Part 2: HAGIMEX - Constantly rising

      HAGIMEX started out as a local branch of a state-owned company that catered to the Russian market. The name is the acronym of "Handicraft agricultural general production import and export company". "But in 2008, the general corporation experienced a few internal shuffles, and we decided to part ways," said Tien Anh, then the branch director.

      Ha Nam at the time was already a major agricultural area, but the trade was fragmented. Small holders sold their products to small traders, who collected the little lots for sale to processors in the and HAGIMEX gathered their produce for export.

      In the first few years, standing last in the line of the local supply chain meant they had to deal with all the problems occurring even before the products reached them. Multiple smaller manufacturers hardly followed a consistent process; the pickles were never uniform. Food safety was another headache. The tiniest spices added to the cans contaminated them. "There was no way we could control it," Tien Anh recalled. "We had to deal with streams of complaints from our clients on the quality." That prompted the HAGIMEX team to expand its operation arm, building a processing plant themselves where they could keep an eye on everything. And it took them three years to muster all the resources needed to complete a factory in 2011, which covers more than a hectare of land in Ha Nam's Bien Hoa Industrial Zone. "It was a relief," Tien Anh said. From then on, they were able to customize to meet the market's needs. "Whatever clients ask, we can provide.

      In 2017 and 2018, the company invested big to upgrade the plant, building a closed automatic production process. To establish trust in the quality and safety of the products, it got the salt cucumbers certified by prestigious global food safety certifications like BRC and IFS. "Once customers saw what they liked, they approached us for partnerships," Tien Anh said. HAGIMEX now fulfills orders from 40 countries around the world.

      Although the growth looked like a straight line, to the director "it was actually constant fights and struggles." There were crop failures, all fruits HAGIMEX processes were weather-sensitive shortages, or lagging deals that took years - that led to supply to finalise. What has kept the company going so far, according to Tien Anh, is the business ecosystem it has been part of. "It is the staff and farmers who stuck with us through thick and thin, when we transitioned from a state-owned business to a producer who plays in the upmarket water," he explained. "The management team ourselves have got help from the outside, too." The most recent boost came from the EFD program, which HAGIMEX joined in 2019.

Excerpted from “EFD Project- Stories of Change” written by Phuong Nhung