JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2018 57
I
t really all started in Moscow
in the late 1980s when Nguyen
Thi Phuong Thao was a second-
year student studying finance
and economics. With little money
during those years not long before
the Soviet Union collapsed, Thao’s
entrepreneurial spirit came to the fore.
She persuaded suppliers in Japan,
Hong Kong and South Korea to let her
have clothing, office equipment and
other consumer goods on credit. Then
she sold them to a Russian public
eager to snap up goods that were
in short supply in an economically
depressed Soviet Union.
“I worked so hard and earned the
trust of suppliers by always being
honest with them,” she explained later.
“I didn’t have much money. They gave
me more and more products with
longer credit terms.”Flying happy
)
VietJet
WRITER:TOMBALLANTYNESince launching Vietnam’s only private
airline, VietJet, in 2011, founder and chief
executive Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao has
fast become the queen of Asia’s skies.
At the surprisingly young age, for an
airline boss, of 45, her ambition is
boundless. And so far there’s nothing
to suggest she won’t achieve her goals.
VietJet has quickly grown to
become Vietnam’s largest
low-cost carrier.VIETJET