BUSINESS MODEL INNOVATION

NANOSALT_ROUND 2 _VIDEO PITCHING

A. Social business idea

A1. Social mantra

SOCIAL MANTRA

“Providing natural – safety – healthy salt solutions, and creating sustainable livelihoods for salt farmers”

A2. Product presentation

From 30,000 tons of brines – a byproduct of salt production – the project “NanoSalt – Vietnam Health Salt” has utilized proprietary multi-stage separation technology to create four groups of salt products, including:

Nutritional, mineral-rich salt products
Medicinal salt products
Beauty salt products
Medical salt products

Additionally, NanoSalt products adhere to the principles of “3 No’s” and “2 Yes’s”, specifically:

Principle of “3 No’s”:

No monosodium glutamate (MSG).
No artificial coloring.
No preservatives.

Principle of “2 Yes’s”:

Reduce harmful components in salt.
Add beneficial minerals such as magnesium and potassium.

We develop our products based on the principle of “Convenient – Practical” with the aim that 98 million Vietnamese people will use low-sodium nutritional salt with less than 50% sodium content, providing over 60 essential trace minerals for the body, and supporting public health with specialized medicinal salt lines.

“Healthy from the inside – Beautiful from the outside” is what NanoSalt wants to bring to Vietnamese and global consumers.

A2.1. Segment 1: The NanoSalt Nutritional Low-Sodium Salt Ecosystem

Functionality:

Low-Sodium Salt Production: NanoSalt employs technology that extracts trace minerals from seawater, significantly reducing sodium content to below 50%. This salt is then enriched with beneficial minerals such as magnesium, potassium, calcium, and over 60 other trace minerals.

Health Benefits: By reducing sodium intake and supplementing with essential minerals, this product helps in maintaining cardiovascular health and overall well-being.

Usability:

The low-sodium salt can be used in everyday cooking, providing a healthier alternative to regular salt without compromising on taste.

NanoSalt has developed eight different product lines from this main product, catering to a variety of culinary and health needs, making it easy for consumers to integrate healthier salt options into their daily lives.

Meeting Customer Needs:

Health-Conscious Consumers: This product is ideal for those looking to reduce their sodium intake and improve their cardiovascular health.

Global Needs: By providing a product that is not only delicious and clean but also health-protective, NanoSalt meets the growing global demand for healthier food options.

A2.2. Segment 2 & 3: The NanoSalt Medicinal and Beauty Salt Ecosystem

Functionality:

Magnesium Sulfate Salt and Potassium Chloride Salt: These salts are produced using NanoSalt’s separation technology and are known for their detoxifying properties.

Health and Beauty Benefits: These salts help detoxify the body by expelling toxins through the pores and improving blood circulation. They also facilitate the absorption of iodine and other minerals from seawater, enhancing metabolism.

Usability:

Health Care Products: NanoSalt has developed specialized product lines for health care, targeting groups like mothers, babies, and the elderly.

Beauty Products: Epsom salt, a form of magnesium sulfate, is widely used in spas for its premium quality and effectiveness in beauty treatments.

Meeting Customer Needs:

Health Enthusiasts: These products are perfect for those looking to detoxify their bodies and improve their overall health.

Beauty and Spa Clients: The premium quality of Epsom salt makes it a favored ingredient in spa treatments, appealing to consumers seeking high-quality beauty products.

A2.3. Segment 4: The Medical Salt Ecosystem

Functionality:

Raw Material Provision: NanoSalt provides natural sea mineral-based raw materials for pharmaceutical companies to produce treatment drugs.

Medical Applications: Products include physiological saline, deep-sea water, and deep-sea mineral water, all aimed at boosting immunity and overall health.

Usability:

Pharmaceutical Integration: These raw materials are essential for the production of various medical products, ensuring that pharmaceutical companies have access to high-quality, natural ingredients.

Health Maintenance: Products like physiological saline and mineral water are crucial for maintaining hydration, electrolyte balance, and overall immune health.

Meeting Customer Needs:

Pharmaceutical Industry: By supplying high-quality, natural raw materials, NanoSalt supports the development of effective and safe medical products.

Health-Conscious Consumers: Products derived from these raw materials, such as mineral water, appeal to consumers looking to enhance their immunity and overall health.

