My name is Nguyen Thanh Tung, 26 years old from Vietnam. Although I graduated in Hanoi Foreign Trade University in the major of International Business, I still focus on Agriculture (especially Fishery) because I see the indispensable connection between the two fields.
Today I would like to talk to you about my project which can help a lot of fishers in building a more sustainable life. I already brought the project to join Eating City Summer Campus (A Social Dialogue for a more Sustainable Food Supply Chain – France in August 2015) and get some comments & advice to turn in into reality. Today I am very happy to share with you about that:
On the way to seek the prides of Vietnam, I think & concern about the fish sauce (Nuoc Mam) – one traditional & indispensable seasoning of my country. In the war time, we were proud of the spirit overcoming all obstacles & difficulties, which bring Vietnam image to the world. However, in the peace, Vietnamese people have to find a different approach, which combines traditional beauty with fierce desire to reach global target.
My company, SACHU, was born with these objectives: to integrate, change & reach the world standard in the distinct characteristic of an emerging nation.
SACHU, according to our language, represents for a standard product which is being fallen into oblivion gradually because of the development of technology & society as well as the global integration. Day by day, people are swept away by the life rush & forget the core living value. In the past, fish sauces were made with only two sustainable ingredients: anchovies & salt fermented in about 6 – 9 months.
However, nowadays, with the support of technology, companies can reduce the fermenting time and make fish sauce with sugar, hydrolyzed protein, or preservatives in a much shorter time. It erased all the essence of traditional fish sauce, brought people an under average products and exerted bad impact on human’s health. Along with a research from General Statistics Office, Vietnamese people use about 200 million liters of fish sauce each year with just 25% of traditional & 75% of chemical substances approached (one family with 4 members just use 800ml/month). The data is really an extreme alarming for health & sense of Vietnamese people.
Today, as a founder of a young enterprise, I am very proud to be a part of a campaign to get back the traditional values, beginning with the most familiar seasoning of Vietnam. I believe that fish sauce – the combination of our quintessence including sea water, land, air & human of Vietnam – will be the strongest & closest glue associating national soul with core principles.
Creation based on the key values of 4000 years of history to bring a modern Vietnam culture to the world is the SACHU’s objective and my life-time mission.
The most important thing is that: if my project turns into reality, I can support & connect a lot of fishers, who are unable to find solutions for their products & lack of marketing communication channels to link with customers. I dream about the project every night as an big effort to make the world flatter & build the equity for poor fishers, especially in Vietnam where is controlled too much by money & relational power
If I can receive the $5,000 advancement, the first & foremost thing I would like to do is to create & foster a community of using traditional & sustainable fish sauce in Vietnam. I ran project some months ago & was lack of financial support for marketing communication (link).
My plan with the Facebook fan page is to use $2,000 to create a young community that feel proud & trust in using a traditional, true & fresh fish sauce. About the rest of $3,000, I will develop a competition to help people understand more about how the true fish sauce comes from & help fishers connect to investors, organizations, government to find solutions for their products. Besides, after having the relationship with them, I will be easier to introduce them with each other that is able to build long lasting & sustainable connection.
Blogpost and pictures submitted by Nguyen Thanh Tung (Vietnam) – tung.nt21(at)gmail.com
The content, structure and grammar is at the discretion of the author only.
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Great idea. Keep trying to research more!!
Fish sauce (Nuoc mam) is the spices which can not lack in Vietnamese meals. It is not only spices or food, but also culture. Hope this project will be successful.
I love your project! Let’s do something realistic!