Two Vietnamese among top 25 Asian ‘Power Businesswomen’: Forbes

The list of women playing a significant role in shaping Asia’s business landscape includes Truong Thi Le Khanh, 59, founder and chairwoman of seafood exporter Vinh Hoan Corporation.

"Over the past 23 years, Khanh has built her listed company into Vietnam’s largest seafood firm by market capitalization," Forbes said.

Founder and chairwoman of seafood exporter Vinh Hoan Corporation Truong Thi Le Khanh. Photo courtesy of the company.

Vinh Hoan, which employs more than 6,000 employees in six processing plants, is the best performer in the country’s seafood industry, earning a net profit of $50 million last year.

Khanh told Forbes that the global downturn in the F&B industry will cause a 20 percent revenue drop this year as most sales are international. To find new growth, she aims to expand locally and through partnerships in Europe.

The other Vietnamese woman in the top 25 listing is Nguyen Bach Diep, 48, chairwoman of FPT Retail. Diep has helped build the company into Vietnam's second largest electronics retailer by number of outlets, with more than 630 stores nationwide.

Chairwoman of FPT Retail Nguyen Bach Diep. Photo acquired by VnExpress.

She joined the company eight years ago and became chairwoman in 2017 when she added pharmaceutical retailing with the purchase of a majority stake in the Long Chau drugstore chain, and expanded it from four stores to roughly 160.

Other women who have made the list are: Lily Kong, president of Singapore Management University, Samantha Du, founder of Chinese pharma company Zai Lab, Maki Akaida, CEO of Uniqlo Japan and Melanie Perkins, cofounder and CEO of Australia’s graphic design company Canva.

Last year, Vietjet CEO Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao, the richest woman in Vietnam, and NutiFood CEO Tran Thi Le were included in Forbes list of 25 most powerful businesswomen in Asia.