Medical Practitioners: These products are essential tools for healthcare providers, ensuring they can offer effective treatments and preventive care to their patients.

Beside, Nanosalt has used high technology to produce salts (pure salt, clean sea salt, Epsom salt) to serve industry (pulp, paper and dye production, garment industry, industrial production). leather shoe production, petroleum, aluminum, steel, copper production), agricultural industry (cattle breeding, fertilizer, …), food processing industry, ….

B. Business model

B1. Business model overview

B2. Economic value for customers

With a diverse product portfolio, we serve individual and business customers.

B2.1. With Individual Customers:

B2.1.1. Economic value proposition:

NanoSalt’s economic value is to protect your health with sodium-reduced salt products, keeping the same salinity at a cheaper price.

Currently, NanoSalt is aiming to protect the health of 99.5 million Vietnamese people (data updated on June 11, 2024 from the UN). Especially people with cardiovascular disease and high blood pressure (according to statistics from the Department of Preventive Medicine, Ministry of Health, currently in our country, one out of every five adults has high blood pressure, one out of every three One case of death was due to cardiovascular disease).

At the same time, COVID-19 has helped people become more aware and concerned about protecting their health, and consumers’ diets are increasingly shifting their preferences toward lower sodium products and other changes. in consumer behavior and needs.

Therefore, NanoSalt has researched and provided consumers with a variety of sodium-reduced salt products, supplemented with other minerals such as Mg, Ka,… but does not change the traditional “salty taste”, suitable for consumers. People’s taste: dipping salt, cooking salt,…

In addition, we also have non-iodine salt products for people with hyperthyroidism and thyroid cancer who must follow an iodine diet.

B2.1.2. Customer Persona của NanoSalt:

Demographic:

+ Gender: Male/Female

+ Age: 45 – 65 I

+ Income: Above 5 million VND

+ Have a need to prevent diseases related to blood pressure and cardiovascular health.

+ Concentrated in major cities: Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City.

Psychographic:

+ Facing issues related to blood pressure and cardiovascular health.

+ Have knowledge about healthcare.

+ Fear high blood pressure and stroke.

Benefit Sought:

+ Searching for products with low-sodium clean salt, supplemented with beneficial minerals while maintaining a salty taste.

+ Looking for natural condiments that do not use artificial ingredients and are good for health.

+ Seeking natural healthcare solutions.

Behavioral:

+ Purchase both online and offline, or read reviews before using products.

+ Regularly read health-related news.

+ Search for health-protective products at clean food stores and natural nutrition stores.

+ Concerned about pricing.

+ Media usage behavior: Use social media platforms like Facebook, Zalo, and search through Google.

B2.1.3. Communication Strategy:

Currently, we reach customers through online communication channels: Facebook, Website; through television channels: VTV, Nghe An television station, reputable Vietnamese electronic newspapers: Express, Dan tri, … In addition, we are cooperating with 26 branches in Vietnam.

Besides, in order to increase the reach of NanoSalt’s products to B2C customers of the younger generation for awareness, our team has plans to collaborate with health-lifestyle-content creators. The KOL will post videos reviewing or using our products in their daily life and meals, with the affiliate link attached in all of their social media (TikTok and Instagram). The commitment will be the commission fee of 10% (first mover in the niche market of salt) per product sold. Our team suggestions are: Ngoc Khanh Day, Hana Giang Anh and Shin Pham.

NanoSalt is also planning to bring the product to the global market. The global reduced sodium ingredients market is expected to register a CAGR of 11.71% during the forecast period (2022 – 2027). Among them, mineral salt is the leading ingredient in the global sodium reduction market, accounting for a significant market share.

B2.2. With Business Customers:

B2.2.1. Economic value proposition:

Providing raw salt products that meet industrial standards, serving a variety of industries at reasonable prices.

NanoSalt provides salt raw material for the production industry.

Every year, Vietnam has to import 400,000 – 600,000 tons of salt to serve manufacturing industries, because domestic salt does not meet the standards and purity for production. NanoSalt has used high technology to produce salts (pure salt, clean sea salt, Epsom salt) to serve industry (pulp, paper and dye production, garment industry, industrial production). leather shoe production, petroleum, aluminum, steel, copper production), agricultural industry (cattle breeding, fertilizer, …), food processing industry, ….

