Woman entrepreneur brings quality medical solutions to Viet Nam
On average, patients suffering from severe injuries need four to five caretakers to reduce pain and aid their rehabilitation. This lesson stuck with Nguyen Thi Thanh Truc, after working as an assistant at a medical equipment trading house.
This need, however, is far from being met in Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam, where many patients lack access to proper healthcare and resources essential to their speedy recovery.
Recognizing this, Ms. Nguyen founded her own company, Viet Care Solution, in 2011 to bring better quality medical supplies to the country.
Success wasn’t straightforward. She quickly learned that distributing medical equipment in Viet Nam required extensive medical expertise as well as training and advisory services so clients can use these supplies effectively. Beyond that, she also needed substantial funding to launch new products into the market.
Ms. Nguyen’s search for business financing landed her to an ‘access to finance’ bootcamp which was implemented by the ITC SheTrades Initiative and the UPS Women Exporters Programme in Viet Nam.
During the bootcamp, she learned to apply business management principles to the healthcare sector and received one-on-one coaching to refine her business’s unique value proposition and pitch deck. Over two days of rigorous practice with ITC SheTrades experts and partners, potential financiers, and fellow women entrepreneurs at the bootcamp, Ms. Nguyen managed to crystallize a pitch to impress.
Her hard work paid off in a matter of two days, when the Vietnam Prosperity Joint-Stock Commercial Bank (VP Bank) offered a VND 600 million (about $24,350) loan to back her new business venture. Ms. Nguyen was granted a non-collateral loan which afforded her a 55-day grace repayment period; this helped her stave off potential cash flow problems and paved the way for her business expansion.
Since landing the loan from VP Bank, Ms. Nguyen’s business has grown year-on-year.
Today, Viet Care Solutions has reached over 1,000 Vietnamese in Ho Chi Minh City. The company not only supplies to Vietnamese clinics and hospitals, but its products have also made it to healthcare facilities in neighbouring Cambodia.
For Ms. Nguyen, when it comes to healthcare, one must never be content with the status quo.
The entrepreneur wants to continue bringing the latest and best technologies to her Viet Nam—and recruit more youths, especially young women, into her legion of changemakers.
‘No matter how difficult the obstacles I face, the passion I have for my work always takes me to the finish line. It is only onwards and upwards from here,’ says Ms. Nguyen.
