for myself. Keeping it to share with other women not only helps protect the environment but also helps them rise up, I find it much more meaningful," Ms. Hong said with a gentle smile.
Ms. Hong is a speaker at many startup forums.
PHOTO: PROVIDED BY AUTHOR
In addition to being an entrepreneur, Ms. Hong is also the Vice President of the Lien Chieu District Charity and Children's Rights Protection Association. She has had many initiatives to support the community such as the Charity Capital Group which has helped nearly 250 households borrow capital to develop the economy, the 2T Savings Group model which means saving and utilizing has raised more than 200 million VND to support health insurance and livelihoods for poor households, or the Young Pioneers Environmental Protection Team model, spreading the love for the environment among children...
As the Chairwoman of the Danang Women's Startup Club, Ms. Hong has also shared her experiences and provided support in many ways to help many women start successful businesses over the years. In 2019, Ms. Hong was honored to be one of the 10 outstanding Vietnamese women voted by the Vietnam Women's Union.
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/chi-hong-yeu-rac-185250708133736144.htm
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