From the hillside to the curse frame, from small markets to bustling livestreams, hometown products quietly step onto the e-commerce platform, finding a way to reach consumers with both labor value and love for the land of birth.
Girl leaves the city to return to her hometown, supporting her fellow countrymen to develop their careers
Ms. Pham Thi Phuong Mai (Lao Cai), also known by many as Mai Tay Bac - a girl who left the urban area, chose to return to the highlands, where the stories of people's livelihoods are still associated with the hills and markets to build an economic direction with her husband based on available resources.
Before that, Ms. Mai had worked in Singapore for 5 years. Her husband, after 10 years of working in Hanoi, also proactively left the city to go to the Northwest to do charity work. They meet, find harmony in their way of life and thinking, and together strive to bring highland products to a wider market.
Before creating agricultural product promotion content, the couple operated a charity YouTube channel, went to remote areas to support the disadvantaged, took patients to the hospital, and called on the community to help. It is these trips that help them better understand the story of the people, especially the output problem for agricultural products in the highlands.
"With a difficult start", the couple started with many difficulties when not used to livestreaming, confused when introducing products, did not know how to communicate or how to close orders. Local people, especially ethnic minorities, are shy in front of cameras and even more afraid to appear in front of thousands of people on social networks.
But without allowing difficulties to overwhelm their will, fortunately, thanks to their experience in volunteering and the trust of the people, the couple knows how to guide their fellow countrymen from the smallest things. The sessions of using phones, placing camera angles, and speaking lessons from livestream greetings were organized by the couple regularly. After a period of direct companionship and hand-holding of instructions, the people changed very quickly, gradually getting used to the work, the number of orders per session gradually increased.
Recalling the early days, a livestream in Lai Chau left her with deep impression and motivation, she met a family that could only sell a few kilos of meat per day and unexpectedly decided to close a few hundred orders in a live session. Even the woman who was livestreaming had to ask for permission to stop early to... run to slaughter more buffaloes. At that moment, I clearly saw that social networks could truly change my life, Mai recalled.
What she is proud of is not that orders are increasing, many people know her, but that her actions have created new livelihoods for the people, especially local women. They are people who are attached to the fields all year round, now have a stable job, have a monthly salary, and bring in enough income to support their families.
In particular, the story of Ms. Mai and her husband has inspired many young people here, together building an economy in their homeland. Mai believes that "leaving the city to return to the countryside" is becoming a positive trend. Unlike the previous thinking, young people had to leave their hometowns, find ways to get in the city or go abroad, leaving behind only children, the elderly and the elderly farmers, now many young people are proactively returning.
There are many people who follow this trend and succeed. People can completely confidently build
sales channels and getting rich right from their hometown, without having to worry about living in a remote area, they will not be able to make money" - Ms. Mai shared.
She believes that the return of young people not only helps create income for the community but also contributes to maintaining occupations and typical products that are at risk of being broken when the young leave. That return creates a new breeze, when young people bring knowledge, technology and the spirit of entrepreneurship to local agriculture.
They not only stick to traditional models but also know how to apply science, digital platforms, and modern sales methods to products: "Young people come not to make a fuss or fading away completely, but to rely on traditional values to apply more science and technology, and new markets. Thus, our traditional agriculture will develop more, as a step to improve, not replace it, Ms. Mai emphasized.
The story of "spoiling" Quynh Phu of a 9x guy
Starting from a family-hip job, Mr. Nguyen Van Tuan - born in 1993, from Quynh Phu village (old Thai Binh, now Hung Yen) and two friends, co-founded the Than Vui brand, a traditional sedge chieu business through e-commerce environment.
Quynh Phu is known as the cradle of traditional weaving. There, people grow up with the sound of the whistle, and so was Tuans childhood.
But when the market changes too quickly, competition with cheap industrial chieuing makes the craft unable to stand firm, many people start to switch to other jobs. Witnessing the pride of his village gradually disappearing, Mr. Tuan was determined to do something to keep the profession.
Until 2022, seeing the development of the digital trading floor, Mr. Tuan and his group of friends found a solution to their previous concerns - showing Quynh Phu for the first time online.
To avoid seeing many traders pushing prices, buying "four- rents", causing the selling price to increase, making it difficult to reach consumers, through livestreams, Than Vui re-evaluates the product - a price "enough for sellers to survive, and for workers to survive".
Gradually, Mr. Tuan's group began to clearly define the quality of products and the development direction of the traditional chieuction profession. From hand-woven and hand-woven panels to higher-end product lines, he has brought them all to e-commerce platforms for easy customer access.
When they can watch live through livestream sessions, they understand why some films are only worth 80,000 - 100,000 VND, but others are worth 500,000 VND, even up to millions.
"A couple must have two weavers, working a full day, the labor of weaving for one is 250,000 VND. Customers can look at it to understand how much effort is put in, customers can not only buy a product, but also buy the trust, reputation and efforts of the craftsman", said Mr. Tuan.
In addition, Mr. Tuan also tries to help customers distinguish between natural products and "natural-labeled" products. He shared that many products on the market are advertised as being made from natural materials, but in fact they can be plastic, artificial materials or crumpled paper. Meanwhile, the traditional Vietnamese silk weaving is made from real sedge, completely natural. "The rice can be moldy, but it can be washed and dried. As for lying on artificial materials, affecting health, there is no compensation" - Mr. Tuan shared.
Without making money, the job is only left in "old days" stories, thanks to online sales, many households making brochures in the village have more income. Up to now, Mr. Tuan's broadcasting sessions have sold hundreds of thousands of screenings, attracting millions of views, people have money to go in, take care of their material life, and feel secure in their profession - that is also the biggest goal when Mr. Tuan and his friends carry this road.