Pure salt for internal use
Clean sea salt that meets export standards is supplied to companies and factories processing spices, food, foodstuffs… with the highest standards of salt.
100% natural Epsom salt from sea minerals serves the beauty and health care industry
Salt to coagulate tofu: Used as a color stabilizer, protein coagulant, and firming agent in food production and processing. (Like making sauces, instant jellies…) or used to adjust and stabilize pH and antioxidants. (Additives in food can be replaced to be safer)

B2.2.2. Why Can We Provide Quality Products With Reasonable Price:

NanoSalt can provide products to consumers at affordable prices, because NanoSalt currently does not have to pay corporate income tax.

According to Article 12 of Decree 13/2019/ND-CP, it is stipulated that science and technology enterprises are exempt from corporate income and according to Circular 74/2006/TT-BTC on tax exemption for organizations and individuals (referred to as is a business establishment) that catches seafood and produces unprocessed salt

Therefore, NanoSalt can optimize operating costs, thereby reducing product costs and improving competitiveness in the market.

B3. Target social impacts

B3.1. Provision Of Our Business:

Community Health Benefits:

+ Protecting the cardiovascular health of the population

+ Reducing the risk of diseases related to high blood pressure, diabetes

+ Improving nutrient absorption for future generations.

Employment Generation Effectiveness for Salt Farmers:

+ Generating over 1,000 new jobs, increasing income by 50% for the salt farmers in Quynh Luu and preserving 12 salt cooperative groups 80% of workforce are women

Broad Impact on Vietnam’s Salt Industry:

+ Vietnam can reduce dependence on salt imports and potentially become one of the major salt-exporting countries worldwide.

Improving Public Health:

+ The primary social impact of a less salty alternative like NanoSalt is the potential improvement in public health outcomes.

+ High sodium intake is the cause of hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, and other health issues.

+ WHO suggests that people should only consume 5 grams of salt everyday, but most of us take in much higher amounts of it.

+ By reducing 50% of sodium consumption without compromising taste along with adding more than 60 nutrients, such a product directly addresses the dietary risk factors contributing to these health conditions, thereby promoting better overall health in populations without changing any eating behaviors

Therefore, customers are more happy to use NanoSalt rather than change their eating habits

Enhancing livelihood of salt farmers: Poverty Alleviation:

+ Many salt farmers belong to marginalized and economically disadvantaged communities.

+ NanoSalt creates and enhances work for salt farmers, generates employment opportunities, improves incomes.

+ We have created over 1000 jobs and increases income of farmers by 50% in 12 salt cooperative in Quỳnh Lưu.

Sustainable Livelihoods:

+ The salt producing practices depend highly on the weather, so farmers have to toil and moil so as to earn a small amount of money. On top of that, they can lose everything if they have to face extreme weather.

+ By investing in the development of salt farming practices, NanoSalt can help promote sustainable livelihoods for farmers, making their working conditions much more comfortable.

+ NanoSalt also buys their products; hence, making their income sustainable.

Cultural Preservation:

+ In many regions, salt farming has a deep cultural heritage, and the farmers their have passed down these practices and knowledge for centuries.

+ By supporting and enhancing the works of salt farmers, the company can contribute to the preservation of traditional knowledge and practices, thereby safeguarding local cultural heritage.

Economic Development & Environmental Sustainability:

+ The production of sea salt can stimulate local and regional economies by creating jobs and income opportunities for farmers involved in the entire supply chain, from harvesting to marketing. This economic stimulation can lead to increased economic activity and improved standards of living for the communities involved

+ Innovative salt production methods that reduce environmental impacts can contribute to the sustainability of natural resources. By implementing eco-friendly practices, companies can mitigate the negative environmental effects of salt production, such as water pollution and land degradation. This sustainable approach ensures that natural resources are available for future generations

B3.2. Social value proposition: Protect public health, improve sustainable livelihood of salt farmers

B3.2.1. Strategy:

B3.2.1.1. For public health:

In the present, Product Development:

+ Variety of options: Offer a wide range of low-sodium salt products to meet various consumer needs and dietary conditions.

