Not emerging from a persimmon fruit, Miss Tomato – a modern-day fairy – appears from a juicy red tomato, bearing the "Make in Vietnam" brand and an inspiring story. The video series "7A.M Start" – "Why Do We Start?" – produced by Travellive Media Group in partnership with Ford Territory, connects viewers to the stories behind each Vietnamese local brand. In episode 6, Miss Tomato will be the next character to convey a message about the environment and national pride.

Looking back at the formula for the success of Vietnamese local brands in recent years, the story of leveraging cultural elements, national pride, and sustainable domestic production processes is indispensable. The Cô Cà Chua brand has been winning over consumers interested in sustainable development, successfully building its own market and associating the concept of "nature" with the image of a Vietnamese local brand.

CEO Nguyen Dinh Nguyen is known as a "silent warrior" with projects that are not flashy but practical and effective. He is behind the famous plastic waste recycling events in Hanoi in recent years. His brand, Co Ca Chua (Tomato Co), offers organic cleaning products made from tomatoes, gentle and protective of both health and the environment for Vietnamese people, a product born after 10 years of research.

Officially launched in 2019, Cô Cà Chua offers Vietnamese consumers an alternative to conventional chemical cleaning products that easily pollute the environment. Made from fermented tomatoes and advanced biotechnology, Cô Cà Chua's products are a safe and environmentally friendly alternative.

Compared to other Vietnamese local brands on the market, Cô Cà Chua is a 100% "Make in Vietnam" product, from creation and research to formula development, production, design, packaging, and branding – everything is in Vietnam, in Vietnam, and by Vietnamese people.

“For a long time, people only knew tomatoes as a delicious and nutritious fruit. However, tomatoes have been transformed into safe cleaning products, offering users a completely new experience. We chose the tomato as the main character for our brand because it's a juicy, eye-catching, and friendly fruit. The image of 'Miss Tomato' as the main character is personified to create a sense of familiarity and increase interaction with consumers,” CEO Nguyen Dinh Nguyen shared.

Co Ca Chua is not just a purely Vietnamese brand, but also an inspiring story of national pride. The fragrances of Co Ca Chua products are extracted from ingredients in the backyard garden: cinnamon, betel leaves, perilla, mint… with a rustic, familiar aroma reminiscent of childhood, lingering with the scent of grandparents and the countryside. The name Co Ca Chua is a source of pride for Vietnam's natural beauty, while also honoring the beauty of labor.

Many fruits, after biological fermentation, possess cleansing properties, such as soapberry, pineapple, and dragon fruit. However, tomatoes, known for their ease of cultivation in many regions of Vietnam, have superior potential compared to other fruits. Tomatoes are not only rich in nutrients and good for the skin, but also have effective cleansing and disinfecting capabilities, offering a natural and safe cleansing solution for users.

“The product is made from fermented tomatoes, and organic products are quite expensive. The raw materials, production process, and risks involved are all more complex. Spoiled or rotten tomatoes cannot be fermented; the raw material must be ripe red tomatoes. Finding the right yeast strain for tomatoes is also a long process. The research team experimented with tomato fermentation for over a decade before bringing the product to market. When used, the product does not harm the environment and rarely affects the health of consumers,” Mr. Nguyen said.

Although not a pioneer in applying bio-fermentation technology from tomatoes to create cleaning products, Cô Cà Chua still stands out for using 100% "Made in Vietnam" ingredients. Compared to industrial cleaning product brands on the market, Cô Cà Chua targets a customer segment interested in a green and sustainable lifestyle.

Initially, Co Ca Chua primarily focused on products such as laundry detergent, hand soap, and floor cleaner. Later, they expanded to include body care products like shower gel and shampoo for both adults and children. Not content with just the domestic market, Co Ca Chua, with its quality products, reasonable prices, and effective marketing strategy true to the "Make in Vietnam" spirit, is asserting its position on its journey to conquer the world, promising to inspire other Vietnamese local brands. Currently, Co Ca Chua has exported products to several countries such as Laos, Cambodia, and South Korea, and is preparing to enter other potential markets such as Japan, Australia, and the United States.

The name "Miss Tomato" itself was symbolic from the beginning, embodying a new version of the Vietnamese Cinderella story: compassionate, forgiving, hardworking, skilled at caring for and protecting her family. Eating healthily, living cleanly, and pursuing a green lifestyle, aiming for sustainable development, is also a more civilized and environmentally friendly way of behaving.

TRAVELLIVE readers are invited to watch Episode 6 of the "7A.M Start" video series to discover the story of Cô Cà Chua - a startup brand that truly embodies the "Make in Vietnam" spirit, aiming to conquer the Vietnamese market and gradually expand into the global market.