So ‘turning farmers into entrepreneurs’ is important work.
The 95-5 figure easily makes us think of “injustice.” And that is a new form of “colonialism.” But no: through contact, observation, and accompaniment, I realized that we reap what we sow. When we are slow and stagnant, we lose our advantage. “Blame yourself before blaming others.”
That is why I value highly practical programs such as Nescafé Plan, which I shared in a previous article, and volunteer to “spread the word” so we can learn together. They have created and continue creating measurable results that many NGOs, NPOs, and social enterprises may not achieve as well, for many resource-related reasons!
This shows how clever those ‘dying capitalists’ really are. There are still corporations that follow ‘Business ethics’ principles. Nestlé and Nescafé have introduced programs that go beyond CSR to CSV (Creating Shared Values). They show that if a large corporation with enormous resources cares about win-win values, shared values among the many groups participating in its business model, and synergistic benefits—‘If I succeed, I do not want you struggling below me; I commit to reinvesting resources so you can flourish too, because I am also thinking of myself: I will secure quality supply and my distribution system, all for consumers’ benefit’—then such corporations can create enormous social impact.
During my recent journey to Buôn Ma Thuột, I had the opportunity to visit “farmer entrepreneur” Nguyễn Chí Thanh in Village 13, Ea Ktur Commune, Cư Kuin District, Đắc Lắc Province. He had participated in and received support from the Nescafé Plan for 4 years. Unfortunately, I have no photo with him. He now interplants coffee with pepper, following the program experts' guidance and training, increasing yields while saving considerable water and costs. This has produced “enviable” results: after a modest initial investment, each hectare now brings him an average of 500 million a year, with total costs no higher than 100 million. He has 3 hectares like that and shakes his head at every purchase offer. I calculated: a farmer earning an 80% net profit margin—that is huge! I can only hope that my students following the SME path (which can generate immediate cash flow and profit, unlike startups, which focus more on company value) can achieve such efficiency (depending on the industry, of course). It tempted me too! (But I will focus on my own path first.)
Of course, things do not become favorable immediately; do not imagine that everything is easy. But I did manage to get Mr. Thanh's phone number so that, in the future, any of my students in the Central Highlands who want to learn from the model—learning for real and doing for real—will have somewhere to turn! :- )
