Famous Vietnamese businesswomen

They constantly contribute achievements to the country in all aspects: from politics , economy, society... They are representatives of the beauty of Vietnamese women in the new era.

According to Mr. Vu Tien Loc - National Assembly Delegate, Chairman of the Vietnam International Arbitration Center, compared to the region and the world, the rate of female entrepreneurs in Vietnam is quite high, 1 in 4 business owners is female, accounting for ¼. If including family businesses, the rate of women running businesses is much higher. A noteworthy point when researching Vietnamese entrepreneurs is that the entrepreneurial spirit of women is much higher than that of men. In fact, the role of women in economic development is increasing and they have made many strong contributions to the country's economy. Especially in difficult times, with the resilience and endurance of a steel spirit, the ability to stand firm of women is often higher than that of men. Charitable and social activities... are also led by female entrepreneurs. The world also records many successful female entrepreneurs, associated with leading brands in Vietnam in the consumer goods, service, manufacturing industries...

One thing worth noting in today’s era is that the proportion of businesses led by women is higher towards digital transformation and greening strategies. They are aware of the great responsibility of entrepreneurship.

"However, for a female business owner to be successful and achieve sales like a male-owned business, women must work twice or three times harder. In any era, no matter how modern it is or how much women's role is enhanced, to be recognized in the marketplace, they always have to endure more hardship and work harder than men," Mr. Loc advised.

Economist Nguyen Hoang Dung - Chairman of the Leadership Training and Sustainable Development Services Company commented: Today's life is more convenient, modern, civilized... which has created favorable conditions for women to participate in the business environment more and more. In addition, with efforts to promote gender equality, the Government always creates all conditions for more and more female entrepreneurs to participate in building the country's economy. Therefore, compared to 30 years ago, female entrepreneurs today have much more favorable conditions in expressing their opinions, have knowledge and especially have more opportunities to access technology... to create their own independent business model, completely self-sufficient in terms of economy and finance.

Mr. Dung cited examples of successful female entrepreneurs in the process of developing a community of successful female entrepreneurs, including the examples of famous female entrepreneurs who have impressed the country's economy: Ba Huan egg owner, Vinamilk general Mai Kieu Lien, REE "iron general" Mai Thanh... This is a generation of female entrepreneurs who share the common characteristics of being very diligent, hard-working, determined, passionate about their profession, and dedicated to their products from start to finish.

At HDBank, as Permanent Vice President, under the direction of Ms. Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao and other leaders, HDBank's business activities have grown rapidly. Pre-tax profit was below VND1,000 billion in 2015, but tripled in 2017 to VND2,417 billion. In the following years, HDBank's profits have grown strongly. In 2022, HDBank exceeded VND10,000 billion in pre-tax profit for the first time - a record profit to date.

At Vietjet Air, Ms. Phuong Thao is one of the founding members and is currently the Chairwoman of the Board of Directors. Vietjet Air was established with the first goal of operating air transport according to a new generation model, low cost, helping millions of Vietnamese people's dreams of flying come true. Up to now, Vietjet Air's goal is to become a multinational airline with a wide flight network.

Loving to wear the traditional silk ao dai of Hanoi women, Ms. Phuong Thao left many deep impressions associated with the image of Vietjet. In particular, images in the graceful ao dai appeared in many countries, at signing ceremonies in events representing the new generation of female entrepreneurs, for a renewed and integrated Vietnam.

Making her mark in many business fields, Ms. Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao is also a businesswoman who has been recognized by Forbes as a dollar billionaire 6 times in a row from 2017 to 2022. To date, no second woman has achieved this.

That is the motto of businesswoman Mai Kieu Lien, who is closely associated with the development and success of Vinamilk, the leading dairy company in Vietnam. Born into a family of doctors, Mai Kieu Lien's initial dream was to study pedagogy or medicine. However, when she grew up, she graduated as an engineer in meat and milk processing from Moscow University - Russia.

Having worked at Vietnam Dairy Products Joint Stock Company (Vinamilk) since graduating, Ms. Mai Kieu Lien spent 12 years concurrently holding the positions of Chairwoman of the Board of Directors and General Director of Vinamilk before retiring from the position of Chairwoman of the Board of Directors in 2017. However, up to now, Ms. Lien is still accompanying Vinamilk in long-term strategies.

In the business world, Ms. Mai Kieu Lien's name is closely associated with the development of Vinamilk. She is the leader who has contributed to bringing Vinamilk milk brand to dominate the Vietnamese fresh milk market share and compete with many milk brands in the world. In 2021, Vinamilk made its mark on the global dairy industry map with the 36th position in the group of 50 leading dairy companies in the world in terms of revenue and is the only representative of Southeast Asia on this list.

In October 2022, Ms. Mai Kieu Lien was awarded the title of "Outstanding Entrepreneur" at the Strong Brand Awards. Previously, she was awarded the title of Hero of Labor in the New Era and was honored in the program "Glory of Vietnam - the mark of 30 years of innovation". She was also honored by Forbes Vietnam magazine as one of the 50 most influential women in Asia.

Her saying "creativity is the key to survival" is also thoroughly applied by Vinamilk in all aspects.

Vinamilk dairy farm in Tay Ninh

Giang Phuong

When it comes to powerful women, we cannot help but mention Nguyen Thi Mai Thanh - the female general steering the ship of REE Refrigeration and Electrical Engineering. In the market, REE Refrigeration and Electrical Engineering is mentioned for many "firsts": It is one of the first enterprises to conduct equitization; it is the first enterprise to issue foreign convertible bonds and it is one of the first two enterprises (along with SAM) to list its shares on the stock exchange.

