Welcome to the “Women Driving Circularity” series, part 4. In this part, we feature the inspiring story of Ms. Trinh Thi Hai Yen
For more than 2 years, Ms. Yen has traveled to survey many areas in Thanh Hoa with a desire to develop the economy for people in mountainous areas of this province, encouraging people to protect its forests. How to solve the economic problem while still protecting the forest, those concerns prompted her to go and learn.
Then she found a cyclical relation: forests foster bees, bees make honey, honey creates income, promotes the economy, thereby stimulating people to protect the forest. That was the moment Yen set up Karuna’s business goals, aligning with helping people in the rural areas.
As a participant in Circular Economy Bootcamp, Karuna has had a big transformation. On the closing day of the camp, Karuna was positioning the business model. It was lucky enough to have received the invitations from DNES, expecting that the circular economy training will be fit with her enterprise.
“Through my studies, I realized that circular economy is a tool that can help bring my business to sustainability”.
Ms. Yen honestly shares, that in the next 3 years, it is planned that each Karuna eco-bees farm will become a destination for knowledge sharing. Profits from the business activities of the enterprise will be deducted to build a community library.
“Besides, one of the things I like most about Bootcamp is the sharing of businesses – from senior businesses like Lang Biang Farm to small businesses like mine. Thanks to CE Bootcamp, I know that some businesses have been successful to some extent in applying the circular model, and from there, I have more motivation to develop my business in the direction of applying the circular economy.”
Story and photos shared by Danang Circular Economy Hub
Read how UNDP is advancing a gender-sensitive inclusive Circular Economy: The tactics “3Vs” to drive a gender-inclusive circular economy – Viet Nam Circular Economy