Leave the city to return to the countryside to start a business and get rich

People in Quang Binh province are no longer unfamiliar with wooden items used in daily activities such as chopsticks, spoons, dippers… handmade by Quang Thuy Wooden Chopsticks Production Cooperative by Mr. Le Thanh Trien (born 1986; residing in Trung Thuy village, Quang Thuy commune, Ba Don town) established.

Trien “wooden chopsticks” (people often call him by this affectionate name, since he returned to his hometown to start a business) graduated from Quy Nhon University (Binh Dinh), and went to Ho Chi Minh City to find an opportunity to change his life. He was accepted to work at the Military Telecommunications Group (Viettel) with a salary of tens of millions of dong per month.

In 2013, he was sent by the company to Japan to work. He happened to visit a factory specializing in producing wooden chopsticks for export in that country, so when he returned home, he spent a lot of time exploring and researching the product. This product then decided to invest in a wooden chopsticks production facility in Ho Chi Minh City with the little capital that he and his wife had saved for a long time. At first, his products encountered many difficulties when entering the market but gradually found a foothold in Ho Chi Minh City. In 2017, the couple’s handicraft wooden chopstick products, mainly high-end products, accounted for about 70% of the market share of Ben Thanh wholesale market.

However, this young man had the idea of getting rich in his own countryside, with a facility specializing in producing fine art wooden furniture. Trien decided to return to Quang Binh to start a business.

Mr. Le Thanh Trien – Director of Quang Thuy Wooden Chopsticks Production Cooperative

In 2018, Mr. Trien and his wife built a factory, purchased more machinery, found raw materials, recruited workers… and found a consumer market. The journey back home to start a business seemed simple but also very arduous, so much so that many times Mr. Trien thought of giving up. Especially at the time when Quang Binh suffered historic floods, in October 2020, all machinery, raw materials, and finished products that had not yet been sold for sale drifted away with the floodwaters.

After many efforts of Mr. Trien and his wife and the workers at this cooperative, the Quang Thuy wooden chopsticks brand was also well received by the market. Currently, on average each month the cooperative sells about 120,000 pairs of wooden chopsticks, creating regular stable income for about 20-30 local workers, with a level of 5-8 million VND/person/month and about more than 30 households. Families receive processed products at home.

The products of Quang Thuy Wooden Chopsticks Production Cooperative have been recognized as 3-star OCOP products at the provincial level at the end of 2021; The higher-end fine art wooden chopsticks have been recognized with 4-star OCOP standards. His goal is to produce clean chopsticks, ensure food hygiene and safety, and say no to toxic chemicals and dyes.

Although the Quang Thuy wooden chopsticks brand has found a foothold in the domestic market, providing a stable income, Mr. Trien always harbors the desire for his brand to reach out to the world, affirming itself in “difficult” markets. ” like Korea and Japan. He said that last year, wooden chopsticks from Quang Thuy Cooperative were exported to Korea but had to go through an intermediary company.