The startup story of Nguyễn Kiên Giang, a YUP student, and his U Minh Forest Honey brand. Published on Báo Mới.
LEAVING 15 YEARS AS A CIVIL ENGINEER TO CREATE AN U MINH FOREST HONEY BRAND
After more than 15 years as a civil engineer for a large company, he once returned to his hometown and followed relatives into the forest to set up poles for wild bees. Understanding the trade and hearing local people’s thoughts and concerns, the engineer suddenly felt a burning desire: How could he bring his hometown’s pure U Minh forest honey directly to consumers?
A Turn Toward Home!
The engineer is Nguyễn Kiên Giang (39, currently living in An Bình Ward, Ninh Kiều District, Cần Thơ). Giang said he was born and raised in U Minh Hạ, Cà Mau, with its vast melaleuca forests and year-round fragrance. As children, he and the neighborhood youngsters already knew how to bundle straw and melaleuca bark, light it, and use the smoke to collect honey to eat. Whole honeycombs were a snack for poor rural children like him, who lacked food and clothing. Those memories and that sweetness are things he will never forget.
About two years ago, on a visit home, his former neighborhood friends, now wild-bee rafter beekeepers, took him into the forest to experience setting bee rafters and collecting honey. Old memories came flooding back as he reveled in the cool shade and fragrance of the melaleuca forest… Then his friends told him how profiteers fed bees sugar or mixed sugar into harvested honey, making consumers suspicious of his hometown's U Minh forest honey. This caused great hardship for U Minh's rafter beekeepers, sometimes leaving their honey unsold.
Mr. Nguyễn Kiên Giang during days spent deep in the melaleuca forest learning about wild bees. Photo: HỒNG CẨM
After hearing those reflections, Mr. Giang kept pondering throughout his return to Cần Thơ: how could he help the rafter beekeepers in his hometown protect the U Minh forest honey brand? How could he bring genuine, high-quality forest honey from his hometown directly to consumers nationwide?
One day, he posted on Facebook about U Minh forest honey, and many friends asked him to buy some for them because they knew he was originally from U Minh. First one person, then two, three, and 10, 20... People eventually felt awkward repeatedly asking him to buy it, so they suggested that, since he had relatives back home, he bring honey to Cần Thơ to sell so everyone could buy pure forest honey.
People’s suggestions made him think harder and lie awake at night. By chance, a friend invited him to an entrepreneurship class. After that class, a new and promising direction opened up: starting a business with U Minh wild honey.
“When I decided to leave construction and start a wild-honey business, my friends and relatives were astonished; one even called me crazy. After more than 4 years at university and 15 years as an engineer, I was abandoning everything to begin again—and not for some prestigious pursuit, but to watch bee nests and sell honey. I simply smiled and felt completely confident in my new direction. Step by step, I began building a business around the wild bees of my hometown,” Giang confided.
Building the U Minh forest honey brand
Putting his idea into action, in late 2016 he returned home to connect with specialist forest rafter beekeepers who loved bees as much as their own lives, ensuring the highest-quality forest honey supply.
In the beginning, he went into the forest with traditional rafter beekeepers, setting rafters and collecting honey. He studied wild bees, how they nest and produce honey, the cajuput flowering season, which flowering stages suit harvesting and which seasons yield the best quality. After working alongside the forest beekeepers, he came to love the forest and bees, value every cajuput blossom and drop of honey, and develop a real passion for rafter beekeeping and honey.
Mr. Giang beside his OginBee U Minh forest honey product. Photo: HỒNG CẨM
In mid-2017, after connecting with families who had practiced traditional rafter beekeeping in U Minh forest for generations—people who loved the forest and cherished each drop of honey and each bee like their own lives—Giang secured a source of pure U Minh forest honey for consumers. To fulfill the other half of his dream: delivering that honey directly into consumers' hands.
According to the figures, U Minh forest has a total area of around 44,000ha, including U Minh Hạ (in Cà Mau Province) and U Minh Thượng (in Kiên Giang Province), with estimated total annual output of 1,000 tonnes/year. U Minh Hạ alone covers around 30,000ha (producing around 700 tonnes/year). However, honey harvested through traditional rafter beekeeping reaches only 500-600 tonnes/year (equivalent to 400.00 liters/year).
In 1.2018, OginBee Wild Honey Trading and Services Co., Ltd. was officially established. To reassure consumers further, in 3.2018 he applied to the Agro-Forestry-Fisheries Quality Assurance Sub-Department for confirmation of food safety and a food-safety eligibility certificate. After inspecting and testing the product, on 20.3.2018 the agency certified his OginBee wild honey operation as an ‘Establishment meeting food safety requirements.’
Mr. Hoàng, a forest beekeeper who connects Mr. Giang with suppliers of pure forest honey, shared: “Recently, honey in general and the U Minh forest honey brand in particular have lost much credibility because of profit-seekers. We are very sad and worried, because 9 out of 10 people we meet say ‘all honey these days is fake!’ That is why, on meeting Giang again—a son of U Minh who is dedicated to forest beekeeping, loves the craft and, like us, sees bees as his life—we feel reassured and trust that through him our U Minh forest honey brand will gradually regain its reputation.”
Mr. Giang's OginBee U Minh forest honey is neither heated nor industrially processed and contains no preservatives or mixtures. It is harvested directly from the U Minh melaleuca forest. Natural and pure, it retains nutrients, vitamins and minerals, helping users improve immunity and health, eat well, sleep deeply and enhance beauty.
Giang’s OginBee-branded U Minh forest honey has gradually gained consumers’ trust. His customers are now found not only in Cần Thơ but nationwide. His upcoming plan is to connect with clean food stores, specialty shops and pharmacies to provide more channels for OginBee U Minh forest honey to reach consumers.
Original article link: https://baomoi.com/bo-15-nam-lam-ki-su-xay-dung-tao-thuong-hieu-mat-ong-rung-u-minh/c/25795361.epi
