Women in the Mekong Delta region have managed to turn native products into thriving businesses, contributing to the region’s sustainable economic growth. VNA/VNS Photo

By Thu Hiền & Huỳnh Anh

CẦN THƠ — Women in the Mekong Delta, among those most vulnerable to climate change, are proving to be resilient innovators, turning native products into thriving businesses that secure livelihoods and drive the region’s sustainable economic growth.

As consumers increasingly favour eco-friendly and safe products, new opportunities have opened for women entrepreneurs across the Mekong Delta. Their business models, rooted in local specialties and aligned with sustainable, organic, circular and green agriculture, are showing how adaptation can lead to prosperity.

Building prosperity from homeland treasures

In Thuận Hòa Commune of Cần Thơ City, Trương Thị Bạch Thủy, Director of the Thủy Tuyết Rattan and Bamboo Cooperative, started her own business by reviving and modernising traditional weaving, a craft passed down through three generations in her Khmer family.

For Thủy, every basket, tray or fish trap embodies her ethnic heritage. But she wanted more than to preserve tradition. She wanted to innovate.

Collaborating with local artisans and craftspeople, she developed new designs suited to market demand: pen boxes, decorative items, trays, tables and chairs made entirely from bamboo and rattan.

Trương Thị Bạch Thủy, Director of the Thủy Tuyết Rattan and Bamboo Cooperative, checks on the quality of bamboo and rattan products. VNA/VNS Photo

Thanks to this creativity, products from her 100-year-old craft village are now found in restaurants and hotels across the region. The cooperative produces several thousand items each month, earning more than VNĐ1 billion (around US$40,000) in annual revenue.

More importantly, Thủy’s success has inspired many local women to join. Her cooperative now provides stable jobs for 32 members and over 60 women in neighbouring areas, each earning about VNĐ4–5 million ($160–200) per month.

Her efforts have been recognised nationally. The cooperative won the Special Prize at the Southern Women’s Entrepreneurship Contest and First Prize at the National Women’s Startup Ideas Competition organised by the Việt Nam Women’s Union.

At the southernmost tip in Cà Mau Province, rich mangrove ecosystems produce unique aquatic resources, including the ba khía, a small mangrove crab beloved by locals. This humble creature inspired Trần Thị Xa, Director of the Đầm Dơi Ba Khía Cooperative, to launch her own specialty brand with her husband.

From a modest home business, Xa turned the once rustic ba khía into an One Commune One Product (OCOP)-certified specialty with a stable market presence.

After nearly seven years of operation, the cooperative now has 10 members and uses modern equipment and production lines. Xa’s product range has expanded impressively, from frozen and marinated crabs to crab paste and ready-to-eat seasoned varieties such as sweet-sour and salted-fish sauce ba khía.

Today, the cooperative boasts four 4-star and two 3-star OCOP-certified products, generating local jobs and income for hundreds of workers.

For Xa, success means more than profit. It is about harnessing the Delta’s natural abundance, applying technology, and elevating local identity through sustainable entrepreneurship.

In Vĩnh Long Province, Thạch Thị Chal Thi, Director of Sokfarm Co., Ltd., has taken local resources to the global stage.

'Sokfarm,' meaning 'happy agriculture' in Khmer, started with a single product: coconut flower nectar. It has since expanded to include coconut blossom sugar, soy sauce and vinegar. These innovative products have reached demanding markets such as the United States, Europe and Japan.

Thạch Thị Chal Thi, Director of Sokfarm Co., Ltd with her coconut cider vinegar. VNA/VNS Photo

Thi recalls that during periods of drought and saltwater intrusion, local coconut yields fell sharply. Drawing on her background in food technology, she and her husband turned adversity into opportunity, creating an entire value chain around coconut nectar under the Sokfarm brand.

Their model links farmers, producers and processors, helping the coconut-growing community overcome environmental challenges while maximising the value of their local resource, the iconic Vĩnh Long coconut tree.

In Tri Tôn District of An Giang Province, CEO of Palmania JSC Châu Ngọc Dịu found her entrepreneurial inspiration in the towering palmyra palms that grow wild across the region and take up to 25 years to mature.

With a vision to promote community health and preserve Khmer traditional craft, Dịu established Palmania using careful and safe production methods.

Her Palmania palm sugar is now the first Vietnamese palm sugar brand to earn organic certification under European, US and Canadian standards. Dịu also became the first Vietnamese entrepreneur to bring An Giang’s palm sugar to international markets.

Spreading the spirit of entrepreneurship

Deputy Director of the Việt Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) in the Mekong Delta Nguyễn Thị Thương Linh emphasised that 'to survive is to adapt.'

From this spirit of adaptation, many creative models have emerged, symbolising women’s resilience amid climate change.

The Mekong Delta is facing major challenges posed by climate change and unsustainable socio-economic development. VNA/VNS Photo Huỳnh Anh

Chairwoman of the Cần Thơ Province Women’s Union Nguyễn Thị Thùy Linh added that the entrepreneurial spirit has spread strongly among women, forming networks that support sustainable economic growth.

Many of these initiatives draw on local strengths such as traditional cuisine, eco-friendly farming, organic agriculture, handicrafts and community tourism, preserving cultural identity while promoting rural development and new-style countryside building.

In Cà Mau Province alone, the Women’s Union now has over 327,000 members, representing 78.5 per cent of all women in the province. According to Vice Chairwoman of the Cà Mau Provincial Women’s Union Nguyễn Thị Ngọc Thúy, the startup movement and collective economic models have created jobs for many women, from handicrafts and sewing to seafood processing, earning them between VNĐ2.5 and 7 million per month.

Thúy stressed that to further empower women economically, policy support plays a crucial role.

The Government has launched initiatives specifically for women, including the National Project 939 on supporting women startups during 2017–2025 and the Project on supporting women-managed cooperatives and job creation for women by 2030.

According to Lê Anh Tuấn, senior lecturer at Cần Thơ University, social attitudes toward women, particularly women entrepreneurs, have changed significantly in recent years. Many social and non-governmental organisations now run programmes that prioritise women, helping them raise awareness, gain access to information, receive preferential credit and acquire vocational training.

These, he said, are crucial foundations behind the growing number of successful women-led startup models in the Mekong Delta.

Linh, Deputy Director of VCCI in the Mekong Delta, noted that through policies related to climate change, agriculture and women’s entrepreneurship, many women in the region have demonstrated a sharp ability to recognise agricultural advantages and local potential as opportunities for business development.

However, Linh also pointed out that most policies are national in scope, not tailored specifically for women in the Mekong Delta. Therefore, in such a challenging environment, the success of female entrepreneurs in the region depends not only on external policy support but, above all, on their inner strength and self-reliance.

That inner strength, Linh emphasised, lies in changing mindsets, adapting to shifting weather and climate conditions, transforming cultivation practices, and embracing new technologies to create higher-quality, higher-value agricultural products.

With the right policies and the companionship of organisations and experts, they said, women in the Mekong Delta can confidently start their own businesses and take the lead in building a green, sustainable and climate-resilient economy for Việt Nam. — VNS