Tran Bich Tuyen from Ninh Kieu district, is well known in Can Tho City for her keychains and hairpins made of wool. The cute products have been exported to many countries, including the US and Australia.

After graduating from high school, Tuyen earned her living by a job at a footwear shop in Can Tho City. Later, Tuyen learned to become a tailor and earned VND3 million a month after she finishing learning.

Two years ago, Tuyen learned about making handmade products on social networks and was curious about this. Later, she found it interesting to create cute items from wool and decided to start a business.

“At first, I made a few woolen hairpins to give to relatives and friends. As the products became better known, more and more people have demand for the products, I decided to sell the items I make,” she recalled.

This job allows her to both spend time to take care of kids and follow her passion. She decided to open an online shop specializing in handmade products.

In July 2023, Tuyen started with modest capital of just VND750,000. At that time, she  sold only woolen hairpins on e-commerce platforms.

Trang got revenue of VND80-90 million a month after one year of operation. After deducting expenses, she could pocket VND20 million, a good sum for online shops.

Instead of diversifying products, Tuyen focuses on handmade items favored by many people, especially youth, such as woolen bears, capybara, hairpins, and mini animal keychains imitating cartoon characters.

“We can put out 4,000-5,000 products each month which sell between VND20,000 and hundreds of thousand of dong. Since the startup, I have designed 400 woolen keychain samples and 500-600 woolen hairpins,” she said.

The young mother of one child said she advertises products on her fanpage and Facebook chat groups. As she regularly updates new trends and tries to diversify products to fit customers' changing tastes, Tuyen’s products have become famous as her clients have introduced the brand to each other.

Her know-how is creating products which are "as beautiful as imagined by customers".

To expand her business scale, Tuyen is working with and teaching about 30 workers, many of whom are university students.

“They come to see me to get wool, needles and formulas and then make products at home. If their products are good enough, they can get money, about VND1-7 million,” Tuyen said.

Ha Nguyen