More than 10 times failed
Mr. Nghiem Dai Thuan is originally from Vinh Chau town (Soc Trang).Because of poor families, many brothers and sisters should run out of primary school so they have to rest to follow their loved ones to earn a living.
Mr. Thuan on the car engine only coconut fiber he invented. Photo: Huynh Xay
So far, the cooperative of Mr. Thuan has sold nearly 200 coconut fiber motorbikes in the Mekong Delta with prices ranging from 60 to 80 million VND / piece. Particularly for coconut fiber products, each month, the cooperative achieved 300 million VND in revenue, about 45 million VND profit.
“I went to Ca Mau province and went to Ho Chi Minh City to work for many jobs such as: silk screen printing, cake delivery at markets, cyclo running ... There was a time when I went to abroad to work but ... still poor . When I returned home to marry Duc My commune, I decided to start my career here with the profession of coconut fiber car, "Mr. Thuan said.
Mr. Thuan said that in Duc My commune, there are dozens of households living by car making coconut fiber. They are very hard working by hand but the number of products made is not much. Every day, only coconut fiber cars earn a few tens of thousands of dong, so the life of the people here is very difficult. At that time, Mr. Thuan always thought about how to make a modern machine to make coconut fiber only.
Mr. Thuan said: “I bring coconut fiber to many mechanics shops and ask them to research and make car machines only coconut fiber but no one will accept it. So I went to learn welding myself, convenient and self-searching and designing. After more than 1 year of failure and more than 10 failed attempts, in the beginning of 2013 I also achieved what I wanted ”.
Thuan's coconut fiber car machine now has 4 axles, is electrically operated, can produce over 30kg of small size only after 8 hours of operation.Meanwhile, at the same time, hand made only 2 - 3kg.
Seeing the machine firsthand, the people in Duc My were extremely happy and started to look to him to learn and order. The sound of the rumors is far away, the people in the neighboring localities also turn to buy
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Achievements of Mr. Nghiem Dai Thuan:
* 2013: First prize in Tra Vinh Technical Innovation Contest.
* 2015: Received a certificate of merit by the Provincial People's Committee for its contribution to the patriotic emulation movement.
* 2016: Certified for typical rural industrial products at the provincial and southern levels.
* 2018: Received the title of "Outstanding Vietnamese Farmers 2018".
With the initial success step, in 2014, Mr. Thuan established the Duc My coconut fiber car cooperative with 11 participating members, the total charter capital was VND 600 million. Thanks to modern machinery, his cooperative sells about 30 tons of coconut fiber every month. For cooperatives to earn more income, Mr. Thuan organized cooperative members to make nets and mats from coconut fiber. These two products are environmentally friendly and durable, so they are favored by Korean importers.
“On an occasion when a Korean enterprise visited Ben Tre, I had the opportunity to contact and introduce products to them. After the inspection and investigation process, the Korean side realized that the product of good quality had signed a cooperation to consume nets and carpets made from coconut fiber. Depending on the size of the order, the cooperative will follow. In Korea, this item is used a lot in parks and resorts ... ”- Mr. Thuan said.
Besides the Korean market, Mr. Thuan's cooperative also cooperates to produce for enterprises in Ben Tre province - a branch of a foreign company based in Tra Vinh province. For his domestic market to know, over the past few years, Mr. Thuan has brought products to many conferences, seminars and exhibitions organized by the province and relevant ministries and branches.
Since the successful manufacture of the machine, up to now, the amateur inventor in Tra Vinh homeland continues to study, upgrading from 4-axis to 6-axis machines for daily productivity to more than 120kg of coconut fiber.At the same time, build 2 production workshops, with the help of more than 20 workers.
Mr. Thuan also revealed that he had just successfully researched a new, completely automatic machine, without needing to shake the coconut like the machine he had created earlier. In addition, he also plans to study the fabrication of coconut peeling machine.
“This is a job that workers have to use their strength, using sharp knives to peel off coconuts, so they often have labor accidents. If successful, the poor workers specializing in coconut peeling, coconut fiber cars will lessen the hard work and increase the family income ”- Mr. Thuan added.
