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 Vingroup JSC () is a Vietnamese conglomerate headquartered in Long Bien district, Hanoi. Vingroup is one of the largest conglomerates of Vietnam, focusing on technology, industry, real estate development, retail and services from healthcare to ...

, the largest conglomerate in Vietnam. As of November 2024, Vượng has a net worth of $4.2 billion according to

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 ...

Personal life

Vượng was born on 5 August 1968 in

Hanoi Hanoi ( ; ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Vietnam, second-most populous city of Vietnam. The name "Hanoi" translates to "inside the river" (Hanoi is bordered by the Red River (Asia), Red and Black River (Asia), Black Riv ...

; 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 Han ...

in north-central Vietnam. His father served in the Vietnamese Army's air defence division, and his mother is a Hai Phonger, who 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 and was sent to the

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 ...

to study in the Moscow Geological Prospecting Institute, 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 Thu Hương, whom he had known since high school, and moved to

Kharkiv Kharkiv, also known as Kharkov, is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city in Ukraine.

, Ukraine where he lived in the early 1990s. The couple has three children.

Career

In the 1990s, while living in

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

, Phạm Nhật Vượng started an instant noodle restaurant business using money borrowed from friends and family. Soon he also started producing and selling

instant noodle Instant noodles, or instant ramen, is a type of food consisting of noodles sold in a precooked and dried block with flavoring powder and/or seasoning oil. The dried noodle block was originally created by Deep frying, flash-frying cooked noodles, ...

s. This brand of instant noodles became a hit with

Ukrainians Ukrainians (, ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine. Their native tongue is Ukrainian language, Ukrainian, and the majority adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, forming the List of contemporary eth ...

during the lean post-communist years of the 1990s. 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, Switzerland. It has been the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other metrics, since 20 ...

for $150 million in 2009, before returning to Vietnam. Vượng's first projects in Vietnam were Vinpearl Resort

Nha Trang Nha Trang ( or ; ) is a coastal city and capital of Khánh Hòa Province, on the South Central Coast of Vietnam. It is bounded on the north by Ninh Hoà town, on the south by Cam Ranh city and on the west by Diên Khánh District. The city had ...

(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 Vingroup JSC () is a Vietnamese conglomerate headquartered in Long Bien district, Hanoi. Vingroup is one of the largest conglomerates of Vietnam, focusing on technology, industry, real estate development, retail and services from healthcare to ...

in 2007. VinGroup is headquartered in its Riverside township in

Long Biên District Long may refer to: Measurement * Long, characteristic of something of great duration * Long, characteristic of something of great length * Longitude (abbreviation: long.), a geographic coordinate * Longa (music), note value in early music mens ...

in Eastern

. In 2015, Vượng was listed as the richest person in Vietnam with assets totaling VNĐ 24.3 trillion (approximately

US$ The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...

1.1 billion), which more than quadrupled those of the second richest person, Trần Đình Long of Hanoi Hoa Phat Corporation. His wife, Phạm Thu Hương and sister-in-law Phạm Thúy Hằng ranked third and fifth respectively. Vượng took on the role of CEO of

VinFast VinFast Auto Ltd. is a Vietnamese Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive company founded by Vingroup, one of the largest private conglomerates in Vietnam that was founded by Pham Nhat Vuong. Established in 20 ...

in January 2024.

References

1968 births Living people {{DEFAULTSORT:Pham, Nhat Vuong Vietnamese businesspeople Vietnamese billionaires Vietnamese business executives Vingroup Vietnamese expatriates in Ukraine Vietnamese company founders Real estate and property developers People from Hanoi