Scholarship / SOP for Fulbright Scholarship program - Master in Foodservice system management [3]

personal statement for Fulbright

Hi, this is my personal statement for Fulbright for Master in Foodservice system management, but I need serious help. I will be appreciated if you can give comment to improve my writing. Thanks in advance!

I was born and raised in a small town where we planted tea, produced and sold tea products for a likelihood. From a very young age, I took part in the tea production process which was mostly heavy physical demanding tasks with low productivity. A very few families can become affluent from selling green tea. The scandal of unhygienic tea was exposed in 2007 leading to a severe damage to the tea industry's reputation, many tea retailers fell into financial difficulties. I realized my parents' struggles at that time when my father persisted in convincing me to study well in order to escape from agricultural jobs. That's why I came up with an accounting major in my university.

Later in my 20s, I started to wonder why Vietnamese young people stop drinking tea. People used to share a cup of tea to break the ice and it seems to be an irreplaceable way to ignite a conversation. Tea used to be a traditional drink to offer guests the owner hospitality but it has lost its place among our generation. C'est la vie, what's going to happen is going to happen. It's too late to save the industry that is no longer suitable for modern life. I have kept this thought before the stories about Marou, Faiseurs de Chocolat, were revealed in 2016. Cacao beans, similar to tea, were export-oriented with crude or semi-processed at low price. Marou was incorporated in 2012, it took them four years to become a phenomenon in both domestic and worldwide markets. They carefully select the cacao beans, roast it slowly and slowly so customers can taste their hard work and the terroir of each provincial origin. Their ambition is pure dark chocolate made from Vietnam's finest ingredients and sell it for a premium price. It received the warmest welcome from all over the world, especially the young bracket. This event made me reflect deeply on my earlier thought, if they can do it with cacao beans, why can I do the same with tea?

To answer this question, I had carried out a thesis in my final year in university: Financial analysis and evaluation of the insight of tea industry future growth in Vietnam. I came back to my hometown and did that research at a subsidiary company of Vinatea - the largest tea producer and exporter in Vietnam, tried to find out what really happened in the tea industry. Vietnamese tea has been facing difficulties in terms of product quality, technical standards, food safety, packaging design, marketing, and financial access. In 2018, Vietnam cultivated about 130,000 hectares of tea and became the fifth largest exporter in the world. However, most tea products from Vietnam were not the final products for direct consumption so tea products often were exported at a low value of $2.5 per kilogram or 60% of world tea prices. After investigation, I realized their biggest challenges were financial constraints to upgrade their processing technologies and lack of effective marketing strategy. If the tea company could invest in the matcha production line and sell matcha in the international market, its products' price would increase 10 times compared to the traditional green tea price.

Therefore, I want to study further about the food and beverage industry before finalizing any conclusions. In nearly 3 years of hard work in auditing, I have approached a wide range of companies in this sector. There are many remarkable highlights in their governance system as well as production procedures, but the agriculture industry in general and the food and beverage industry in particular somehow face the same challenges as the tea industry. I have been audited TH True milk and Nghe An Sugar company which merely sold in domestic market, only a few companies can export their final goods such as Thang Loi Ltd (pork and related products), Nafood (fruit juice, frozen vegetables and fruits, plant seed) to Asian market (Thailand and Hong Kong) or to EU market using foreign branding. The lack of human capital, structural capital and relation capital seem to be an impenetrable barrier to the international market, therefore domestic enterprises rather stay in their safe zone. According to the National Office of Intellectual Property of Vietnam, over 80% of agricultural products have yet to be integrated with a brand and are sold without logos or labels. It's heartbreaking to watch Vietnamese food be recognized all over the world, yet fail to compete in the international market.

In 2020, Vietnam's Mekong Delta declares emergency on devastating drought and salinity intrusion, the government estimates drought and salinity will affect 362,000 hectares of rice and 136,000 hectares of fruit trees, more than 120,000 households will experience a water shortage. Freshwater is considered a luxury to local families although they are living in the delta area. Farmers shed tears watching all of their effort and money went down the drain as the crops field died, worrying about the uncertain future without a permanent job. How could I watch my fellow men suffer in silence and do nothing? Furthermore, the Delta is a key rice-growing area, hence Vietnam might face a serious threat to food security. The solution lies in sustainable agriculture development strategy.

Foodservice enable farmers to gain a larger benefit from their product, therefore it plays a key role in development of agriculture and rural areas economic. Under the impacts of Coronavirus outbreak, trade activities has been suspended and tons of dragon fruit cannot export as planned, vendors suffer losses even in theirs farming season. Then ABC Bakery debuted pink dragon fruit baguettes in mid-February in the movement of saving dragon fruit campaign, drawing massive crowd line up for purchasing. Following the trend, KFC is debuting a sandwich with a pink bun made from dragon fruit. It is a telling example of breakthrough in food service can be the solution to the agricultural crisis.

Beginning with a simple curiosity, I have formed a passion for pursuing a major breakthrough in the foodservice system and sustainable development of agriculture that I hardly can perceive solely by working. Starting with foodservice system management will be a golden opportunity to get closer to my dream. Knowledge always has been and will be the key to every challenge. There are many impediments in my way, but as long as I keep this dream, there is hope.