In this mountain commune outside Sa Pa, where H'Mong women are taught from childhood to embroider the perfect wedding dress before they can marry, a task that can take months or even a year, Sung Thi Lan once believed her world would remain limited to the terraced fields and the narrow trekking trail that brought tourists past her shop.

Everything in her household, from selling a duck to cutting a bunch of greens, needed her husband’s approval.

She had never imagined herself running a cooperative, let alone one connected to customers far beyond her village.

“Before COVID-19, we didn’t know what ‘online’ meant,” the 36-year-old says, recalling the early days of the Muong Hoa Cooperative, which she founded in 2018 with eight other women in Ta Van Commune in northern Vietnam’s Lao Cai Province.

“We sold everything to tourists walking past.

“When the pandemic came, we had to close completely.”

The shutdown marked a turning point for Lan and, later, for many women in the surrounding highlands.

From no Internet to Facebook orders

Ta Van had only patchy Internet back in the day.

Lan and her peers used Facebook mainly to post “random feelings,” she says with a laugh, often “negative stories that didn’t help our lives at all.”

When borders closed, her foot-traffic-based business collapsed.

Lan was then introduced to the GREAT project, an Australian-funded initiative working with the Lao Cai Women’s Union and the local enterprise KisStartup. 

Trainers contacted her through the Women’s Union and started with basic digital skills: what Facebook is for, how to post, and how to communicate with customers.

It was the first time Lan saw how online tools could support a craft rooted in local tradition.

She created the Muong Hoa Facebook page, learned how to photograph products, schedule posts and reply to buyers, and used chat app Zalo to track customers.

While most shops remained shut, she reopened mainly to take pictures of indigo-dyed textiles.

“People wondered how I still had orders,” she says.

“But I was shipping to Sa Pa every week to send packages.”

Her neighbors soon came knocking.

Many hesitated to join training sessions because they were not confident with Vietnamese, were busy with childcare, or simply found digital tools intimidating.

But after seeing Lan make an income in lockdown, they came to her for guidance.

A 300-woman network

Lan started sharing what she had learned, “step by step, one stitch at a time,” she says.

The nine-member cooperative has since grown into a network of more than 300 artisans spread across Lao Cai, Ha Giang, Lai Chau, and Son La.

Tasks are divided among groups specializing in dyeing, batik, embroidery, sewing, homestay services, herbal bathing, local culinary offerings, performance, and tour guiding.

Each group has a team leader who coordinates production.

A single item, such as a handwoven bag or embroidered cloth, can require dyes and materials from several ethnic communities.

“Green dye from one place, red from another, black from another,” Lan says.

“To meet orders year-round, we have to coordinate constantly. Someone is always training.”

Digital skills remain a challenge for many artisans who cannot read or write Vietnamese, and Lan posts less often now because her team cannot produce handmade goods quickly.

Even so, small earnings of VND300,000 (US$11) to VND700,000 ($27) a month offer local women modest financial independence and help sustain local craft traditions.

“When women earn, they speak more in the family,” Lan remarks.

“The culture still favors men, but things are changing.”

Vietnam’s broader digital push

Lan’s story coincides with Vietnam’s drive to expand digital access.

The Digital Inclusion Index, which assesses accessibility, affordability, ability, and attitude, has ranked Vietnam 34th out of 82 emerging and developing economies in 2021, up from 44th the previous year.

According to the World Bank Group’s Global Findex 2025, more than 70 percent of adults have smartphones and 84 percent of households are connected to broadband.

The government aims to digitize public services and expand e-commerce by 2030.

Platforms such as Postmart and Voso host more than a million active sellers, many of them in rural areas.

But micro-businesses still lack technical skills, and ethnic minority women often have limited access to information or support networks.

A market-systems approach

The AUD67.4 million ($43.6 million) Gender-Responsive Equitable Agriculture and Tourism (GREAT) program works with the People’s Committees of Lao Cai and Son La Provinces to support women-led businesses and strengthen the market conditions around them.

More than 200 small enterprises in the two provinces have received digital training; in Lao Cai, about 40 percent have begun using paid digital services to expand sales.

Lan’s cooperative is one example of the changes taking place.

Gillian Bird, Australia’s ambassador to Vietnam, says Lan’s experience reflects how digital tools and targeted support can help women-run businesses.

“It is inspiring to see the very real changes to the lives of people like Ms Sung Thi Lan, director of Muong Hoa Cooperative, whose successful business helps support 300 other households in her community and in communities nearby,” the ambassador states.

For Nguyen Hoai Nam, a manager with the GREAT project, Lan’s progress illustrates a shift in Vietnam’s poverty reduction approach.

“Before, the government might, for example, give a household 10 chickens,” he observes.

“But people did not know how to care for them or where to sell them.”

He says the current strategy focuses more on linking producers to markets and helping households understand how to maintain income over time.

This newer approach emphasizes digital access, market connections and community-led solutions.