Starting from nothing and once forced to leave school because his family was too poor, Nguyễn Bách Trường rose to become the owner of a business employing over 100 people, with revenue of 3 billion/year.
Dropping out because of poverty
Nguyễn Bách Trường (born in 1987), from Hoài Đức (Hanoi), owns Trường Thịnh, the district’s largest giang-bamboo toothpick production facility, with sales of nearly 40 tons per year.
Born and raised in a poor family, he had to take 1 semester off in grade 8 to make candles and earn money to help his parents. After completing upper secondary school, Trường decided to enlist, continue learning on his own, and nurture his future business ambitions.
Discharged from the military in 2008, Nguyễn Bách Trường returned home and followed his family's traditional toothpick-making trade. He sought his own path, putting trustworthiness first: “Toothpicks clean our teeth, so why shouldn't there be clean, nontoxic toothpicks?”
Mr. Nguyễn Bách Trường
After marrying, Trường and his wife sold the several hundred kilograms of toothpicks his mother gave them for VND 5 million to start their business. It was not much capital, but Trường has always been grateful to his mother: “People say it is better to give a fishing rod for a livelihood than a fish.”
From Self-Taught Online Knowledge About Markets and Competition in business, Trường applied it in practice. For the first two years, he produced and sold toothpicks directly to local stores. This was the hardest period, as sales remained poor without an established brand or reputation. He recalled, “Sometimes I traveled 10–20 km pitching products, only to be rejected. With no money, I dared not eat when hungry or drink when thirsty.”
‘Some people turned me down as many as three times, but I did not lose heart. I believed that one day they would accept the product. There were also times when I traveled far but sold only 10 packets of toothpicks, which were worth very little. Many times I became discouraged and thought about giving up to work for someone else, but then I kept persevering. I remember how happy my wife and I were when we received our first order for 200 packets of toothpicks. That also motivated me to try harder,’ Trường confided.
During his first 2 years in business, Bách Trường faced mounting difficulties: no capital, poor facilities, limited equipment, and little management experience. To stay in the trade, Trường and his wife sometimes bought a sugarcane juicer to earn extra income.
From selling toothpicks on the street to earning hundreds of millions a month
From a young man peddling toothpicks along the streets, Bách Trường has become the owner of a well-known bamboo-toothpick workshop generating 3 billion in annual revenue.
He succeeded with the idea of creating VIP toothpicks from giang bamboo instead of ordinary bamboo. Trường's giang toothpicks have round, polished shafts and smooth tips. Bách Trường shared: “Giang bamboo is flexible, tough, and fragrant, so it costs more.”
The owner, born in the 1980s, took a year to introduce giang bamboo toothpicks to the Vietnamese market. His production facility now creates jobs primarily for women and children in the area. Bách Trường buys giang bamboo and distributes it to households to strip into strands by hand. The strands are then sent to the workshop for quality selection, trimming, drying and packaging.
One of the most important processes in making toothpicks is drying. He explained: “Giang bamboo is a fresh raw material, so it must be dried using gas for 10 minutes. If the drying technique meets standards, the toothpicks will keep for 6 months–1 year; otherwise, they quickly spoil and grow mold. Giang bamboo toothpicks are not bleached with sulfur, retaining their green color and fragrance to provide a safe product with the best practical value.”
Alongside toothpick quality, Trường focuses on designing the appearance of this seemingly tiny, simple product. Trường Thịnh toothpicks are divided into 7 types, notably wedding toothpicks and blister-packed toothpicks. The wedding toothpicks have striking red-and-yellow packaging. The 8X-generation owner believes: “As living standards rise, consumers want products that are not only good but also beautiful.”
Trường’s toothpicks currently sell for around 1000 per pack and 6000 per box. He provides jobs for 10 workers at the workshop and 100 people working from home in Cát Quế, Hoài Đức District. The workshop is now spacious and well equipped. “At first, I bought a box-stamping machine for 2 million, but now the workshop’s machinery is worth nearly VND 2 billion,” Trường shared.
Each month, the Trường Thịnh production facility sells around 3 tons of toothpicks, generating revenue of 3 billion dong a year for him.
The owner, born in the 1980s, hopes to bring his products to southern Vietnam and export to neighboring countries such as Laos, Cambodia and Thailand…
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