Success from milk cake

(VBSP News) With sales turn over of 4 billion per month, regular jobs for 110 workers, selling products to most of provinces in the country and occupying Chinese market, few people know that the achievement of the young boss of Ba Vi Milk cake Joint Stock Company, Dao Cong Truong in Tan Linh, Ba Vi district (Hanoi) was from "love for dairy products" and funding from the Job creation credit program of VBSP.

 Mr. Dao Cong Truong (first on the right) introduced to Delegation from DISA, Bangladesh

about the milk production line of Ba Vi Milk Cake JSC.

From the imported milk cake

In 1993, failed from the college entrance exam, Dao Cong Truong decided to learn to become a driver to earn some money for his family and keep studying to “enter the college”. He was later recruited to be a driver and shipper for a Dutch dairy company. 4 years working for the company, he had to travel hundreds of km each day for promoting and selling products. Each day, going back home exshauted, Truong’s grandmother always feed him with delicious milk cake from Ba Vi’s fresh milk.  He found out that his grandmother’s milk cake taste is no different from the imported milk cake he was selling for the company at that time. He thought of products of Ba Vi as the climate and raw materials here are suitable to develop. This has become a motivation for Truong to make the decision to "stand on his own feet" with dairy products produced in Ba Vi.

Besides working at the company, Truong started to promote milk cake made by his grandmother and some neighbors in Ba Vi. He found out Ba Vi milk cake was interested by consumers but its marketing was so weak. Ba Vi milk cake was sold only in some travel spots. Truong decided to broaden the market of milk cake. Demand raised, his grandmother and neighbors could not produce enough. He popped out an idea of setting up a workshop in Tan Linh, Ba Vi. However, he only had his grandmother’s milk cake know-how and an accounting certificate; his dream must wait for sometimes.

To billionaire of milk cake

With his unwilling to surrender and constant efforts and love for home products, the 25 years-old man started a Ba Vi milk cake production workshop in 2006 with VND 50 million from his savings. Recalling the beginning time, Truong still feel a chill. Besides selling products in Ba Vi, he wandered around café, pavement tea stalls in Phu Tho, Vinh Phuc, Hoa Binh, and the inner city of Hanoi to invite guests to try the milk cake. "Some days, I sold a few packages but the client also tried dozens of packets, so I lost; some days, I wandered hundreds of kilometers but could not sold any package ..." Truong said.

Over half a year rolling around the market, Truong finally sold the first order at the value of VND 15 million. His dairy products gradually accepted and widely know by consumers.

However, the important "point" that made up Truong’s success today is the decision to borrow VND 300 million from VBSP’s job creation program. With the loan and supports from relatives and friends, he solved the problem of demand over supply. From a small production workshop in 2014, he now has 12 workshops and become a Company with 2 bases in two ends of the country. He hired more than 100 fulltime workers with income ranging from VND 5 to 12 million each per month. From a product without a market, Dao Cong Truong brought Ba Vi milk cake to cover throughout the country. In addition to milk cake, the company also produces fresh milk, yogurt, caramel. Always put quality on the top, the company's products do not use preservatives, so Truong often encourages customers to buy goods just enough to sell, not to stock long, thus, ensure the quality of products and health of consumers.

Busy with business but Dao Cong Truong still spend time actively participating in volunteer social activities. Every year, on the closing day of the school year, Truong organizes meetings to give presents and scholarships to students with good academic results.

From 2007 up to now, Dao Cong Truong has lent VND 5 billion for people in the commune with no interest to raise dairy cows. Accordingly, each citizen is entitled to a loan of VND 20 million, equivalent to a dairy cow and after one year, Truong will return to buy milk from the household to clear the debt. This volunteer work is one of the factors that make Truong to become one of the top 10 youths of Hanoi capital, and the owner of the Luong Dinh Cua Award 2014.

"The success of Truong as well as Ba Vi Milk Cake Company is not only a model for Vietnamese youth to learn but it is also an ideal model for the use of micro loans to escape poverty for Bangladesh - The origin of the microcredit model for poverty alleviation, "said Md.Abul Khaer, director of the Training and Communications Center of DISA organization.

Vu Thai