3 Vietnamese businesswomen among Asia's most powerful

MagazineFortune(USA) announced the list of 100 most powerful businesswomen in the Asia-Pacific region. This year's representatives come from 11 countries, in many fields, from finance, energy, transportation, food and beverage to restaurants and hotels.

Vietnam has three representatives on the list. They are VietJet Air Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao, Vinamilk CEO Mai Kieu Lien and Sacombank CEO Nguyen Duc Thach Diem.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao founded the low-cost airline VietJet in 2011. Since its inception, the airline has maintained a high growth rate. Last year, the airline carried 25.3 million passengers. The number of international passengers was 7.6 million, an increase of 183% compared to 2022. Ms. Thao is also the only female billionaire in Vietnam to appear on the list ofForbesover the years, currently owns assets of 2.9 billion USD.

Meanwhile, Ms. Mai Kieu Lien joined Vinamilk since the company was founded in 1976. In the first 4 years, she was a technology engineer in charge of the condensed milk factory. After completing her training in Russia in 1984, she became Deputy General Director in charge of economics. Since 1992, she has been General Director of Vinamilk. Vinamilk is currently the largest food and beverage company listed on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange (HoSE), with a capitalization of 6 billion USD.

Ms. Nguyen Duc Thach Diem is Vice Chairwoman and CEO of Sacombank. She joined the bank in 2002 and was appointed CEO in 2017. Ms. Diem has led Sacombank through a seven-year restructuring process to reduce bad debt. The bank's total assets are currently around $27 billion.

This is the first yearFortuneannounced the list of Asia's Most Powerful Businesswomen. More than half of this year's representatives are CEOs, 26 are Chairmen and 11 are CFOs. 13 representatives are regional leaders of large multinational companies such as Starbucks, McDonald's or Nike. More than 10% of the businesswomen are founders of the companies they lead.

FortuneThis year’s list of women entrepreneurs is judged on how they have transformed their companies, disrupted their industries, driven growth, and inspired their peers and the next generation of leaders. They were selected based on the size of their businesses, strategic vision, ability to innovate, economic impact, and social responsibility.