Female entrepreneurs develop agricultural brands

While recognized as an industrial province, Dong Nai also joins the leading group nationwide in agricultural development and new-style rural development. In this process, women play an important role in both production development and building local agricultural product brands.

Female entrepreneur Le Thi Hai (2nd from left), Hai Viet Coffee Co., Ltd. (in Trang Dai ward) introduces products at the Dong Nai Agricultural Achievements Exhibition 2025. Photo: Binh Nguyen

In particular, the One Commune One Product (OCOP) program contributes to the economic development in rural areas by promoting internal strengths, increasing product value, and organizing production in chains. The province's OCOP program is increasingly deepening, attracting the participation of many businesses and cooperatives. Among them, many Dong Nai agricultural brands are associated with the successful startup stories of women.

Women entrepreneurs get rich

Many female directors of cooperatives and businesses are quick to seize opportunities and boldly apply science and technology to production. As a result, the number of female farmers, cooperative directors, and entrepreneurs who start their own businesses to get rich from agriculture is constantly growing.

Especially, in building agricultural brands associated with the OCOP Program, many stories about the success of agricultural products and local specialties are linked to women's startup stories.

Nguyen Thi Bich Le, Director of Truong Phat Agricultural Services Cooperative (in Nhon Trach commune) is one of the farmers in Dong Nai province honored as an outstanding farmer in production and business nationwide for the 2017-2022 period. Le is also a talented and creative female entrepreneur with a project to process products from lotus. This cooperative also set a record for having the most OCOP-certified products in Dong Nai province, with 19 processed lotus products achieving provincial OCOP standards at one point.

Nguyen Thi Bich Le shared her start-up story: In the past, many local farmers switched from growing rice to growing lotus because they saw that this crop brought high economic efficiency. Le was also one of the pioneering farmers to make this switch, and at the same time organized the purchase of lotus from farmers to sell everywhere. At a time when local lotus farmers faced difficulties with output as they mainly sold fresh products, Le decided to invest in a processing facility to help local lotus farmers have a more stable output. Le also established a cooperative, building a linkage chain from production, processing, to distribution of lotus products. The cooperative's products have reached markets in many provinces and cities nationwide; entered supermarket systems and participated in e-commerce.

Xuan Dinh Agricultural Trade and Service Cooperative (in Xuan Dinh commune) is one of the few cooperatives with a female director who successfully implemented the Large-scale field project in a linkage chain from production to consumption of VietGAP durian specialty in the locality. Xuan Dinh durian products have achieved 3-star OCOP certification, are purchased for export by businesses, while also entering safe fruit stores, supermarket systems, etc.

Dang Thi Thuy Nga, Director of Xuan Dinh Agricultural Trade and Service Cooperative, said: I am one of durian farmers who boldly switched from durians grown from seeds to specialty ones like Ri6 and Thai varieties in the locality. In addition to investing in production, Nga opened more purchasing points, packing and selling fruit everywhere. In the years when durian was popular, both the domestic and export markets were in high demand, Nga proactively established a cooperative, pioneering in Dong Nai province to develop a durian growing area for export.

Accordingly, as early as 2016, the Xuan Dinh large-scale durian field project with an area of 56.5 hectares, invested by Xuan Dinh Agricultural Trade and Service Cooperative, was approved by the Dong Nai Provincial People's Committee. In 2017, this durian growing area was granted VietGAP certification. Currently, the durian growing area for export participating in the cooperative's production-to-consumption linkage chain has expanded to hundreds of hectares. This dynamic female director of the cooperative also conducted self-funded trips to learn from successful cooperatives; she dedicated time and resources to participate in trade fairs and promotion programs. Thanks to this, the cooperative has connected with major distribution channels in both domestic and export markets.

Developing national and international brands

Dong Nai is the cashew capital of the country. Dong Nai's cashew products have become national and international brands. These achievements would not have been possible without the role of women-led entrepreneurs.

In June 2025, the former Dong Nai province for the first time had 8 certified 5-star national OCOP products. Among them, Nga Bien Import-Export Co., Ltd. (in Xuan Loc commune) led with 4 OCOP products receiving a 5-star rating.

Starting from a small-scale, manual production workshop, mainly processing white cashew kernels for export, the company has grown into  a large-scale processing plant, with almost automated processing line, and continuously diversifying deep-processed products that bring high added value. The company's products are currently present in many markets such as China, the U.S., the UK, Germany, and the Middle East.

The success story of To Thi Nga, Director of Nga Bien Import-Export Co., Ltd., is a long journey of more than 15 years, during which the company has consistently maintained its reputation for quality with the aspiration to build a common brand for cashew nuts of Dong Nai province in particular, and of Vietnam in general, in the international arena.

The success of the group of 4 products achieving 5-star national OCOP rating has partly recognized the efforts of female entrepreneur To Thi Nga in building the Vietnamese cashew brand. To Thi Nga shared: The company always strives to make a difference by creating products with a distinctive identity for customers. The company's products are selling well in many large supermarket systems, are available on e-commerce platforms, and are exported to many demanding markets. The company hopes its products will be widely known, enjoyed, and proudly recognized as high-quality Vietnamese goods.

According to the appraisal results and recognition of OCOP products in Dong Nai province at the end of 2025, the entire province has an additional 6 five-star potential OCOP products, all belonging to Gia Bao Group Joint Stock Company (in Binh Phuoc ward).

What's interesting is that the brand-building story of this company is always associated with the image of Ba Tu Binh Phuoc. Ba Tu Binh Phuoc, a woman who loved and was dedicated to cashew trees her whole life. In the story of Ba Tu Binh Phuoc's cashew nuts, there is a story of a decades-old heritage cashew garden, associated with many generations in Ba Tu's family. This ancient cashew garden tells many stories of love, perseverance, and pride of a female farmer growing into a female entrepreneur. Currently, Gia Bao Group Joint Stock Company's cashew products are being exported to "hard-to-please" markets, contributing to local economic development.

By Binh Nguyen – Translated by Mai Nga, Thu Ha