Ms. Mai Kieu Lien talks about the only thing that has not changed in Vinamilk's complete "transformation"

Established in 1976, on the basis of taking over abandoned factories after the liberation day, Vinamilk 's development process is closely linked to each step of the country's transformation. During the journey of nearly half a century, Ms. Lien said that this billion-dollar enterprise has changed many times, adjusted its operations, management... to adapt to the market mechanism as well as increase its competitiveness both domestically and internationally. But by the early 2020s, the "female general" of the dairy industry realized that it was time to fundamentally and comprehensively change all of the company's activities.

"Vinamilk is nearly 50 years old. An old brand can easily give off a feeling of old age. Moreover, we have a new generation of consumers - the young generation. If we cannot reach them, we cannot maintain the brand. Some people say Vinamilk is too big to change. But if we do not innovate ourselves, we cannot survive," Vinamilk CEO opened the conversation about the reason for Vinamilk's comprehensive innovation.

"Once food enters the body, there is no chance to correct the mistake."

Recognizing that her early training in dairy processing was an advantage in her leadership process, Ms. Mai Kieu Lien said that this has helped her lead Vinamilk through a comprehensive innovation process over the past 2 years with the core being "Product quality".

In addition to changes from within the organization such as digital transformation, management methods, production methods, etc., consumers can easily recognize the image of a youthful, fun Vinamilk through brand design, packaging, user approach, etc. As a result, the percentage of consumers who rate the brand as innovative - creative and high-end has skyrocketed compared to the period before repositioning. This has also been clearly shown in business results, when the company reported 2024 revenue reaching a new record of 61,824 billion VND.

In Vinamilk's most comprehensive innovation to date, Ms. Lien said that there is only one factor that remains unchanged and will never change, which is that Vinamilk always puts quality first, and nothing can be compromised. She cited that instead of applying Codex (an international set of food safety standards developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the World Health Organization), the pioneering enterprise produces according to strict standards from the EU, with more stringent regulations and higher compliance costs.

Vinamilk owns 16 domestic and foreign dairy factories, meeting the world's highest standards of quality in food production.

Or with fresh milk - an important factor determining the input quality of the product, Vinamilk is the first enterprise in Vietnam to initiate the "white revolution", leading in dairy farming and forming a chain of 15 modern dairy farms with the capacity to supply more than 1.1 million liters of fresh milk per day. Not only meeting the leading international standards on good agricultural production practices such as EU Organic, Global SLP... Vinamilk's farm system is also a pioneer in the process of greenhouse gas inventory, emission reduction... aiming to meet the strict criteria of sustainable development in demanding markets such as the EU, US, Japan...

"Vinamilk's operating principle for nearly 50 years has been to do what is best. Because we always think that food is a product that directly affects human health, once it enters the body, there is no chance of correction. Therefore, we must ensure the best quality," Ms. Lien affirmed.

Vinamilk's system of 15 farms all meet leading standards of good agricultural practices such as EU Organic, Global SLP and aim to be carbon neutral by 2050.

This philosophy was further emphasized by the powerful female CEO of Asia with 3 keywords "autonomy, determination and kindness", which made Vinamilk become the 6th most valuable brand globally and continues to be the core of the business for the future journey.

Creativity in the dairy industry is limitless.

Answering the question about the development opportunities of the dairy industry, whether there is still much "land" to create new products, the female CEO of Vinamilk affirmed that there is still a lot. According to her, the dairy industry has existed for hundreds of years with initial products such as fresh milk, butter, cheese, etc. As consumer demand becomes more and more diversified, dairy product lines are also continuously expanding.

To give everyone and every family the opportunity to access high-quality nutritional products, the leading enterprise in the domestic dairy industry has developed a portfolio of nearly 300 products, covering all ages, nutritional needs and meeting different functional groups such as malnourished children, people with protein intolerance, diabetics, people undergoing special medical treatment... To meet the increasingly "personalized" needs of consumers, in 2024, Vinamilk will continue to launch 25 completely new products, setting unprecedented standards in Vietnam.

Not only bringing a fun, youthful image, Vinamilk products are also constantly innovating and improving quality to meet the increasingly personalized needs of consumers.

For the first time, the Vietnamese milk market has introduced dual vacuum technology to create "fresh lock" milk products (retaining the original fresh taste); or ultra-microfiltration technology to create a high-protein - high-calcium - low-fat and lactose-free product line, meeting the needs of customers who need to supplement high protein and calcium but are lactose intolerant. Plant-based yogurt products are completely fermented from nut milk, targeting vegan customers. Or protein-rich nutritional products for people who want to control their weight and maintain their body...

Along with the creation of diverse products according to increasingly specialized needs, the innovation of the dairy giant is also clearly demonstrated through the bold effort to bring the world's leading technologies to Vietnam.

"With a market of more than 100 million people in Vietnam and 63 exporting countries, the demand for milk consumption is extremely diverse. If we focus on personalizing user needs, we can create many different product lines. The room for creativity in the dairy industry is unlimited," Ms. Lien shared more about future prospects.

Accompanying Vinamilk for nearly 50 years, including 33 years as captain, she was the one who laid the foundation for the Vietnamese dairy industry, taking Vinamilk from zero to 36th place in the list of the 50 largest dairy companies in the world in terms of revenue. It was not only the journey to build Vinamilk into a national symbol, but also a brand that inspires the spirit of innovation, creativity and the desire to reach the world. In 2024, she was honored by Fortune Magazine (USA) in the list of 100 most powerful women in Asia and was the only female entrepreneur to be honored by Forbes Vietnam with the "Lifetime Achievement" award, honored to be awarded the Third Class Independence Medal for her contributions to the development of the country.

Source: https://phunuvietnam.vn/ba-mai-kieu-lien-noi-ve-dieu-duy-nhat-khong-doi-trong-cuoc-lot-xac-toan-dien-cua-vinamilk-20250409111153847.htm