Never feeling inferior about her disability, never accepting her lot, never letting her family and society worry about her, always seeking to learn and striving to overcome every difficulty… Now, she is a woman who is good at business, with an average income of nearly ten million VND a month.
She is Ms. Nguyen Thi Mai Hoa, born in 1962, from block 14, Ha Huy Tap Ward (Vinh City, Nghe An Province), one of 203 outstanding individuals, role models of women who are good at business in the period 2002 – 2013, honoured by the Vietnam Women’s Union.
A long journey of hardship to start a business
According to Ms. Mai Hoa, when she was born, like any other child, Mai Hoa was very pretty and healthy. But when she was two years old, after a high fever, Mai Hoa was paralysed down her left side, leaving her legs unable to move normally. Although she was only two, the little girl soon recognised the difference between herself and her friends of the same age, and always felt self-conscious because her friends teased her.
When she started primary school, her friends understood and sympathised with the little girl’s circumstances, loving and helping Mai Hoa because they saw her extraordinary determination. So, every day her friends took turns carrying Mai Hoa to school.
In lower secondary school, Hoa began to practise walking, but that was far from simple: her legs were bent and stiff and would not obey her thoughts, and after a few steps she would fall. Many times she thought of giving up, but thinking of her family and friends and of her own dreams, she endured the pain and kept going. After a long time of hard practice, Mai Hoa could walk on her own two legs, albeit with a limp.
Despite many difficulties, the little girl with a disability always strove and did her very best at school, achieving high results, especially in the natural sciences. After finishing grade 12, Mai Hoa passed the entrance exam for the Biology Faculty of Hue General University. After many ups and downs, with outstanding effort and determination, Hoa completed her whole course.
In 1988, holding her university degree in hand, Mai Hoa faced new challenges: she applied for jobs in many places, but no agency would accept a person with a disability. “At that time, all my faith and hope seemed to collapse beneath my feet” – Ms. Mai Hoa confided.
In 1990, she left Hue for Vinh City to start an independent life. She did all kinds of work to earn a living, and once she had saved a little capital, using her knowledge of microbiology she decided to experiment and research a fermented soft drink, which she named Huong Lua soft drink.
Ms. Mai Hoa with her dishwashing liquid product
This was a time when she faced many difficulties, as she alone had to transport raw materials from Hue to Nghe An to make the finished product and find trading partners to sell it herself. But her will and faith in life helped her overcome everything, and her efforts were truly rewarded when her fermented Huong Lua soft drink was welcomed by consumers.
When her business became stable and she had accumulated some capital and savings, Ms. Hoa went to Hanoi to have surgery on her legs again so that she could move around more easily.
Helping herself – helping others
Ms. Mai Hoa told herself that, although she has a disability, she would not accept her lot and become a burden on her family and society. Unable to do heavy labour, she chose business as her path to making a living.
“Seeing how women always struggle with kitchen work and housework — after every family meal they have to scrub piles of bowls, dishes, pots and pans, while many dishwashing liquids on the market are of unknown origin or contain chemicals harmful to women’s health and hands — I shared the thought with my husband and he supported me, and in 2006 we decided to produce dishwashing liquid”, Ms. Mai Hoa said.
To succeed, Ms. Mai Hoa and her husband bought books and materials to study, sought out the experience of those who had gone before, and listened to the views of shopkeepers and consumers about what they wanted from a dishwashing liquid. Then they found reputable suppliers for their raw materials, designed the shape and packaging, and completed the production registration procedures…
The lemon-scented My Hoa dishwashing liquid was born, carrying with it all her hopes and her passionate research and exploration. She said: “At first, my dishwashing liquid was not readily accepted because people were unsure about its quality, but about a year later, my dishwashing liquid had a significant market share in Vinh City, and later spread to rural and mountainous districts in the province and to some neighbouring provinces”.
Today, Ms. Hoa’s workshop produces about 6,000 litres of dishwashing liquid a month on average, and after all costs it makes a profit of tens of millions of VND. Most of the workers at the workshop are students, working in shifts in their spare time outside classes, and they are paid by output.
Now, Ms. Mai Hoa’s stable and thriving production and business not only help build her family’s economy but also contribute to the overall economic development of the locality.
With her own efforts, Ms. Mai Hoa has risen up, “disabled but not useless”, not only affirming herself and providing for her family’s economy, but also helping many other people find work and income.
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