Passionate about medicinal herbs, since childhood, Ms. Doan Thi Hong Tham has nurtured the dream of becoming a pharmacist. Later, when she became a Pharmacy student at Ho Chi Minh City University of Medicine and Pharmacy, she often followed her teachers to research. After graduating, Ms. Tham got a job researching and developing new products, in charge of medicinal products and became widely known for successfully researching and producing Eugica cough medicine, a once famous natural herbal cough medicine
She said: “The turning point for me was probably when I turned to business and became a branch manager for a large pharmaceutical company. During those 10 years, I learned a lot of business knowledge and accumulated a lot of business knowledge. Gained a lot of valuable experience in business management.”
In 2019, realizing the consumer trend of favoring health care products from natural medicinal herbs, she decided to quit her job and establish a company at the age of 50, with the desire to bring applications of medicinal herbs, of Vietnamese agricultural products into daily life to serve community health care needs.
Pharmacist Doan Thi Hong Tham started her business with locally available medicinal products
Ms. Doan Thi Hong Tham recalls: At that time, farmers still had the habit of planting according to the trend. When harvesting, it falls into a situation of “good season, low prices”.
At one time, people in Can Tho raced to grow Polyscias fruticosa to supply pharmaceutical companies, but when they didn’t buy it, the farmers didn’t know who to sell it to. Meanwhile, Polyscias fruticosa is a clean medicinal herb, without fertilizers or pesticides…
That’s why Ms. Tham chose Polyscias fruticosa to research her first startup products. The female pharmacist said that people usually grow Polyscias fruticosa to get the roots, which takes 4-5 years and leaves. But this is a medicinal herb that can be used from leaves, stems, roots… so she uses all the ingredients of the plant to make products.
Polyscias fruticosa tea is made from roots and leaves, whose main effects are to help strengthen the body’s immunity, increase brain circulation, help reduce vestibular disorder syndrome, and help sleep well. Polyscias fruticosa pillow is made from the leaves of this plant combined with other herbs, helping children prevent night sweats while sleeping, and improving sleep for adults. Not only that, utilizing such raw materials also brings additional income, optimizing growers’ profits.
To expand production scale, Ms. Tham invested in facilities, built a factory, ordered production equipment and machinery, and cooperated with cooperatives to have a stable source of raw materials.
The female pharmacist is completing OCOP records for her products.
Currently, in addition to products from polyscias fruticosa, Ms. Tham produces other types such as fish mint tea, perilla tea… The main difference is that her products are all instant tea so they are very easy to drink, so that’s why, easily accessible to customers. Pharmacist Hong Tham shared.
Currently, her company’s Instant Tea production line has been certified to ISO 22000:2018 according to international standards. She is also completing OCOP documents for her products.
With the motto, bringing health to everyone from available local medicinal resources, the female CEO of Hygie&Panacee is still diligently researching and continuing to develop other product lines.
Starting her business at a young age, her passion took her out of her comfort zone.
“For me, the biggest difficulty is overcoming myself. Previously, when I was working, I had a relatively good salary and income, and a stable family life. But when I decide to change, I have to consider facing risks and uncertainties. You will have to prepare yourself for a lonely journey. In the past you may have done your job very well because you had the support of the whole system, but when you start a business, you may have to “go it alone”.
At the same time, to prepare for starting a business, you must also have a process of accumulating knowledge and experience throughout your years of school and work. Even after successful research, when starting production, you still need to constantly learn and absorb new knowledge of the digital age.” That is the secret of female start-up U50 Doan Thi Hong Tham.
