Water hyacinth and banana trees have long been used for husbandry, but few people have thought of taking advantage of them as materials to make valued industrial products. However, there is a youngster becoming rich by using water hyacinth and banana tree to make special fine art and handicrafts. Tong Ba Thao, who is now director of the HASA Fine Art and Handicrafts Production Company, started his business with empty hands.
Born in 1974 in a poor farming family in Chuong My District, northern Ha Tay Province and experiencing the hard work of the family farm throughout his childhood, Thao tried to study hard and was determined to do something to help his family out of poverty. After graduating from high school in 1991, Thao left his home for Saigon to study and seek a job.
In 1994, Thao came back his homeland and found some households knitting small baskets from dried water hyacinth and banana trees, providing products for shops in the city. Thao bought some baskets, to sell for the HATEXCO Company in Ho Chi Minh City. In 1996, he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in English, and continued to take evening classes at the Foreign Trade Faculty of the Economy University. With a good command of English, Thao was accepted to work as a translator and production manager in Chi Lang Fine Art and Handicrafts Company. Having an aptitude for painting, Thao designed some prototypes on his own and ordered his villagers to produce and sell them for his company.
In 1997, Thao decided to set up a manufacturing establishment in his homeland and planned to cooperate with Chi Lang Company. A 1,000 square meter drying-room was built. Within three years, he received many contracts from the Chi Lang Company, asking for products like flowerpots, tables, chairs and tea trays, all made of dried water hyacinth and banana trees.
With a sharp rise in business orders and profits, in 2001 Thao invested VND100 million to build one more manufacturing unit Ho Chi Minh City, and more than VND300 million to buy equipment and hire 80 workers.
In 2003, Thao resigned his position in Chi Lang Company and formed his own firm named HASA (abbreviation of Ha Tay and Saigon). In its first year of operation, his company shipped 20 containers of fine art and handicrafts to Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden and South Africa.
With the business motto of letting consumers access and evaluate the products by themselves, Thao often joined in fairs to advertise and introduce the company’s products. In August 2004, Thao introduced the company’s products for the first time at a fair in Frankfurt, and immediately signed a contract to export ten containers to Denmark.
Unlike many other firms, which want to conquer domestic consumers before extending to markets abroad, Thao aims for the export market as the main development orientation for his company. With his good command of English, Thao excels in closing transactions with foreign partners. Almost all products are highly appraised for quality, flexibility and the variety of models.
Success in business enables Thao to help his family and gives stable jobs for thousands labourers. “I am proud of creating jobs and stable incomes for a large number of workers, mostly farmers, whose lives were already difficult in the past,” the young director frankly said.
Quoc Hung
Vietnamese
