The journey from empty hands to the owner of a billion-dong farm of a young man
At 19 years old, Hieu started his business by opening a chicken farm and selling eggs, but his relatives did
HA TINH – LAP farm raised chickens and sold eggs at the age of 19, Mr. Nguyen Huu Hieu was prevented by his family, worried about “losing money to pay debts”.
After graduating from high school in 2012, Hieu, residing in Ngoc Son commune, Thach Ha district, did not go to university but went to Angola to work, hoping to earn a little capital to return to his hometown to do business. But due to the devaluation of Angolan money, Hieu had to go home after more than a year with a debt of more than 100 million VND to borrow for export.
After a few months of thinking, Hieu decided to settle down in his hometown. In a time with a group of farmers in the commune to exchange and learn how to raise chickens in the North, he saw that they not only sell eggs, but also trade in broiler chickens, which is very easy to consume. In the countryside, parents also raise laying hens, incubating eggs for sale, but on a small scale, much damaged. Hieu wondered why not apply this model?
He went to ask his father Nguyen Huu Liem, 70 years old, borrowed the family’s hilly garden land, thanks to a small loan to build a barn. But Mr. Liem objected: “You are young, you have no wife and children. Where can you invest money in building a farm, if you lose, who will bear the debt?”
Not giving up, Hieu persisted in persuading his family to raise chickens at every meal. After a few weeks Mr. Liem agreed to lend the land, but the money did not.
On an area of 200 m2, Hieu borrowed VND 100 million from relatives and banks to start a business. Having experience in construction in Angola, he bought the materials to build the barn by himself, the seed was selected by his parents, and the money for food was arrears.($1=24,000 VND)
Hieu raised chickens to incubate eggs and sell breeders, competing with his father’s own establishment. The first stage of work was not favorable, 700 chickens got sick, about 200 died, and eggs hatched unevenly. Hieu met his father to ask for experience, and went to many farms to show him how to buy vaccines. When the chicken is healthy and the eggs hatch evenly, the price drops again. He spent many sleepless nights because of the unpaid debt to Angola, now adding a new loan.
After more than a year of resistance, chicken prices recovered, and Hieu not only sold seed but also consumed eggs and broiler chickens for his father’s establishment and some farms in the commune. Seeing that the people’s demand for raising chickens in the area was great, but lack of breed, had to be taken in a remote province, he thought of expanding the facility.
Like the first time he started a business, Mr. Liem prevented his son’s plan because of the high risk expansion, if he encountered an epidemic, “heaven can’t save it”.
Hieu “against” his father for the second time, using all his capital to open 3 more farms on his family’s thousands of square meters of land, buying thousands of chickens to raise. But in 2018, avian disease occurred on a large scale, eggs and hatchlings could not be consumed, had to be sold cheaply.
By 2019, the poultry disease was overcome, Hieu’s facility gradually received many partners inside and outside the province to cooperate. “I go from low to high, take short to raise long, limit risks as much as possible. At first, neighbors thought I was doing it for fun, the government didn’t think it would be successful. But now that skepticism has disappeared.” Hieu said.
Currently, Mr. Hieu is married and owns 4 farms raising 3,000 chickens like D310 Dabaco on a total area of more than 1,000 m2. Due to the hot weather in Ha Tinh in the summer and cold in the winter, he had to install a cooling fan system around the barn, set it automatically by the hour to warm up in winter and stimulate the hens to lay eggs.
Every day, Hieu has 2,500 laying hens, collects 2,000-2,500 eggs, sells 3,000 VND each, earning about 7 million VND. In addition, broiler chickens sell for 85,000 VND per kg, and two incubators with a capacity of 25,000 eggs each are used to sell scrambled eggs and produce breeding stock.($1=24,000 VND)
“Total sales revenue a year is about 2.5 billion dong, after deducting expenses, the profit is about 700 million dongs,” Hieu shared. The market was initially limited to the commune, now Hieu has expanded to Quang Binh and Nghe An provinces.
At this time, when he was 29 years old, Hieu had invested more than one billion VND in the development of the barn system. The establishment hires 2 permanent workers, paying a monthly salary of more than 7 million VND, in addition, there are 4-5 more seasonal workers. Currently, the start-up loans have been paid off, the young couple has built a spacious house, bought a car, has a good economy, and has accumulated.
Mr. Phan Tran Hung, Vice Chairman of Ngoc Son Commune, assessed that Hieu was young but very daring in economic development, a typical example for young people trying to get rich in their homeland, instead of working as hired laborers far away.
Hieu planned to maintain the stability of the model in the next few years, then thought of a breakthrough direction. “I always keep in mind that every day is a challenge, so I have to keep trying as soon as it’s dawn,” Hieu said.
( According to vnexpress )
