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- Creating social impact in Vietnam
Lisa Huyen heads the social enterprise Vinasamex in Vietnam, which she managed to build into a thriving business, growing and processing cinnamon and star anise in 15 years. Of over 500 employees, about 95% are women. Gender equality and inclusion are important for Lisa and her team of managers. Through training and coaching sessions, she tries to raise awareness about these issues among her employees and those around them.
“When we started, there were not many farmers who had confidence in us. They had been growing cinnamon and star anise for generations. As a Hanoi-based company, what could we offer them?” says Lisa Huyen, CEO of Vinasamex. Lisa and her husband did not let the initial distrust stop them. They persuaded a small number of farmers to work with Vinasamex. “We started training the farmers in growing and caring for the trees and fertilising the soil. We taught the farmers how to improve the quality of the cinnamon and star anise. After just one year of work, there were positive results and they had a better income. When the other farmers saw that, the rest followed suit.” Now, Vinasamex has three factories in the northern provinces where many ethnic minorities live, and 3,000 farmers are part of the production chain.
International growth
Initially, Vinasamex supplied their products to countries like India, which wanted to buy a lot but negotiated low prices. During trade fairs, Lisa met potential customers from markets like the US, Europe and Japan. Customers like Bombay Sapphire, Jaegermeister and Ricard were quite willing to pay more, but demanded higher quality. “We were given a list of 100 criteria and looked critically at the system in the factory. We concluded that we needed to improve the processing process and change the production line in the factory. That’s how we got in touch with PUM.”
That contact eventually led to advice in different areas from various PUM experts. Leen Tanis advised Lisa and her team on production processes for cinnamon and star anise and helped design a production system for a new factory in Lang Son province. PUM expert Dick Hettinga provided online training on quality awareness and food safety. “The knowledge of these farmers about healthy trees and organic standards has increased tremendously as a result. So now they work, live and eat healthier.” This ties in nicely with Vinasamex’s mission not only to be a healthy, profitable business, but also to create social impact for all the people who are part of the production chain. Besides 3,000 farmers, that includes 500 employees, about 95% of whom are women. Vinasamex values the development of its female employees and invests in them by offering various courses and training.
Extraction of oil
To grow further, Vinasamex plans to reach more customers from Europe and the US in the future and increase production volume. “We want to build two new factories where we can extract oil from cinnamon, star anise and other spices using established technology, to sell to the pharmaceutical industry,” Lisa said. PUM expert Sjoerd Sliggers, with a background as a chemical technologist, has just returned from Vinasamex. Still somewhat tired from the trip and all the impressions, he talks about his findings at the Vietnamese company with enthusiasm. Sjoerd: “They asked me for advice in extracting the oils from the leaves and bark of cinnamon trees and leaves and flowers of star anise. This is done by steam extraction. The equipment they use for this is fine, but to improve purity they would need better cleaning between production processes.” However, Sjoerd’s advice was not limited to optimising the steam extraction process. With his extensive work experience, he also always looks beyond the initial question. For instance, he also advised Vinasamex on environmental and operational safety issues and took a close look at the plant’s energy consumption. “I have had to deal with all these aspects in my working life so it would be a shame not to transfer this knowledge,” Sjoerd said.
Partly thanks to PUM’s advice, the annual income of a farming family working for Vinasamex has increased from USD 250 to USD 5,000. The company is well on its way to further expansion which will improve the living conditions of even more farmers and their families in the area.
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