Mr. Van is a farmer from a small village in the North of Vietnam. His wife works far from home to help make ends meet and only comes home on the weekends. They have two school age children and need extra income for their education expenses. The daily care of the children and the household is Mr. Van’s responsibility.
Mr. Van farms the family land, but has struggled to meet the families needs. He always wanted to invest in a business to earn a higher income but he was too afraid to try, feeling scared of loss since he has seen others try and fail. He wondered how it was possible to be effective in the highly competitive Vietnamese market.
By chance at a community meeting, he heard about an opportunity to receive family business training. He decided to enroll in the course offered by YWAM Mercy Vietnam to learn how to increase his family’s income through business.
This program was designed to help people think differently about the way they earn income and was titled, “Self-renewal for Excellence”. It helps participants refocus on opportunities instead of problems. Through this training he realized change needed to begin within himself. He could no longer wait for change to happen to him. He needed to proactively seek change. He was inspired by a quote from Crazy Horse, “A very great vision is needed, and the man who has it must follow it as the eagle seeks the deepest blue of the sky.” This motivated him to seek excellence in all he does and see his agricultural work as a business which he needs to run in a professional way.
So he has since joined other trainings offered by YWAM Mercy such as Effective Communication Skills, Sales and Marketing, Safe and Proper Pesticide Use. These helped him be more confident in his agricultural work.
He decided to focus on farming which produces safe products for the customer and the environment. He sought out customers ahead of planting season so he could produce according to their orders. Thanks to the training of YWAM Mercy Vietnam, he realized that having a good brand-name is a key factor in doing business and it takes time to gain a good reputation. He realized that meeting customer needs is more important that quick profits.
With this new way of thinking about earning a living with his agricultural business, he not only kept his existing customers but also has new ones. His income is increasing and is now three times higher than before joining the training.
He sees the importance of continuing to learn, so he plans to attend the business management training run by YWAM Mercy in order to open a company which will provide safe farming products for others. Since joining the training he has moved from subsistence farming, to family business, and now he wants to register a company which may even employ others.
At YWAM Mercy we believe a community changes when an individual makes a change. People like Mr. Van are inspiring others to believe they can make changes and see results too.