After two years of experimentation, she successfully launched soft-dried lucuma fruit into the market, earning a 4-star OCOP (One Commune One Product) rating.

Born into a farming family in Truong Thanh Commune, Can Tho City, the 35-year-old Dieu grew up accustomed to the recurring cycle of bumper harvests driving down agricultural prices. Yet this familiarity helped her recognize an entrepreneurial opportunity in a fruit traditionally viewed as ordinary.

Prior to starting her business, Dieu worked for various food companies in roles ranging from sales and distribution to branch management. Her last position provided a monthly income exceeding VND20 million.

Despite having a stable career, she harbored a desire to create her own product, particularly one derived from her hometown's produce.

When she submitted her resignation to start her venture, her family was deeply concerned, as her salary was considered a substantial income in rural areas. 

"Seeing their daughter give up a good income to 'do something no one had done before,' it was understandable that my parents were displeased," she recalled.

The idea of processing eggfruit came to Dieu during the COVID-19 social distancing period, when the fruit fell all over local gardens with no buyers in sight. Some households owned dozens of 1,000-square-meter plots of lucuma trees, yet faced complete market stagnation.

Recognizing that local agricultural produce relied heavily on traders and fluctuating market demands, Dieu wanted to enhance the value of existing crops rather than clearing land for new ones. 

She also realized that while eggfruit was known for its nutritional value, it remained unpopular because fresh fruit spoiled quickly.

So she decided to give it a try. Together with her husband, a food technology master's graduate from Can Tho University, she began experimenting with ways to turn eggfruit into a more convenient product.

At first, the couple planned to dry the fruit and grind it into powder. But while experimenting with an air fryer at home, they discovered that soft-dried eggfruit had a distinctive flavor - mildly sweet, fragrant and easy to eat.

The biggest challenge at that point was not capital but technology. There were virtually no processed eggfruit products in Vietnam to use as references, so Dieu had to conduct her own experiments and adjust every stage of the process.

“We didn't have a specific product to use as a reference. Every day, we made a little, learned a little and then improved it,” she said.

Dieu initially gave the first batches to relatives and friends to try. Their feedback on flavor, texture and packaging helped her continue refining the product.

Another challenge was convincing consumers of the value of a fruit that had long been considered cheap and ordinary. In the Mekong Delta, eggfruit is inexpensive, and in some places ripe fruit simply falls to the ground because nobody picks it up. As a result, when the processed product was priced much higher than fresh fruit, some consumers considered it too expensive.

“People tried it and said it was delicious, but when they heard the price, they wouldn't buy it,” Dieu said.

In her view, consumers are not paying only for the raw material, but also for the technology, processing work, safety standards and added value of the finished product. So in the early days, she mainly offered samples or sold the product at its proper price rather than underpricing it.

This approach gradually helped the product find its own customer base, particularly among people interested in clean food and products made from local agricultural produce.

A 4-star OCOP product

Dieu's startup journey did not happen overnight. From 2022 to 2025, the product was mainly sold on a trial basis through small orders.

In late 2024, her eggfruit product was awarded four-star OCOP certification, a reflection of her persistence in developing a product with virtually no established precedent.

By 2026, the production facility had been upgraded and brought into compliance with production requirements, with the business working toward HACCP standards and expanding online sales.

Soft-dried eggfruit is now the facility's best-selling product, and is shipped across Vietnam, attracting particular interest from customers in Hanoi and HCMC. Some customers have even bought the product to take overseas in their luggage.

The facility currently generates revenue of several tens of millions of dong a month, with sales growing as its customer base expands and wholesale and retail orders increase on e-commerce platforms.

Hoai Thanh