+ Quality Assurance: We will always produce products that meet the standard of ISO9001, always towards customer’s health and satisfaction. NanoSalt’s products are the only salt products to receive a scientific product award from the Vietnam Science Council.

Marketing and Education: Emphasize the benefits of low-sodium salt on:

+ Protect cardiovascular health: Reducing the risk of heart diseases and related complications.

+ Lower the incidence of high blood pressure and diabetes: By promoting the use of iodine-fortified salt, which is essential for maintaining healthy bodily functions.

+ Improve nutrient absorption for future generations: Ensuring that our children grow up healthier and more resilient.

In the future, Product Development:

+ Diversify products so as to meet market demand. Bigger business allows NanoSalt to ensure market consumption; hence, income of salt farmers is guaranteed.

B3.2.1.2. For socio-economic status of salt farmers:

We will implement exclusive technology to produce high nutritious salt and medicinal salt from a usually-to-be-wasted salt brine, hence creating more jobs and stable income for local salt farmers.

Supply and increase the average income of local residents at Quynh Luu Cooperative. In the past, the salt farmers individually produce and sell the low quality salt. However, with the help of NanoSalt, the residents are now can utilize the resources to make additional income, as well as selling in bulk the produces with higher price.

At the moment, NanoSalt is contracting with 02 cooperatives, with the vision to acquire all 12 salt maker cooperatives with 10.000 residents, then transfer the technology to other traditional salt cooperatives.

Moreover, the improvements in our salt industry are not just about health; they also have a profound economic impact, especially for our salt farmers. These enhancements have led to:

+ Job Creation: Over 1,000 new jobs have been generated, providing stable employment opportunities.

+ Income Increase: Salt farmers in Quynh Luu have seen their incomes rise by 50%, significantly improving their quality of life.

+ Preservation of Cooperative Groups: We have managed to preserve 12 salt cooperative groups, with 80% of the workforce being women, thereby promoting gender equality and empowering female workers.

Looking at the broader picture, the improvements in our salt industry have positioned us. Vietnam to achieve remarkable milestones on the global stage:

+ Becoming a Major Exporter: With continued advancements, Vietnam has the potential to become one of the leading salt-exporting countries worldwide, enhancing our economic standing and creating more opportunities for growth and development.

B4. Feasibility

B4.1. KEY ACTIVITIES:

Social activities complement profit-oriented activities: NanoSalt prioritize social impacts by both tackling the problems of traditional salt makers at Quynh Luu as resources utilization (acquiring salt brine into the process) as well as stable income, and listening to Vietnamese customers who seek for a more nutritious and purposeful salt. Their feedback helps NanoSalt to address obstacles related to the nutrition amount in salt along with the use for various functions (medicinal, healing, spa), hence exploiting more interesting aspects of salt. From time to time, their needs will be fulfilled, and they gradually become used to using nutritious salt even in their everyday life. This beneficiary input enables NanoSalt to research and develop more functions of salt, leading to a stable revenue stream.

B4.2. KEY PARTNERS:

Within each step in our value chain, we have key partner to support the key activities:

OUR KEY PARTNERS
	Activities	Level of Commitment
Quynh Luu’s Cooperative	Quynh Luu’s Cooperative of Salt Makers provides the stable and sustainable supply of salt and brine – the inputs to produce NanoSalt products.	In exchange, NanoSalt will buy the salt from the salt farmers periodically, creating a stable income for the salt farmers, improve the local economy, and contribute to preserving traditional villages
Gwangju Diakonia Corporation	The corporation will provide NanoSalt with manufacturing machine and facilities, as well as advising on the current technology of NanoSalt and production process	NanoSalt will upgrade the quality of products with the new requirements of Gwangyu
16 retailers and wholesalers around Vietnam	We join in agreement with more than 16 retailers around Vietnam to distribute, use and promote the NanoSalt products to the customers. We will provide specific bonuses for each level of the amount sold.	NanoSalt will provide high quality salt products to the retailers at bargains, offering discounts when buying in bulk. In exchange, the distributors will have to sell the products to reach a certain KPI.
FTU Innovation & Incubators Space	FIIS will provide NanoSalt with consulting and mentoring services, as well as increasing the human resources and wide spreading the project information to undergraduates	In exchange, NanoSalt will provide the the mentorship for FTU’s undergraduate to work and learn experience
UNDP	UNDP will provide NanoSalt with coaching services, especially spreading the project’s information through networks.	In exchange, NanoSalt will commit to participate fully in incubation programs organized by UNDP

