A prominent figure in the veterans’ movement for economic excellence is Lê Thị Dung, an ailing soldier and Chairwoman of the Board of Directors of Quà Điện Biên Cooperative. Retiring in 2020 and promoting the qualities of Uncle Hồ’s soldiers, she chose to establish Quà Điện Biên Cooperative rather than live a life of leisure, building an off-take linkage model for local agricultural products. From nearly 20 initial laborers, the cooperative progressively applied digital transformation to management and sales, expanding its product showroom network to promote and introduce numerous OCOP products of Điện Biên to tourists within and outside the province.

Commendably, the cooperative’s objective goes beyond mere business efficiency. Lê Thị Dung proactively links agricultural off-take for fellow veteran members and highland communities, offers startup advice, and shares production experience. Through these practical deeds, Quà Điện Biên Cooperative not only enhances local agricultural value, but also serves as a trusted companion for many members on their economic development journey. For the 2021-2026 period, the cooperative received a Certificate of Merit from the Provincial People’s Committee and won the Mai An Tiêm Award from the Việt Nam Cooperative Alliance, standing as an exemplary model in the movement of veterans excelling in economic development.

Lê Thị Dung shared that as a veteran, she always strives to keep contributing. When founding Quà Điện Biên Cooperative, her greatest wish was not merely generating family income, but securing stable outlets for local agricultural produce, especially products from fellow veterans and highland villagers. If everyone contributes a small part to increase agricultural value, create jobs, and improve public incomes, it serves as a meaningful way to continue building the homeland.

While Lê Thị Dung acts as a “bridge” connecting local farm produce to broader markets, Bạc Cầm Phiu, Head of the Veterans’ Association branch in Co Nỏng village, Búng Lao commune, represents a soldier who enriched himself directly from his homeland’s soil. Discharged from the army in 1988 empty-handed, lacking both capital and experience, his family’s livelihood once depended on a few plots of rice, corn, and cassava. Refusing to succumb to poverty, he boldly borrowed capital, studied technical farming, and step-by-step built an integrated garden-forest-fishpond-livestock model.

Starting from an initial 1.5 hectares of coffee, he has expanded to 5.5 hectares intercropped under the canopy of a 10-hectare michelia tonkinensis forest, combined with a 3,000-square-meter fishpond, 1 hectare of fruit trees, 1.3 hectares of sugarcane, and livestock and poultry herds. Currently, his family’s integrated economic model yields an annual net income of VND 500 million to VND 600 million after deducting expenses, while creating seasonal jobs for approximately 150 worker turns each year - mainly veteran members and local residents - with a total wage payout exceeding VND 450 million.

Bạc Cầm Phiu stated that achieving today’s success required a persistent process of learning, accumulating experience, and embracing changes in production methods. A veteran must dare to think and act without relying on others. Doing the work first and demonstrating efficiency allows one to guide fellow villagers and comrades to follow suit. Developing economic models aims not only to improve family living standards, but to generate jobs and assist struggling households. When villagers enjoy stable lives and the homeland develops, that brings the greatest joy.

What earns Bạc Cầm Phiu deep respect is not only his efficient economic model, but his spirit of sharing. In 2021, he handed over his family’s entire buffalo and cattle herd to four impoverished households under a breeding loan arrangement. The recipients retained all newborn offspring, while his family only took back the original initial number of animals. Through this method, multiple households obtained productive assets to steadily stabilize their lives.

Beyond Lê Thị Dung and Bạc Cầm Phiu, an increasing number of economic “pioneers” have emerged within the provincial Veterans’ Association. In Xa Dung commune, the unburnt brick manufacturing cooperative model of member Cà Văn Tuân earns an annual income of VND 300 million to VND 500 million, providing stable jobs for 15 local workers. In Mường Ảng, models focus on coffee and macadamia development; Mường Toong and Nà Hỳ develop forests and medicinal herbs; Tủa Chùa cultivates Shan tuyết tea; Sín Thầu expands large livestock husbandry; while Mường Lay effectively harnesses cage aquaculture.

These “pioneers” are shaping a new appearance for the movement of veterans excelling in economic development. To date, the entire province has 29 small and medium enterprises owned by veterans, employing 610 workers; 5 cooperatives with 125 workers; 25 large farms, 390 family farms, and over 1,000 service and retail households, providing employment for thousands of laborers. Many enterprises stand out, such as Duyên Hùng Company Limited creating jobs for approximately 150 workers; Phương Thảo Joint Stock Company maintaining annual revenues of VND 50 billion to VND 80 billion; and 565 Điện Biên Company Limited achieving annual revenues of VND 60 billion to VND 70 billion.

Most commendable is that economic success consistently accompanies social responsibility. Over the 2021-2026 period, veteran members across the province donated over 92,500 square meters of land, thousands of workdays, and billions of VND to construct and repair 340 kilometers of rural roads, 1,130 kilometers of canals, and 2,500 bridges and culverts. Enterprises and cooperatives owned by veterans regularly support the Fund for the Poor and construct Gratitude Houses. Consequently, member living standards have steadily improved; by late June 2026, poor veteran households in the province dropped to about 9%, while well-off and wealthy households rose to over 9,300, accounting for more than 48% of total member households.

From former battlefield soldiers, they have transformed into peacetime entrepreneurs, cooperative directors, farm owners, and skilled producers. Each successful economic model brings prosperity to families while inspiring and motivating comrades and local citizens to rise above hardship. These “pioneers” continue driving the movement of “Veterans helping each other reduce poverty and excel in economic development” forward, reaffirming the enduring qualities of Uncle Hồ’s soldiers on the economic development front to build an increasingly prosperous and beautiful Điện Biên.