All the firsts of REE Refrigeration and Electrical Engineering are associated with the management and leadership of Ms. Nguyen Thi Mai Thanh. Coming from a soldier background, Ms. Nguyen Thi Mai Thanh joined the army at the age of 16 with her first task being to study pharmacy. She was later sent to Germany to study abroad, graduating with a major in mechanics, air conditioning. In 1982, she became an engineer at the State-owned Refrigeration Equipment Joint Stock Company, making an impression on the leadership team when she successfully installed the first large refrigeration system for the Hoa Binh Theater. Sticking with her career at Refrigeration and Electrical Engineering, under the leadership of Ms. Mai Thanh, REE quickly reaped sweet fruit. Despite difficulties, REE's revenue in 2022 reached nearly 9,400 billion VND, an increase of 61% compared to 2021; profit also reached a record of more than 3,500 billion VND - the highest level in its history.

Good at work, at home, Ms. Mai Thanh is also a modern mother with educational views that help her children become independent. Ms. Mai Thanh believes that "Modern women must find happiness in work and in family".

As a nutritionist at the Ho Chi Minh City Nutrition Center, then in charge of Dong Tam facility, the predecessor of Nutifood, a company that had its initial public offering (IPO) in 2008 but then fell into crisis, Ms. Tran Thi Le emerged as a business executive to revive Nutifood. Nutifood develops specialized nutritional products with specialty milks, product lines that follow the life cycle of consumers from infants to the elderly. Throughout its development to date, Nutifood has maintained its position as a leading manufacturer of dairy nutritional products, and is one of the three largest milk manufacturers and traders in Vietnam.

In October 2020, at the Asia Pacific Enterprise Awards ceremony, NutiFood was the only Vietnamese dairy company to receive three awards at the same time: Corporate Excellence Award, Inspirational Brand Award and Master Entrepreneur Award for Dr. Tran Thi Le.

Ms. Le also received the medal "For the cause of population, family and children" and in 2019 was voted by Forbes magazine into the group of 25 powerful women in Asia.

In the list of 50 most influential women in Vietnam in 2019 announced by Forbes Vietnam, Dr. Tran Thi Le, General Director of NutiFood Joint Stock Company, was honored as one of the women who made outstanding contributions to the success of the business and positively influenced the community. The representative of the voting council commented that the General Director of NutiFood has a spirit of dedication, daring to think and do, perseverance, establishing and affirming new values ​​for modern women.

The General Director of NutiFood is also famous for his very humane business philosophy: "When researching to produce any product, I always think that it is for my children, myself, parents and relatives to use, so I put all my heart into it. Before being an expert, we look at life with the heart of a father and mother."

NutiFood CEO Tran Thi Le: "Before being an expert, we look at life with the heart of a father and mother"

At the end of September, at the JWA 2023 awards held in Hong Kong, Ms. Cao Thi Ngoc Dung, Chairwoman of the Board of Directors of Phu Nhuan Jewelry Joint Stock Company (PNJ), was the only Vietnamese person honored as one of the 40 most outstanding icons (Extraordinary 40) of the world jewelry industry.

The organizers said that Ms. Cao Thi Ngoc Dung is the first Vietnamese person to be included in the list of 40 people who have made history in the world jewelry industry. Among the 40 people honored, she is one of the four rare women to receive this award.

When talking about her 35-year journey of dedication to the jewelry industry, at the award ceremony, Ms. Dung emotionally said: "35 years ago, when I was assigned to build a gold, silver and gemstone business unit - the predecessor of today's PNJ, the team of artisans at that time and I had the same dream, which was to restore and develop the Vietnamese jewelry industry, worthy of the country's history and reach out, making a name on the world jewelry map. Over time, many things have changed in the flow of history. But the only thing that has never changed at PNJ is belief. And that belief has been persistently proven by PNJ through concrete actions over the past 35 years."

Despite many ups and downs in the development process, under the leadership of Ms. Cao Thi Ngoc Dung, today PNJ has become a famous gold, silver, gemstone, and jewelry brand at home and abroad. In the export channel, PNJ has reached the world, exporting to 13 countries in 4 different continents. In 2022, PNJ once again set a new record, making its mark in the industry with revenue reaching 33,876 billion VND - an increase of 73% compared to 2021; profit also increased dramatically after tax by more than 1,800 billion VND - an increase of over 75% compared to 2021.

With many efforts and outstanding achievements in production and business activities, social charity contributions, contributions to the cause of socialism and national defense, businesswoman Huynh Bich Ngoc (Permanent Vice President and General Director of TTC Group) was awarded the Second Class Labor Medal by the State.

TTC Agris Sugar Products (HP)

Previously, Kyungnam University (Korea) awarded Ms. Huynh Bich Ngoc the title of Honorary Doctor - the most prestigious title of this university for business people with contributions to business and community activities.

Born and raised in the West, Ms. Huynh Bich Ngoc chose sugarcane to develop and stick with. She is one of the two founders of TTC Group, along with businessman Dang Van Thanh - her husband. Ms. Ngoc is known as the "Sugar Queen" and is a pioneer in producing clean sugar in Vietnam. Not only providing Vietnamese consumers with quality products that ensure health, Ms. Huynh Bich Ngoc is also dedicated to making Vietnamese brands famous in the international market.

With the philosophy of "Living is to be passionate and have big dreams", Thanh Thanh Cong - Bien Hoa Joint Stock Company (TTC AgriS) under the leadership of Ms. Huynh Bich Ngoc has taken strategic steps to integrate with the global economy. Recently, TTC AgriS was honored in the Top 50 best listed companies organized by Forbes Vietnam.

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