Founders
“Creating positive change and having a direct impact on people’s lives – this has always been my purpose in business and life.”
Mr. Pham Nhat Vuong
Chairman of Vingroup
Founder of VinFuture Foundation
Madam Pham Thu Huong
Vice-Chairperson of the Board of Directors of Vingroup
Co-Founder of VinFuture Foundation
Table of Contents
About the founders
Mr.
Pham
Nhat Vuong
Chairman of Vingroup
Founder of VinFuture Foundation
Mr. Pham Nhat Vuong (born 1968) currently serves as the Chairperson of the Board of Directors of Vingroup, a Vietnamese conglomerate. In 1993, after graduating from the Moscow Geological Prospecting Institute in Russia, Mr. Pham Nhat Vuong launched his first business by opening a restaurant in Ukraine. Following this, he founded Technocom (the predecessor of Vingroup), pioneering innovation in the food and beverage industry with the renowned brand of instant noodles called “Mivina”.
Throughout the 1990s, under Mr. Pham Nhat Vuong’s leadership, Technocom established a strong foothold in Ukraine thanks to its significant contribution to the country’s development and the provision of employment for thousands of local residents.
In 2002, Mr. Pham Nhat Vuong began focusing his investment in Vietnam with the aspiration to revitalize his homeland and improve the quality of people’s lives.
In 2013, Mr. Pham Nhat Vuong became the first Vietnamese to join the Forbes distinguished list of the World’s Billionaires. His net worth is now estimated to be US $7 billion, placing him 1st in Vietnam and 344th on Forbes’ list of billionaires.
In 2020, he co-founded the VinFuture Foundation and VinFuture Prize with his wife, Madam Pham Thu Huong, with the mission of honoring and supporting breakthrough science and technology research that has significant proven impacts, or the potential to improve the lives of billions of people on Earth,
as well as promoting the establishment of a sustainable living environment for future generations.
For his outstanding contributions to the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, Mr. Pham Nhat Vuong was named one of the 15 “Heroes of Philanthropy in the Asia-Pacific region” for two consecutive years in 2020 and 2021.
Madam
Pham
thu huong
Vice-Chairperson of the Board of Directors of Vingroup
Co-Founder of VinFuture Foundation
Madam Pham Thu Huong (born 1969) serves as the Vice-Chairperson of the Board of Directors of Vingroup. She is married to Mr. Pham Nhat Vuong. Madam Pham Thu Huong earned a Master’s of International Law from the National University of Kyiv in Ukraine.
She has been working alongside Mr. Pham Nhat Vuong from his early entrepreneurial days in Ukraine and is one of Vingroup’s most influential senior leaders.
Madam Pham Thu Huong regularly appears on the list of the wealthiest people in Vietnam’s stock market.
She is also one of the influential women in Vietnam, known for her philanthropic and community activities carried out through the Kind Heart Foundation and Vingroup.
Founders' Messages
This sense of purpose has resulted in Vingroup’s journey – from a small start-up in Europe during the early 1990s to becoming a leading private conglomerate in Vietnam today, with the aspiration and dedication to inspire the advancement of Vietnamese brands worldwide in the future. Throughout this journey, we have always been committed to our primary mission: contributing to improve the quality of life for humanity in general and for Vietnamese people in particular.
Presently, Vingroup operates an ecosystem of products and services across various sectors, from real estate, tourism, and entertainment to healthcare, education, and most recently, technology. This has been a fulfilling journey, which has helped build a stable foundation for us to determine and realize our mission in a strong and comprehensive way.
The events of 2020 have shown that now, more than ever, we need to bring together extraordinary individuals with good hearts and great minds who can strive towards realizing the power of science and technology in overcoming our toughest global challenges. I have always believed that science and technology are vital forces for human development, which can help create a more peaceful, prosperous, and happier life for people around the world.
Recognizing this need, my wife Phạm Thu Hương and I have founded the VinFuture Foundation, an independent philanthropic organization, with the hope to further the mission of creating positive change in the lives of people through science and technology. The Foundation aims to recognize and support breakthrough scientific research and technological innovations which have the potential to contribute to resolving global challenges.
The core component of the Foundation is the VinFuture Prize, which honors exceptional minds worldwide, whose scientific and technological achievements have the potential to create meaningful change and transform the lives of millions of people around the world.
I strongly believe that the VinFuture Foundation and the VinFuture Prize will not only promote creativity in science and technology, but also push the frontiers of human knowledge, all with the aim of improving people’s lives.
