A woman selling vegetables at Van Thanh market said she escaped “difficult trouble” thanks to a loan of 100 million VND

The story of escaping poverty from a roadside vegetable stall

In the middle of the hot afternoon sun, we stopped by Ms. Nguyen Thi Tinh’s vegetable stall in Van Thanh market (Binh Thanh district, Ho Chi Minh City), one of the households with access to preferential loans to escape poverty.

While selling, Ms. Tinh told about her family’s hardships.

20 years ago, she and her husband (from Ha Nam) settled in the Van Thanh market area with enough jobs to make a living. Just after welcoming their second child, she and her husband also broke up.

Emotionally depressed, with little money to collect, she made a living selling vegetables on the sidewalk, near Van Thanh market. She herself suffers from chronic kidney disease, and her unstable income from selling vegetables leaves her family short in the future.

Luckily, at the end of 2023, Ms. Tinh received support from the ward government, arranging a small vegetable stall at Van Thanh market.

At the same time, the Ward Poverty Reduction Committee introduced and supported her to access a loan from the Bank for Social Policies (Social Policy), with an amount of 100 million VND.

Ms. Tinh shared: “When I received the loan, at first I was very confused, suddenly I had a large amount of money in hand. But then I thought this was an opportunity for me to rise up in life. After that, I calculated and used some money to repair the house I was renting so that my mother and I could live in a more decent place. Especially the vegetable stall, the main source of livelihood, I invested in expanding the products to make them more diverse.

In addition, I also spent a small amount of capital for my eldest daughter to open a milk tea shop. Thanks to that, after 3-4 months, mother and child diligently worked and saved, life gradually became stable, there was no longer the needy situation like before.

Currently, according to her, the family earns 10-15 million VND each month from vegetable stalls and milk tea shops. Thanks to her stable income, her eldest daughter can safely study in her final year at Van Hien University, and her second daughter is in 12th grade.

Ms. Tinh also said that although the loan contract is for 10 years, with her current income, she will try to repay the debt in 5 years, not to prolong it.

“I also asked the ward to move out of poor households, to make room for other unlucky people,” Ms. Tinh expressed.

Like Ms. Tinh, Mr. Nguyen Hoang Hai’s family (48 years old, residing in An Lac A ward, Tan Binh district) escaped poverty thanks to policy loans from Resolution 98.

According to Mr. Hai, when he got married, he and his wife opened a small shop selling auto parts at home. With little capital and lack of raw materials, we had to do patchwork business, with shortfalls in the past, and with the addition of raising two children for school, family life became even more precarious.

“Many times I have considered borrowing capital to expand my business, but my family is poor and cannot borrow from banks because of high interest rates, so life is unstable and poverty continues to haunt my family,” Mr. Hai confided.

Fortunately, the opportunity came to his family when at the end of 2023, Mr. Hai was supported by the ward government and introduced a loan of VND 100 million from the Social Policy Bank.

From that loan, his family expanded the business and bought many goods, so business became better and better.

According to his calculations, each month, the couple’s income is about 20 million VND, minus all expenses, they also save 12 million/month.

“If it weren’t for the city’s preferential loans, perhaps poverty would stick with my family forever. Currently, the family not only escapes poverty, but also has money for their first daughter, who is studying at university, and their second son, who is in 12th grade. Perhaps saying thank you is not enough, just try to work hard. Just to not disappoint the help from society and the government,” Mr. Hai confided.

39 thousand poor households received loans

Exchange with PV VietNamNetMs. Thu Huong, officer in charge of poverty reduction (ward 25, Binh Thanh district), said that when she had access to loans, Ms. Tinh gradually stabilized her life.

“Ms. Tinh intends to leave the poor household, which is something worthy of respect. But we advise her not to do so, because her family has just stabilized and is still within the poverty line. With two more children still studying, the life ahead is still unpredictable,” Ms. Huong said.

According to Ms. Huong, Ward 25 also supported 126 poor households in the ward with loans from the poverty reduction support program amounting to more than 2.5 billion VND.

Ms. Huong assessed that accessing loans according to Resolution 98 is very practical and suitable for the abilities of poor households. Because the loan interest is only 5.5%/year, lasting for 10 years. Each month, the interest payment is only about 500,000 VND, the minimum principal payment is 100,000 VND, the maximum is 2 million/month, depending on the borrower.

“Most of the ward’s 126 households that borrowed money are doing business effectively, every household has accumulated 1-2 million/month to repay debt, showing that their future in escaping poverty is very good,” Ms. Huong acknowledged.

According to the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, previously, this additional capital was not clearly determined from investment capital or career capital sources. Therefore, Ho Chi Minh City is “stuck” in capital and cannot supplement loans for the poor.

But when Resolution 98 is passed by the National Assembly (August 1, 2023), the city can use public investment capital to lend to the poor. This has relieved Ho Chi Minh City’s “thirst” for social policy capital.

Therefore, as soon as the resolution passed “full month”, the city arranged public investment capital for the 2023 Poverty Reduction Program of VND 2,796 billion.

By the end of January 2024, Social Policy Bank had disbursed 100% (2,796 billion/2,796 billion VND) to nearly 39 thousand customers who are members of poor households, near-poor households, households just escaping poverty and workers.

In 2024, the city will allocate another 998 billion VND. By mid-April, 445 billion VND had been disbursed (reaching 44.6%), striving to complete 100% of the plan in the second quarter.

Ho Chi Minh City Chairman Phan Van Mai said that as soon as Resolution 98 was passed, the first content to be implemented was to allocate public investment capital for a sustainable poverty reduction program.

“I think this is very meaningful, bringing direct and practical benefits to people, especially the poor in the city. Resolution 98 therefore comes into life the fastest with the people” – Mr. Phan Van Mai expressed.

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