Pham Nhat Vuong has become the first Vietnamese to enter the world’s richest billionaires list in Forbes magazine with total assets of US$1.5 billion, as estimated in March 2013.
Pham Nhat Vuong ranks 974th on the Forbes list, with his $1.5 billion assets based largely on the 53 percent stake he owns in Vingroup, a real estate development firm.
Born in Hanoi, Pham Nhat Vuong was considered a man of success at a very young age, a typical example of the generation that includes several successful entrepreneurs in Eastern Europe.
Vuong studied economics at the University of Moscow in Russia. After graduating, he moved to Ukraine and founded the food company called LLC Technocom.
For years he had been gradually funneling the funds from his Ukrainian noodle empire into real estate projects back in his homeland.
In early 2000, Pham Nhat Vuong returned home and became a founding member or a member of Board of Management in big businesses like Vinpearl and Vincom JSC.
In Vietnam, Vuong decided to invest in real estate projects such as the deluxe Vinpearl Resort in Nha Trang along with a two mile cable car connecting the island to the mainland. He then built Vincom Center on Ba Trieu Street, the first commercial tower complex in Hanoi.
Last year Vuong merged the two companies to create Vingroup, which is now the fifth most valuable company on the Vietnamese stock exchange.
