Nguyễn Thị Phương Thảo (born June 7, 1970) is a Vietnamese businesswoman, and the president and CEO of

VietJet Air Vietjet Aviation Joint Stock Company (), operating as VietJet Air or Vietjet, is a Vietnamese low-cost airline based in Hanoi. It was the first privately owned airline to be established in Vietnam, being granted its initial approval to operate ...

, president of Sovico Group and vice president of HDBank. After

Phạm Nhật Vượng Phạm Nhật Vượng (, born 5 August 1968) is a Vietnamese property developer and Vietnam's first USD billionaire. He is the founder and chairman of Vingroup, the largest conglomerate in Vietnam. As of November 2024, Vượng has a net wor ...

, she is the second Vietnamese person (as well as the first Southeast Asian woman) to be recognized by ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

'' as a US$ billionaire.

Biography

Nguyễn Thị Phương Thảo became a millionaire at age 21 while studying finance and economics in Moscow, where she began distributing fax machines, plastic and rubber from Japan, Hong Kong and South Korea in the then

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. Since then she has developed a portfolio of business interests, including VietJet and Sovico Holdings, that itself holds a 90 per cent stake in

Ho Chi Minh City Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) ('','' TP.HCM; ), commonly known as Saigon (; ), is the most populous city in Vietnam with a population of around 14 million in 2025. The city's geography is defined by rivers and canals, of which the largest is Saigo ...

's Dragon City development. She holds bachelor's degrees in financial credit management and labor economics at the

Plekhanov Russian University of Economics The Plekhanov Russian University of Economics () is a public research university in Moscow, Russia. It was founded in 1907 by entrepreneur Alexei Vishnyakov as the first finance-specialized college in the Russian Empire. In addition to accr ...

and a doctorate in economic management from the

D. Mendeleev University of Chemical Technology of Russia D. Mendeleev University of Chemical Technology of Russia (MUCTR) () is a public research university in Moscow, and is the largest Russian center for education and research in the field of chemical engineering. The history of MUCTR can be trac ...

. She ranked 62nd in the list of Power Women 2016. She was listed in Asia's 50 Power Businesswomen 2016. After she took VietJet Air public in February 2017, she became Vietnam's first self-made woman billionaire, second billionaire overall (after

) and Southeast Asia's only female billionaire. In early 2021, her net worth was estimated at US$2.1 billion. She also has investments in HD Bank and real estate, including three beach resorts. In 2021, she signed a memorandum of understanding with the University of Oxford's Linacre College for a donation of GBP£155million. The college intends to petition the Privy Council to change its name to Thao College. In June 2022, she was featured on the list of the Global 100 by the International Hospitality Institute as one of the 100 Most Powerful People in Global Hospitality.

Personal life

Phương Thảo has a daughter and a son, Tommy Nguyen. Her son has previously studied at

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

's economics & management department and has founded an express delivery company with investment from VietJet.

Awards and honors

Knight of the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

(France, 2021)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nguyen, Thi Phuong Thao 1970 births Living people Vietnamese business executives Airline founders Vietnamese billionaires Female billionaires Women chief executives Vietnamese expatriates in the Soviet Union People from Hanoi Plekhanov Russian University of Economics alumni D. Mendeleev University of Chemical Technology of Russia alumni 20th-century Vietnamese women 21st-century Vietnamese women Knights of the Legion of Honour