Vietnamese businessman keen on spanromoting local garlic to world

Five years ago, Nguyen Van Dinh, 33, drove his motorcycle around the central Vietnamese city of Da Nang to sell Ly Son garlic, a product from his hometown. Now, 80 tonnes of the garlic has been shipped to Thailand, Dubai, and Singapore.

Dinh, who lives on Ly Son, an island district administered by the central province of Quang Ngai, said his decision on selling garlic instead of working as an engineer upset his mother a lot, whereas he is always keen on promoting this product.

He initially bought hundreds of kilograms of Ly Son garlic and brought the volume to Da Nang, around which he drove his motorcycle to sell the vegetable of the onion family, and he then started approaching Big C, a French-owned supermarket chain.

Ly Son garlic has been known in Vietnam for its distinctive delicious taste that other kinds of garlic cannot compare with, not to mention its benefits for health.

As most supermarkets have their own suppliers, Dinh managed to convince Big C to buy only 10 kilograms of Ly Son garlic.

The product was sold out after one week, and the supermarket chain continued to order 300 more kilograms, and then three tonnes – an impressive amount.

“The volume now tops dozens of tonnes per month,” Dinh said.

Besides using his own money, Dinh also borrowed VND400 million (US$18,600) from friends and rented a warehouse to store his garlic.

He hired students to ship the product to customers, starting an organized business pathway.

Dinh buys fresh Ly Son garlic from farmers at VND55,000 ($2.6) per kilogram, processes the vegetable and ensures its quality to provide for his business partners.

He has registered the brand called “Ly Son’s King of Garlic” at the Vietnamese Ministry of Science and Technology"s Intellectual Property Department to pre-empt fake products.

Ly Son garlic is currently on sale at many supermarkets throughout Vietnam, including 29 Big C stores, as well as at several airports in the central region with its supplier aiming to promote the product to foreigners.

The 33-year-old businessman has exported 80 tonnes of Ly Son garlic to Thailand, the UAE and Singapore after spending a great amount of time exploring opportunities to penetrate international markets.

Dinh’s chain of stores provide stable jobs for 16 young employees and processing experts with salaries varying from VND2.4 million ($110) to VND14 million ($642) per month, and temporary jobs for 50 students during Tet (Lunar New Year) holidays and busy seasons.

His plan is to study other markets including Malaysia, Laos, and South Korea to look for more business partners, as well as promote other specialties of Ly Son such as squid, snails, and seaweed to the world.

Tran Van Minh, an official in Quang Ngai Province, expressed his appreciation of Dinh for introducing the Ly Son garlic brand to international markets, adding that provincial authorities will support him in terms of soft loans to diversify the product, enlarge its market share and build a sustainable garlic brand.

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Vietnamese businessman keen on spanromoting local garlic to world

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