B4.3. CAPITAL RESOURCES:

B4.3.1. Suitable Resources and Maintenance Strategies:

NanoSalt’s diverse and skilled team of professionals contributes expertise in product development, technology research, and exclusive manufacture patents, ensuring the company’s success. Our businesses’ priorities in human capital are creativity, critical thinking, open communication, mutual respect, and inclusivity, fostering a supportive environment for teamwork, knowledge sharing, and personal and professional growth.

Our strategy to maintain and improve working environment:

– Employees are empowered to take ownership of their projects and initiatives, encouraged experimentation, risk-taking, and learning from successes and failures. All of the marketing events (both online and offline such as: competitions, fundraising, multimedia platforms) are in charge of the members.

– NanoSalts invests in employee growth and knowledge: Recognizing the evolving learning landscape in technology and salts improvement innovation, our company also encourages mentorship and knowledge-sharing, facilitating the employees to directly witness and participate in the R&D and production process, fostering camaraderie and a user-centric approach to product development.

– Always prioritize learning and adaptation: As an innovative startup, we foster a high learning curve. We attend global manufacturing technological, as well as nutrition expert workshops hosted by big conglomerates, start-up discussion programs, numerous start-up competitions and bilateral relations enhancement programs. Since then, we learn and recognize the change in markets, and moreover forecast the trends so that we can adapt in such a continuously changing era.

B4.3.2. Social Capital:

NanoSalt’s social capitals comprise of:

– Bonding social gap: Quynh Luu Cooperative of Salt Makers, contracting with them for stable supply and creating long-term relationships with local residents.

– Linking social gap:

Conference: ASEAN and Hong Kong Transnational Trade and Investment Conference through Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)
Competition: SBC Competition, Nghe An Techfast Open Competition, Agriculture Startup Open Competition, Shark Tank

2024 marks the milestone for NanoSalt when it establishes the collaboration between NanoSalt and the universities’ community, as NanoSat is honored to attend the SIP100 Startup Incubation Program and SBC Competition at Foreign Trade University, when it can share the value of NanoSalt business and salt products to more younger generation.

NanoSalt’s strategy to expand the range of social capitals is to take part in social-oriented competitions, seeking for partnerships and prestigious proof for our social impacts. Thus, it’s easier for next-stage collaboration with more local authorities other than Quynh Luu, supporting us to expand our mission of increasing both salt quality and their makers’ life quality to other traditional salt maker areas and seeking for crowdfunding opportunities/investments.

B4.3.3. Intellectual Capital:

NanoSalt’s intellectual capital comprises of:

– Strong R&D team

– Innovative solution with exclusive technology along with 03 Intellectual Property Patents: Sea Salt Concentration Device” (application number VN 2-2022-00169), “Cold Crystallization Sea Salt Device” (application number VN 2-2022-00190), “Method for Producing Edible Salt from Seawater” (application number VN 2-2022-00191)

– Certification of Science and Technology Business by Vietnam’s Department of Science and Technology, which will receive incentive from the government

Strategies for maintenance and enhancement:

– Collaborating with partnerships to widespread the process of making highly nutritious salt

– Attending social and non-social business competitions to seek partnerships, investments, and expand our social and business impacts.

– Attending a bilateral relations enhancement program between Vietnam and other countries: To seek opportunities for expansion to other potential markets.

B4.3.4. Manufactured Capital:

Demonstrated above is NanoSalt’s manufacturing capitals. Since our most important resources are tangible, including the factory and machine to produce the salt, NanoSalt always tries to optimize the manufactured capital so that the tools’ depreciation time will be optimized, and we could produce the most efficiently. These tools are 100% involved in our business expansion-oriented activities.

Strategies for maintenance and enhancement:

By showcasing the potential growth pace of our product, we will collaborate with cloud server and AI model providers to not only integrate AI into the process of creating salt products, but also into optimizing our internal business activities for resource management, administrative tasks, and apply data analysis tools to manage the business.

