Meet “wonder women” on Vietnam stock exchange

These businesswomen have achieved brilliant successes and built impressive fortunes on the Vietnamese bourses.

Mai Kieu Lien, CEO of Vinamilk

Mai Kieu Lien, dubbed as “the soul” of Vinamilk (HoSE: VNM), has been the dairy firm’s General Director for three decades and board member.

In 2018, Lien became the first Vietnamese woman to be honored with the “Forbes Lifetime Achievement Award”, and this US magazine listed her as one of the 50 most influential Vietnamese women in 2019.

Lien was also a winner of The Nikkei Asia Prize by Nikkei Inc. for Economics and Business Innovation in 2020. Before this success, she was the only Vietnamese businesswoman who consecutively appeared on the list of Forbes Asia's Power Businesswomen from 2012-2015.

Under her leadership, Vinamilk has constantly been one of the most profitable companies on the stock market.

By the end of 2020, Lien owned more than 6.4 million VNM shares. Her stock market asset was worth more than VND491.5 billion ($21.5 million) on March 7, 2022.

Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao, CEO of Vietjet Air

Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao, captain of Vietjet Air (HoSE: VJC), has held many key positions at banks and businesses in the Sovico Group ecosystem. She is the acting Vice President of HD Bank and Chairman of Sovico.

According to the company’s report in 2020, Thao personally owned 47.4 million shares of VJC. Her own company, Sunflower Sunny Investment Co., Ltd., is currently a major shareholder of Vietjet Air, holding nearly 155 million shares.

In total, Thao owns more than 202.5 million shares of VJC. These shares were worth VND134.200 ($5.87) per unit on March 7, adding nearly VND27.18 trillion ($1.19 billion) to her fortune.

She is now the third richest person in Vietnam and the 986th in the world, with total assets of $3 billion, according to Forbes.

Truong Thi Le Khanh, Chairman of Vinh Hoan

Truong Thi Le Khanh is the founder and Chairman of Vinh Hoan JSC (HoSE: VHC), Vietnam’s leading basa catfish exporting and processing company.

Starting with a charter capital of only VND70 million ($3,060) and 70 employees, VHC under Khanh’s leadership has joined the club of businesses with a profit of trillions of Vietnamese dong (VND1 trillion = nearly $44 million) on the local stock exchange.

In 2021, VHC’s net revenue reached more than VND9.06 trillion ($396,000), up 26% year-on-year, while net profit was more than VND1.11 trillion ($48,580), up 54% against the previous year.

The 61-year businesswoman currently holds more than 79.1 million shares of VHC, equivalent to a total value of nearly VND6.24 trillion ($273 million).

Nguyen Thi Mai Thanh, Chairman of REE

Nguyen Thi Mai Thanh is Chairman of REE Mechanical & Electrical Engineering JSC (HoSE: REE).

In 1982, Thanh joined REE as an engineer after graduating from Germany’s Karl-Marx-Stadt University. Three years later, she became the company’s leader. She became General Director of REE at the age of 30. At that time, the company was just a small electrical business.

One of the turning points of REE was its expansion into the real estate sector, with E-town Office Building 1 in Tan Binh district, Ho Chi Minh City. Following the success of E-town 1, REE invested in E-town 2, 3, 4, which were completed in late 2006 and 2008, with 90% of the area already occupied by tenants.

REE is now a multi-sector corporation with major business lines in electricity, water and office space.

Thanh currently holds more than 37.7 million REE shares, equivalent to VND2.78 trillion ($122 million).