Thi Phuong Thao Nguyen
Overview
- Source of Wealth
- Airlines
- Industry
- Diversified
- Residence
- Ho Chi Minh City
- Marital Status
- Married
- Children
- 4
Assets
- Ho Chi Minh City Development Joint Stock Commercial Bank580,000,000 shares @ --HDB-VN
- Vietjet Aviation426,550,000 shares @ --VJC-VN
Biography
Vietnam's first self-made woman billionaire Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao took her budget airline, VietJet Air, public in February 2017.
She launched the airline in 2011 and made a big splash early on with ads featuring bikini-clad flight attendants.
She also has investments in HD Bank and real estate, including hotels and beach resorts.
In October 2021, she pledged $200 million to Oxford University's Linacre College for a new graduate centre and to endow post-graduate scholarships. The college will be renamed Thao College.
About
Nguyen got the idea to launch a low-cost airline while she was a trader, when she predicted that demand for air travel in Vietnam would increase.
After studying economics and finance in Soviet Russia in the 1980s, Nguyen got her start trading commodities in Eastern Europe and Asia.