VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnam has no lack of fabulously wealthy individuals. Some came by their fortunes the easy way – through inheritance. But far more fascinating are the self-made ones, the ones who started with little more than the shirts on their backs and built up empires through their own wits, ambition, and perseverance. VietNamNet decided to have a look at some of these self-made billionaires.

Mr Pham Nhat Vuong

Vuong was the first Vietnamese to land in Forbes’ list of the world’s billionaires in 2013.

Vuong has for the fourth time topped the list of the Vietnamese richest stock millionaires. Doing business from scratch many years ago, Vuong might not have  imagined that he would one day build up a major group with total value of VND75 trillion, in which he holds VND19.7 billion worth of shares. Vingroup now employs thousands of direct and indirect workers.

Mr Trinh The Duc

Duc was an empty handed poor worker, but he always still entertained the dream of getting rich one day. And the dream came true: the young man from the northern province of Hung Yen gradually mastered high technologies and become director of the Viet Duc Refrigeration Company.

Mrs Nguyen Thi Lieu

Mrs. Lieu

The big businesswoman from the poor central province of Ha Tinh reportedly possesses assets worth trillions of dong. Lieu spared no expense on her son’s luxurious wedding, which cost VND20 billion; and she’s invested a good deal of her wealth in villas in Ha Tinh and Hanoi.

Lieu went through a number of ups and downs before she managed to attain the fortune she has today. She said her family had been very poor in the past. Therefore, she entertained a dream of escaping from poverty since she turned 11 and started her first business.

Mr Doan Nguyen Duc

Duc is well known in Vietnam not only as the chair of Hoang Anh Gia Lai Group, but also as a boss, and strategist in professional soccer.

His name has become even better known following the great success of the Vietnam U19 football squad. Duc is special partially because he started off penniless.  Born into a poor family with 7 other siblings, Duc now has stock assets valued at VND22.524 trillion, due to his 55 percent stake of Hoang Anh Gia Lai.

In 2008, when he held VND6.1 trillion worth of Hoang Anh Gia Lai’s shares, Duc was listed as the richest stock millionaire in Vietnam.

Mrs Le Hong Thuy Tien

Being the Chair of Imex Pan Pacific Group, manager of 25 private investment funds, retail chains, shopping malls, the distributor for number of luxury brands and the owner of assets totaling tens of trillions of dong, Tien is one of the most renowned businesswomen in Vietnam.

She was born in war time in 1970 into a family with five siblings. Her father passed away when she was five. Her mother, a teacher, told her children that working hard was the key to survival. Clearly, Tien took her mother’s words to heart.

Diep is also a well-known businesswoman who started doing business square one.

Diep was born in Quy Nhon City, married a man in the north and suffered the terrible hunger. She and her family members often had to settle for cassava and sweet potatoes instead of rice for their meals.

Diep, who is over 60 years old now, is the director of Diep Bach Duong, a big real estate firm which plans to develop international real estate projects.

Manh Ha