Van Pham’s story: pioneering with plant protein

The story of Emmay comes from my family issues. In 2010, my family had a very difficult economic situation, so my mother and I had to find a way to overcome that difficult period. During my three-year meditation course with my master, I found that vegetarian dishes from processed mushrooms were good for health. It was very suitable for my family at that time to start a business with a unique and new product with low capital investment. It was only the time and effort we spent on processing mushrooms. I did not expect that the day after I posted products for sale, there would be so many orders coming in.  The business kept growing.  

In 2017, I decided to set up Emmay with more creativity, innovation and in-depth research on science and technology. I started using the HerVenture app and was very impressed. This application is very easy to use. The impression it left on me after more than a year is that it is very easy to apply, easy to access and easy to use. Very concise knowledge. If I have to choose the two most impressive lessons, they would be finance and accounting, and starting an e-commerce store.

When I applied the knowledge from the HerVenture app, I recruited staff and set up a new digital marketing and sales department. It brought new vitality as well as revenue and the brand of the company has spread more and more.

Before HerVenture, the biggest challenge for my business, besides raising capital, was planning to export to international markets. Doing that consumes a lot of time and resources. However, when we set up the digital marketing and online sales department, we were able to navigate this with less problems. I have opened a warehouse in Singapore to start selling and deploying an e-commerce channel there. I will be able to deploy an online sales channel from the Singapore market to the Chinese market. It will be a place to transfer my goods. We have also used digital communication sites such as TikTok and Youtube to introduce the product and how it’s used in these new markets. 

I feel that the journey of starting a business is very difficult, but it is worth it. I have gathered great people who are really passionate about this business. Our 12-year entrepreneurial journey is not only the story of making profitable products in terms of business and economics, it is the story of wanting to bring a Vietnamese product to the world and build the image of Vietnamese people as intellectual minds internationally. That’s a bigger story that Emmay wants to pursue.”