Ha’s story
Ha took part in all three of our flagship programmes through our WEAVE initiative, with big aspirations for her traditional tea brand. She gained confidence and knowledge that brought growth and success to her business.

I truly trust that I have had a guide, like a lighthouse. I am not afraid that I might take the wrong road. I have had a lodestar that shows me the clear journey for me to follow.
Ha Shanam is an entrepreneur living in Ta Xua A Village, a rural village in Northwest Vietnam. She is the founding partner of her business Tay Bac Tea and Specialties Company, which specialises in selling Shanam tea, an ancient snowshan tea brand. She is one of 12,000 women entrepreneurs in Vietnam and Indonesia trained through our WEAVE project with USAID, Qualcomm® Wireless Reach™, Kinara Indonesia and WISE Vietnam.
I started my business in 2017, with big aspirations to bring ancient snowshan tea, a traditional but little-known tea, to both the domestic and international market. I started my career working in the marketing departments of big corporations, so I felt I could use my marketing and communications expertise to do something completely different. I was really excited to showcase my country’s agricultural heritage and bring snowshan tea into the mainstream.
It was quite a shock to me to move from the well-oiled machine of a large corporation, with multiple departments for specific tasks, to being a small start-up where everything depended on me and my actions. I felt that I was starting from zero. As well as getting used to that, I was faced with two major obstacles: ensuring we had enough capital, and ensuring our product was visible to our target audience.
The reason we needed such a lot of capital when we first launched was the product cycle of our tea. Because it is a luxury, unusual product, most of our sales happened at the end of year, when people would buy Shanam tea as gifts. In order to get ready for this rush of sales, we had to buy a huge amount of tea from farmers in the first half of the year, which naturally created a cash-flow problem.
The second problem we faced was one I felt equipped to solve with my marketing skills. Our product was the first tea brand in Vietnam made from ancient snowshan tea trees, and we needed to make clear to our target audience what sets Shanam tea apart from the ordinary tea they are used to, for example the fact that all Shanam tea products are made from ancient tea trees that are more than 100 years old. Once we had established ourselves in Vietnam, we also launched in the international market, positioning ourselves as an alternative to ancient Chinese tea.

My mentor was very understanding and patient and helped build my confidence in myself and my business.
Made possible by...
WEAVE was delivered collaboratively by the Foundation, Qualcomm® Wireless Reach™, and local, in-country implementing partners Kinara (Indonesia) and WISE (Vietnam). The contract was awarded by the ASEAN-USAID Inclusive Growth in ASEAN through Innovation, Trade, and E-Commerce (ASEAN-USAID IGNITE) program, a USAID-funded activity.




Find out more about the WEAVE iniative
Our WEAVE initiative supported over 12,000 women across Vietnam and Indonesia from 2020-2021. It was the first initiative by the Foundation to bring together all three of the Foundation’s flagship programmes: HerVenture, Road to Growth and Mentoring Women in Business.

Discover more women entrepreneurs' stories:
-
Van Pham’s story: pioneering with plant protein
Van Pham used HerVenture to strengthen her startup and support her in bringing its plant based products to new markets.
Read more
-
Mai Thi Le Quyen’s story: from lawyer to entrepreneur
Mai Thi Le Quyen is an expert lawyer and now, with support from HerVenture, an expert entrepreneur also.
Read more
-
Nguyen Thi Kim Thoa’s story: growing a sustainable farming industry in Vietnam
Nguyen Thi Kim Thoa's company, Abavina, is building capacity for eco-friendly farmers in Vietnam.
Read more