avatarThuận Sarzynski

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1990

Abstract

ovative and unique. We are pioneer and no one can imitate us. Fargreen ways of producing food is attractive for Japanese people. I am 100% sure that Fargreen would have a huge success on the Japanese market. Their business model is attractive because it is sustainable. It does not only think about money and sales but also about the environment and ecosystem. Fargreen is a step ahead of developed countries, it doesn’t care only for profit but also for impact. To be honest, I didn’t trust this kind of topic when I was in Japan. I thought it was only about pretending to be gentle and nice to make profit. But I was wrong, Fargreen concept is really what we need for a sustainable food production in the future. Our partners and customers agreed with that and joined the movement.</p><h2 id="dc92">What did you do during your 9 months at Fargreen?</h2><p id="737f">In Fargreen, I was the commercial director. I held and operated event to promote mushrooms produced by Fargreen. I created and maintained good relationship with partners. I calculated profit and cost. I created two new partnerships. Fargreen’s mushrooms are very good, not only the fresh, but also the dried ones. However, not many people in Vietnam know about the dried products. It is really a pity. So I thought it would be great if I could create something with dried mushrooms so that people could understand how tasty they were. I cooked a kind of mushroom chicken soup, which we call “Mỹ nhân soup” (“Beauty soup”) at Ecopark weekend market to advertise our products. People tried the soup, they called their friends and families to come and try, and then they bought a lot of mushrooms. I also designed packaging for our new products like honey, honeycomb, mixed dried mushroom, and gift-set for Tet market at our hotel partner, the Metropole Hanoi. You can see, this is my design!</p><figure id="73f0"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/0*jkFAvAjHpOPl8iTr"><figcaption>Ryota and his h

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oney (left), me (right) © Thuan Sarzynski</figcaption></figure><h2 id="f3de">What is you best memory from your time working with Fargreen?</h2><p id="77ce">Having lunch with farmers. Sharing tea and smoking this kind of<a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=thuoc+lao&amp;source=lnms&amp;tbm=isch&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=0ahUKEwjuluejs5PhAhXKFIgKHTZODb8Q_AUIDigB&amp;biw=1366&amp;bih=651"> huge bamboo tube pipe</a>. It is a priceless experience because no one can buy it.</p><p id="a02b">Ryota left Fargreen and Vietnam. For sure, he got an amazing experience and had a lot of fun. There are so many meaningful activities one can do to feel living! Growing mushroom is one of them.</p><div id="0026" class="link-block"> <a href="https://readmedium.com/a-vietnamese-social-business-model-against-climate-change-4c3d23d7da2e"> <div> <div> <h2>A Vietnamese Social Business Model Against Climate Change</h2> <div><h3>After the harvest season, Vietnamese farmers usually burn the remaining rice straw considered as a waste with no value…</h3></div> <div><p>medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/1*6VRElcxjbZjfanyK-0NBpg.png)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div><div id="277b" class="link-block"> <a href="https://readmedium.com/mushrooms-vegetables-and-bees-bb8297f7670c"> <div> <div> <h2>Mushrooms, Vegetables and Bees</h2> <div><h3>Because they grow well altogether</h3></div> <div><p>medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/1*chA4QkmwW7TBHZjIXv5EpQ.jpeg)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div></article></body>

A crazy Japanese and his mushrooms

Ryota is a crazy Japanese guy who came to volunteer in Vietnam and grow mushrooms. Curious about his motivation, I interviewed him. Here are his answers. (I edited a bit to improve readability).

Ryota and his mushrooms © Thuan Sarzynski

What was your motivation to come to Vietnam?

The work in Japan can be pretty boring as everybody must follow the boss without discussion. I am a bit crazy, I never follow common sense, so I joined the Corporate volunteering program proposed by my company.

As for the country, I had many choices. First, I wanted to go to volunteer for a company in the US. But my advisor at Cross Fields [the organization which sends Japanese employees to social enterprises across Asia] recommended me to go to emerging countries. I wanted to try something new and go into marketing to learn how to communicate with customers and set prices. Since my graduation, seven years ago, I have been working for the same company since I graduated and I have never changed my job. My company has a good domestic market in Japan and it wants to expand worldwide especially in Asia Pacific. I decided to join the Cross Fields program to be a pioneer and go abroad. I want to do business around the world and open new markets. Then I chose the industry, here again, there was many possibilities: agriculture, logistics, sport, trading… I chose agriculture as I had experience to work with food as a chef when I was a student. Then depending on their partners, Cross Fields chose a company. And that’s how I got an interview with Ms.Trang, Fargreen CEO.

What do you like about Fargreen?

Fargreen is innovative and unique. We are pioneer and no one can imitate us. Fargreen ways of producing food is attractive for Japanese people. I am 100% sure that Fargreen would have a huge success on the Japanese market. Their business model is attractive because it is sustainable. It does not only think about money and sales but also about the environment and ecosystem. Fargreen is a step ahead of developed countries, it doesn’t care only for profit but also for impact. To be honest, I didn’t trust this kind of topic when I was in Japan. I thought it was only about pretending to be gentle and nice to make profit. But I was wrong, Fargreen concept is really what we need for a sustainable food production in the future. Our partners and customers agreed with that and joined the movement.

What did you do during your 9 months at Fargreen?

In Fargreen, I was the commercial director. I held and operated event to promote mushrooms produced by Fargreen. I created and maintained good relationship with partners. I calculated profit and cost. I created two new partnerships. Fargreen’s mushrooms are very good, not only the fresh, but also the dried ones. However, not many people in Vietnam know about the dried products. It is really a pity. So I thought it would be great if I could create something with dried mushrooms so that people could understand how tasty they were. I cooked a kind of mushroom chicken soup, which we call “Mỹ nhân soup” (“Beauty soup”) at Ecopark weekend market to advertise our products. People tried the soup, they called their friends and families to come and try, and then they bought a lot of mushrooms. I also designed packaging for our new products like honey, honeycomb, mixed dried mushroom, and gift-set for Tet market at our hotel partner, the Metropole Hanoi. You can see, this is my design!

Ryota and his honey (left), me (right) © Thuan Sarzynski

What is you best memory from your time working with Fargreen?

Having lunch with farmers. Sharing tea and smoking this kind of huge bamboo tube pipe. It is a priceless experience because no one can buy it.

Ryota left Fargreen and Vietnam. For sure, he got an amazing experience and had a lot of fun. There are so many meaningful activities one can do to feel living! Growing mushroom is one of them.

Agriculture
Environment
Volunteering
Vietnam
Organic
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