B4.3.5 Financial Capital:

In the first stage, NanoSalt mainly self-funds for its facilities and machines. Our main financial needs refer to RnD, including new product research, development with current product, enhancement with the current production, all of which helps us to sustain our business and expansion.

Strategy for maintenance and enhancement:

Besides 100% equity capital, focusing on RnD also gains NanoSalt opportunity for new investments. Apart from the prize money achieved from numerous startup competitions, our team is seeking new investors as we have plans for crowdfunding and fundraising. From the profit we have gained, besides R&D, we are also focusing on adapting AI into the process, which also grants NanoSalt advantages to attract investors and better solve the customers’ problems.

We also attend social and non-social business conferences, incubators, product introduction in order to seek investors, stakeholders, partnerships and more chances for expansion.

B5. Profitability

Our profitability generation mechanism comprises of 2 strategies:

Reducing the cost

Outsourcing the production of salt shaker, and the process of packaging

Profitability mechanism:

mở rộng kinh doanh (hợp tác thêm đại lý, khách hàng dn trong nước và quốc tế), gọi đầu tư, đa dạng hóa sp đáp ứng KH, profit growth, and reinvestment into expansion.

We generate our income based on these streams

Selling end-products to customers
Selling raw materials to producers
Chuyển giao công nghệ sx muối

social returns on investment: SROI = (SIV – IIA) / (IIA x 100%)

SIV stands for Social Impact Value, and IIA stands for Initial Investment Amount.

The business invested about IIA = 4,810 billion VND in the first year (product research costs, business operating costs, marketing and product distribution costs), the business created about 1,000 new jobs for salt farmers, average income is about 5,000,000 VND/person

Through the project, the business has created SIV = 1,000 x 5,000,000 = 5,000,000,000 billion

SROI = (SIV – IIA) / (IIA x 100%) = 3.95%

economic returns on investment = Net profit/ investment cost = 54,1%

B6. ESG integration

The NanoSalt project has many positive and profound impacts on the environment, society, community and especially for women:

B6.1. Society| Positive impact on community health:

The project provides the community with a practical solution for a low-sodium diet, supplementing the body with essential micro-minerals from sea minerals such as Ca, Mg, K and more than 60 other trace minerals, NanoSalt products contribute to protecting the heart of the entire population, reducing the risk of diseases such as high blood pressure, diabetes… and increasing the ability to absorb nutrients for the next generation.

B6.2. Society| Job Creation, especially for women:

The project creates many new livelihoods locally. The project creates more than 1,000 new jobs, contributes to increasing income by 50% for salt farmers in Quynh Luu, and preserves and maintains 12 salt cooperatives in Quynh Luu. Of these, 80% of the salt craft villages are currently made up of women, so the project creates a major impact on economic development for women in the local salt industry. Besides, young people in their homeland have the opportunity to develop their salt industry in their homeland. Quynh Luu’s traditional salt craft village will be preserved and sustainable agriculture developed. The NanoSalt project will connect with craft village tourism to simultaneously develop products and tourism together in the next 5 years.

B6.3. Society| Extensive impact on Vietnam’s salt industry:

NanoSalt is a model of applying science and technology to deeply process nutritional salts with low sodium content, increasing natural minerals to meet the national program that The Prime Minister and the Ministry of Health have approved the planning and development of Vietnam’s salt industry until 2030. This model can be replicated and transferred to salt producing provinces and cities across the country. From there, bringing high value to Vietnamese salt and affirming the position of Vietnamese salt in the world. On the other hand, when we are self-reliant on available domestic raw materials, Vietnam will reduce dependence on imported salt and we can become one of the countries with large salt exports in the world.

B6.4. Environment| Positive impact on the marine ecosystem:

Vietnam in general and Quynh Luu in particular have not fully exploited the nutritional value that salt bile brings to humans. So, with NanoSalt’s exclusive technology, the project brings high-value products – good for health using this salt-salt raw material. If the source of salt and molasses can be converted into valuable goods, it means increasing income for the salt farmers. They will not leave any drop of seawater in the salt fields anymore. The marine ecosystem is produced in a closed cycle, with no excess released into the environment.

