Ben Tre (VNS/VNA) - Many small, new businesses in the Mekong Delta province of Ben Trehave grown big and started to build value chains for local products thanks tothe local government’s efforts to promote entrepreneurship.

Phu Hung Thinh companyfor instance, established under the province’s start-up initiative in 2016,has now emerged as a producer of farming products made from coconut andcow manure.

“I want to turn wasteinto valuable products and sell to other provinces and even abroad,” Phan GiaThinh, the founder and owner of the company, said.

The company now sellspotting mixture made from coconut coir and vermicompost (worm composting) toaround 10 cities and provinces.

Explaining the reasonfor choosing coconut coir as the main ingredient to produce clean pottingmixture, the 24-year-old Thinh said simply: “Because it can be found easily inmy hometown, Ben Tre province.”

Besides adding value tolocal coconuts, Thinh is also now making fertilisers from cow manure to createa value chain from cows.

He has tied up withco-operatives in Ba Tri district, where there are more than 77,000 cows, to buymanure from 150 small farmers and composts it.

Nguyen Van Lai, 60, afarmer in the district’s An Hiep commune, said earlier he had to compost cowmanure by himself and sell it often for 6,000 VND (26 US cent) per sack, butnow Thinh buys manure from him and other farmers at 8,000 VND (35 US cent). Sojoining the programme was a no-brainer, he said.

Phu Hung Thinh’s successcould not have come so quickly without the support of the province government,which is very keen on its start-up programme.

It launched the Dong KhoiStart-ups and Develop Enterprises programme in 2016 to promote entrepreneurshipas an effective means to boost economic growth and eliminate poverty.

It established a fundunder the programme with funds mobilised from the private sector. It now hasaround 12 billion VND (528,000 USD).

Le Xuan Vinh, directorof the province’s investment promotion and start-up centre, said the non-profitfund is operated by enterprises, and the province’s role is limited to helpingpromising businesses access money from it.

“There are various typesof financial aid such as non-refundable grants worth millions of VND tohelp entrepreneurs make prototypes and low- and zero-percent-interest loans.”

Besides, the province isalso looking at bigger donors to fund start-ups. For instance, it has connectedPhu Hung Thinh company with the Adaptation in Mekong Delta (AMD) project in BenTre since it has a public-private partnership (PPP) fund that gives financialaid to local businesses.

Vinh said: “Right afterthe province’s start-up programme began, we connected with AMD. If we see abusiness that meets AMD’s criteria, such as adapting to climate change andgenerating jobs for locals, we will help it access the PPP fund.”

Funding is only onepart, with the province also organising training courses in financialmanagement, writing business plans and marketing to improve the capacity oflocal entrepreneurs, he said.

“We make it easy foryoung people who have business ideas to consult entrepreneurs from bigcompanies and learn from their success.”

Admitting that thestart-up scenario in Ben Tre city is more vibrant than in other districts,especially in remote areas, he said the province has been working withdistricts to organise district-level start-up competitions.

From these competitions,good ideas would be selected, improved and sent to the province’s annualstart-up competition, he said.

“But the main purpose ofthe competition is not to choose winners but to help nurture good businessideas and build them into businesses.”

Notably, many universitygraduates working earlier in big cities have returned home to set up companiesand some even started businesses when still in college, he said.

“These young people havehelped commercialise local products, and they are changing the start-uplandscape of the province.”-VNA/VNS