Phạm Nhật Vượng (born 5 August 1968) is a Vietnamese property developer and Vietnam's first
billionaire
A billionaire is a person with a net worth of at least 1,000,000,000, one billion (1,000,000,000, i.e., a thousand million) units of a given currency, usually of a major currency such as the United States dollar, euro, or pound sterling. The ...
. He is the founder and chairman of
Vingroup
Vingroup Joint Stock Company (), is the largest conglomerate of Vietnam, focusing on technology, industry, real estate development, retail, and services ranging from healthcare to hospitality. The company was founded by property developer and en ...
.
Personal life
Vượng was born on 5 August 1968 in
Hanoi
Hanoi or Ha Noi ( or ; vi, Hà Nội ) is the capital and second-largest city of Vietnam. It covers an area of . It consists of 12 urban districts, one district-leveled town and 17 rural districts. Located within the Red River Delta, Hanoi i ...
; his paternal family has origins in
Hà Tĩnh
Hà Tĩnh () is a city in Vietnam.Atlas of the World', Oxford University Press, 2011, p. 236. It is the capital of Hà Tĩnh Province, and lies in the North Central Coast region. It is located on National Highway 1A. The Vietnamese capital Hanoi ...
in north-central Vietnam. His father served in the Vietnamese Army's air defence division, and his mother had a tea shop, which left the family with a very meager income. He grew up in Hanoi and graduated from Kim Lien High School in 1985.
In 1987, he entered
Hanoi University of Mining and Geology
Hanoi University of Mining and Geology (HUMG, vi, Trường Đại học Mỏ - Địa chất Hà Nội) is a university in the Bắc Từ Liêm district of Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam. It trains technical experts in exploration and exploi ...
and was sent to
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eigh ...
to study in the
Moscow Geological Prospecting Institute
Sergo Ordzhonikidze Russian State University for Geological Prospecting (, МГРИ), or the Russian State University for Geological Prospecting is named after Sergo Ordzhonikidze and previously known as the Moscow Geological Prospecting Institut ...
, for which he was able to obtain a scholarship thanks to his profound mathematical aptitude. He graduated from this university in 1992.
After graduating, he married Phạm Trang Hương, whom he had known since high school, and moved to
Kharkiv
Kharkiv ( uk, wikt:Харків, Ха́рків, ), also known as Kharkov (russian: Харькoв, ), is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine.
The couple has 3 children: Phạm Nhật Quân Anh - current Deputy General Director of Vinpearl Company Limited, Phạm Nhật Minh Hoàng and Phạm Nhật Minh Anh.
Career as an entrepreneur
In the 1990s, while living in Ukraine, Pham Nhat Vuong started an instant noodle restaurant business using money borrowed from friends and family. Soon he also started producing and selling instant noodles.
In 1993, he founded Technocom, which would become a market leader in dehydrated culinary products in Ukraine. Vượng sold Technocom to
Nestlé
Nestlé S.A. (; ; ) is a Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Vaud, Switzerland. It is the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other metrics, sin ...
for $150 million in 2009, before returning to Vietnam.
Vượng's first projects in Vietnam were Vinpearl Resort Nha Trang (opened in 2003) and Vincom City Towers (later renamed Vincom Ba Trieu) in central Hanoi (opened in 2004). Vincom went public in 2007. It merged with Vinpearl, Vượng's luxury resort business, to form VinGroup in 2007. VinGroup is headquartered in its Riverside township in Long Biên District in Eastern
Hanoi
Hanoi or Ha Noi ( or ; vi, Hà Nội ) is the capital and second-largest city of Vietnam. It covers an area of . It consists of 12 urban districts, one district-leveled town and 17 rural districts. Located within the Red River Delta, Hanoi i ...
.
In 2015, Vượng was listed as the richest person in Vietnam with assets totaling VNĐ 24.3 trillion (approximately US$1.1 trillion), which more than quadrupled those of the second richest person,
Trần Đình Long
Trần Đình Long (born 22 February 1961) is a Vietnamese businessman and billionaire. He is the chair of Hoa Phat Group Joint Stock Company (HPG). He is considered among the most successful businessmen in Vietnam's steel industry.
Biography
T ...
of Hanoi Hoa Phat Corporation. His wife, Phạm Thu Hương and sister-in-law Phạm Thúy Hằng ranked third and fifth respectively. As of 12 April 2021, ''
Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...