B6.5. Governance| Create positive impact to the community

NanoSalt always complies with the law, is transparent in management, and creates good welfare policies for employees, sharing profits fairly with the farmers they work with.

With high-value nutritional and medicinal products from sea mineral salt, the NanoSalt project hopes to be able to export to the world to join hands to protect the health of everyone. From there, we can leave a profound mark on the value of Vietnamese Salt on the world’s spice and medicinal map.

C. BUSINESS MODEL VALIDATION:

C1. Crowdfunding/crowdsourcing campaign:

Since Vietnam does not have any local online crowdfunding platform, and unfortunately, global platforms don’t support our location due to stringent policies and transaction fees, our team has come up with these two strategies:

For the first strategy, NanoSalt has joined several competitions about startups, as well as incubators and conferences in order to both raise awareness of the brands and raise funds through prize money. NanoSalt has listed out in the table below the amount accumulated:

Contribution	Value
Championship at Creative youth festival and open robot competition in Nghe An province	5.000.000 VND in cash (approximately $200)
Championship at Woman Innovation in Startup 2022	10.000.000 VND in cash (approximately $400)
Top Excellent SIBs selected in the “Covid-19 Adaptation Program” of the ISSE-Covid Project	100.000.000 VND (approximately $4.000) (They provide consultant, coaching services from industry experts, combining with fund)
Championship at Innovation & Startup in The Nghe An Youth Union’s Month 2022	30.000.000 VND (approximately $1.200) (The province provides connections with retailers and wholesalers, and support in startup loans. They also provide cash)
THIRD PRIZE NATIONAL ROUND AT BSA HO CHI MINH CITY INNOVATIVE AGRICULTURAL STARTUP COMPETITION 2022	70.000.000 VND (approximately $2.800) (Besides cash, they provides a training course in Thailand with the support fee discount of 50%)
Championship at Innovative Startup in Production and Manufacturing 2022	100.000.000 VND (approximately $4.000) (Besides cash, they provide consultant, coaching and mentoring services from PhDs and masters in economics, marketing, management)
Second Prize at Techfest Nghe An Open 2022	30.000.000 VND (approximately $1.200) (Besides cash, they provide consultant services in terms of technology and management)
Top 15 Techfest Vietnam 2021	3.000.000 VND (approximately $120) (They provide training and mentoring courses, as well as mentors and networks from Shinhan SquareBridge Vietnam program)
Top 20 at Development of National Startup 2022	5.000.000 VND (approximately $200) (They provide training and mentoring courses, as well as the entrance ticket to all startup incubators and programs)
Second Prize at Accompanying Green Startup 2022	20.000.000 VND (approximately $800) (Along with cash, they provide the mentor and training courses from INSEE and Hyundai corporation)
Total	373.000.000 VND (approximately $14.920)

For the second strategy, we INTENDED to raise funds in the future from community backers through social networks. This MUST be done afterward the first strategy due to our continuous accumulation of both local and international governmental startup prizes, to build the brand awareness and customers’ trust. For preparation, we will offer different rewards in return depending on the amount of donation as follows:

Our crowdfunding campaign will last for 60 days (equivalent to 02 months) from October 1st to December 1st, with the target to reach 100.000.000 VND (approximately 4.000 USD).

C2. Learning curve:

Thanks to SBC, NanoSalt has learned many provoking lessons throughout the course SBC102, especially in terms of Empathy Map of Customers to find out their true needs and demands, as well as the way to identify the suitable business direction.

Before joining SBC, NanoSalt mainly focused on developing the products to “push” to the customers’ demands. However, after learning about the Empathy Map, NanoSalt has interviewed in-depth with the customers to figure out their specific characteristics and pain point following. Moreover, we also seek feedback and reviews more often from customers to further renovate the products better.

Another key feature learned is the approach to identify the suitable business model. After careful revision, NanoSalt realizes B2B is the more fitted one, as it will serve a larger base of customers with optimized cost. Therefore, NanoSalt opted to transfer to the B2B model, by creating more touchpoints with both local and international businesses through conferences, international competition and networking events, such as: SIP100, ASEAN and Hong Kong Transnational Trade and Investment Conference through Intellectual Property Rights (IPR).