Sapa O'Chau

Founded by Shu Tan, a Black Hmong woman who fought for her right to education, Sapa O'Chau is Vietnam's first ethnic-minority-owned social enterprise travel company. Guides lead small, respectful walking journeys through the terraced hillsides, pine ridges and quiet stilt villages of Lao Cai province, sharing their intimate knowledge of mountain trails, wild edible plants and seasonal harvest routines.

Every journey helps to fund the organisation's boarding facility, language classes and high-school scholarship fund in Sa Pa town. Rural teenagers who would otherwise leave school early to work the fields or sell trinkets receive lodging, tuition and vocational hospitality training, opening doors to careers while keeping ancestral languages and pride alive.