Phạm Thị Hồng Nga a teacher turned farmer used to be a physics teacher at a college within the city. She used to sell flowers as her side hustle after school.
It never occurred to her that it would create a sudden twist in her life until she started to open her own little flower shop.
Nga found out about Tình Thương One Member Limited Liability Microfinance Institution (TYM) set up by the Việt Nam Women’s Union which offers loans.
She had several attempts to request for a loan until she was granted to borrow 10 million VND to finance her flower shop.
This paved the way for her to meet several rose flower customers that are quite pesky and adamant in choosing the best roses.
Some of these customers would seek her advice on how to prolong the freshness of their flower. And so, Nga started her journey of researching about nurturing roses.
Her small flower shop has risen to popularity which made her think about opening a garden where people can visit and pick their own flowers – literally fresh from the farm.
This thought then materialized in 2017 when UniRose opened its gates to the public in Đức Thịnh Commune, Thái Nguyên City.
Nga tendered her roses organically which came as a challenge especially due to lack of experience and ample knowledge. However, she learned more about it over time and started minimizing the use of manufactured fertilisers, pesticides and harmful products that force a plant’s growth.
In September this year, Nga moved the rose farm to Quyết Thắng Commune – an area with more fertile soil and fresh air.
According to Nga, growing her flowers organically had several components that need to be considered. These are the seedlings, nursing the seedlings to fertilizing.
There have been plenty of onlookers who told her growing roses isn’t an easy task. However, Nga would dismiss this and says organic plants may look thin on the outside but it is stronger and can last longer compared to plants that were fertilised.
These fertilized plants look adorable but it perishes rapidly.
Nga had to give up her career to chase what she loves to do. She is even now producing rose water based toner which had captured the hearts of customers.
As Nga saw the rapid growth of her business, she decided to expand. Like how it was when she was still starting, she wasn’t prepared for what was coming.
The struggle of purchasing additional equipment, hiring skilled workers and running a large-scale business,
However, she chose to persist rather than stop.
She is currently looking at opening her rose farm as an outdoor activity destination for the young ones.
She wants something unique for her rose farm that other typical farms don’t offer. And being a previous teacher, she is close to children.
Nga offers students a free trip to her rose farm. And while they explore, they can also learn about useful farming techniques like nursing budding plants, harvesting and collecting tea leaves.
From a small flower shop, Nga has grown to be eligible to loan 50 million VND from the Tình Thương One Member Limited Liability Microfinance Institution.
She now employs 3-5 gardeners and 6 storekeepers with a monthly salary of 10 million VND.
Her persistence and passion have been recognized as one of the 68 winners of the Women’s Start-up Contest organised by the Việt Nam Women’s Union.
Competing amongst 920 women who had a start-up business around Vietnam.
The chairwoman of Thái Nguyên City’s Women’s Association, Lê Thị Ngọc Hoa commended Nga’s business saying the farming model was clever, creative and innovative.
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