Policy credit provides fulcrum to elevate ambitions

Mua A Chanh, a 28-year-old homestay owner from the H’Mong ethnic group living in Moc Chau district, said that his family had taken part in a training course by GREAT – a project that promotes gender equality in Son La funded by the Australian government.

The training course taught residents how to operate homestay-based travel services.

Recognising that the local area is a scenic place with an imposing landscape, the family decided to take part in community tourism development in a bid to improve their lives.

Mua A Chanh, son of the owner Mua A Nha, welcomes visitors to their homestay

Chanh said, "The first and greatest challenge when turning to turn the idea into reality was where to source the required money. Along with support from relatives and friends, we were lucky to be able to access the lending scheme that supports job creation from the VSBP, which inspired us to forge ahead."

His father, Mua A Nha, took the first loan from VBSP’s Son La Branch back in 2020. Usually, such loans have an interest rate of 7.92 per cent per year. However, as the loans were given to people from ethnic minority groups, the interest rate was halved to just 3.96 per cent annually.

Nha shared that the rental for a small flat is about $17.30 a day, and larger ones fetch around $26 per day. A place in a community house costs roughly $6.50 a day.

Chanh added, “We had very few customers during the pandemic, but the numbers kept increasingly steadily, providing an additional source of income for our family to supplement our farming.”

In another case, 40-year-old Me Van Hop, a resident in Quynh Nhai district, has also established an increasingly stable lifestyle through VBSP’s lending scheme.

A staff member from VBSP’s Son La branch visiting Me Van Hop's (left) fish cage on the Son La Hydro Power Plant reservoir

With permission from the local government, Hop’s family injected capital into four fish cages on the Son La Hydro Power Plant reservoir, initially using their own capital.

As his business developed, in 2018, Hop took a bold step by taking a loan of nearly $2,200 from VBSP’s lending scheme to construct eight more fish cages.

“I earn over $3,200 in profit a year after deducting all the relevant expenses. More importantly, with a soft interest payment of just $13 a month, I don’t have any concerns over the loan. It allows me to focus on developing my business,” said Hop.

According to Hoang Xuan Truong, director of VBSP’s Son La Branch, it lent out more than $2 million in the first half of this year, of which about $911,000 has been paid off.

Hoang Xuan Truong, director of VBSP’s Son La Branch

By June 30, the total outstanding balance reached $8.36 million, up $1.1 million compared to the end of last year.

In the first 6 months of this year, VBSP’s Son La branch has lent to 820 customers, creating jobs for the same number of labourers.

By June 30, more than 3,950 local households had existing loans at VBSP’s Son La Branch, averaging $2,100 each.

$6.65 million has been put into fruit orchards, $1.05 million was invested in raising cattle and poultry, and nearly $293,400 was used to procure production equipment and other services.

The funding has contributed to bettering local people’s living conditions and ensured social wellbeing.

Truong stated, “Our branch’s lending scheme has helped more than 1,000 local labourers create stable jobs with an increased income. Policy credit also has a positive impact on the use of seasonal workers, helping to improve their ways of subsistence.”

Currently, of the 132 households in Ta So 1 hamlet, six have begun offering homestay services.

“I hope more local households offering community travel become eligible to take loans fromVBSP to enable them to diversify their offerings to visitors. It would really help to propel the local economy,” concluded Chanh.

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