From waste to worth: A woman-led start-up is greening logistics with agricultural residue

Date: Friday, 27 February 2026

A woman stands on a stage in front of a wooden wall, holding a handheld microphone. She is wearing a white short‑sleeved collared shirt and dark trousers, and she is speaking while making a small hand gesture to emphasize a point. Photo courtesy of Intellecap

Thao Tran, founder of the Vietnamese woman-led start-up NetZero Pallet, speaks at an event of the UN Women Care and Climate Entrepreneurship Accelerator. Photo: Courtesy of Intellecap

Across South-East Asia, agricultural by-products are often burned or discarded, contributing to emissions and air pollution. At the same time, global supply chains depend on wooden and plastic pallets, materials linked to deforestation, waste and rising costs. Vietnamese entrepreneur Thao Tran saw an opportunity to connect these challenges and build a circular solution.

Through her company NetZero Pallet, Thao transforms coconut husks, coffee skins and sawdust into high-performance pallets for logistics and manufacturing.

“We were throwing away a resource on one end, and extracting more on the other,” Thao explains, noting that Viet Nam generates more than 100 million tonnes of agricultural by-products each year. That realization became the starting point for a business model that turns low-value residue into durable export-grade logistics materials.

NetZero Pallet collects agricultural by-products from cooperatives and waste collectors, processes them into engineered composite materials and manufactures pallets that meet global logistics and food safety standards.

“Every six pallets manufactured by NetZero Pallet saves one 20-year-old pine tree or nine Vietnamese acacia trees,” says Thao, adding that each pallet avoids around 30 kg of carbon dioxide emissions. By repurposing residue that might otherwise be burned, the model also supports improved air quality and new income streams for rural communities.

Since 2023, the company has upcycled thousands of tonnes of agricultural and industrial residue into pallets, benefiting more than 3,000 farming households through supplementary income from supplying by-products. Women who frequently participate in collection and pre-processing are now connected to a value chain that links local agriculture to regional and global markets. In fact, the company’s facility in Binh Duong Province has an annual production capacity of up to 1.5 million pallets.

A woman sits behind a display table at an exhibition booth. She wears a colorful floral jacket over a light blue top and a lanyard, and she is presenting molded pallets and small sample products made from agricultural waste. Behind them are posters showing the NetZero Pallet brand, product uses, and impact information. Photo courtesy of NetZero Pallet

Thao Tran at an event showcasing her company and products. Photo: Courtesy of NetZero Pallet.

Building a climate-tech manufacturing business has not been easy. “As a woman founder in an industrial setting, I had to continually prove myself and the product,” Thao says, adding that she has turned these challenges into a strength.

“In technical and operational discussions, what matters most is clarity, data, standards and results,” she says. “I lead with logic and evidence, and I’ve found that partners respect that.”

This approach has fostered a company culture where credibility is earned through execution rather than titles.

Her participation in the UN Women Care and Climate Entrepreneurship Accelerator, supported by Visa Foundation with contributions from the CHARLES & KEITH Group Foundation, helped strengthen NetZero Pallet’s growth strategy and impact measurement. Through the programme, the company refined its expansion plans, deepened customer partnerships and began formalizing tracking systems.

“I am now building an impact system baselines, metrics and evidence that we can improve over time across climate, social and gender outcomes,” Thao reflects.

According to Niharika Agarwal, Principal at Intellecap, which is advising NetZero Pallet as part of the Entrepreneurship Accelerator: “NetZero Pallet’s model demonstrates how circular use of residues can translate into a scalable, commercially viable pathway for industrial decarbonization. The company shows strong potential to reduce emissions at scale by converting agricultural waste into a high-performance, sustainable logistics product.”

Janelle Weissman, Head of External Relations at the UN Women Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, adds: “Partnerships are critical to ensuring women-led climate solutions can move from pilot to scale, and this Accelerator is one example of UN Women connecting women entrepreneurs with the financing, networks and technical support they need to grow businesses that deliver climate and equality outcomes.”

NetZero Pallet demonstrates how investing in women-led climate enterprises can deliver measurable results – reducing emissions, creating livelihoods and advancing more circular, resilient economies.

Looking ahead, NetZero Pallet plans to expand through regional partnerships and replicate its manufacturing model closer to agricultural waste sources.