Businesswoman Nguyễn Thị Phương Thảo. — Photos courtesy of Vietjet

HÀ NỘI — The female billionaire Nguyễn Thị Phương Thảo has shown that with talent, hard work and a bold heart to dream and make dreams come true, any woman can break the glass ceiling and contribute to the development of their homeland.

The Dream of Vietjet Air

Few people know that the birth of Vietjet, a private airline, originated from a question full of aspirations from a poor ethnic mother of a revolutionary family in a mountainous area: "Please tell me how many tonnes of rice it takes to buy an airplane ticket?"

This seemingly simple question made businesswoman Thảo realise the burning desire of most Vietnamese people: to set foot on an airplane to travel across the country, explore the world, and beyond that, to change their lives and connect Việt Nam with the world.

The meeting with the poor mother from the highlands swayed the mind of Vietjet’s founder to her idea of building a five-star airline that everyone could afford and enjoy flying with.

The birth of Vietjet was a breath of fresh air bringing vitality into the aviation industry. The initial doubts about the private airline model were dispelled when Vietjet relentlessly expanded its flight network, turning the dream of flying for millions of people into a reality.

With constant innovation and creativity, Vietjet's secret to success lies in the absolute focus on service innovation and cost management. The airline took the lead in transitioning from paper tickets to e-tickets and online payments, continuously improving operational processes, and aiming for standardisation and streamlining. Vietjet owns one of the latest and most modern fleets in the world, along with a team of employees from various countries who are young, enthusiastic, and have a high team spirit.

Female billionaire Nguyễn Thị Phương Thảo established the airline, allowing the flying dreams of millions of people to come true.

The journey of Vietjet, like many other businesses, has been through ups and downs, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. This was an extremely challenging time for the entire global economy. However, it was also a period when Vietjet teams demonstrated their resilience to overcome difficulties and the spirit of creativity and innovation.

When passenger transport was suspended as the government was trying to prevent the spread of the pandemic, Vietjet strategically shifted its focus to freight transport. Leveraging this advantage, the airline capitalised on the opportunity to expedite its recovery process.

Vietjet has carried out hundreds of flights to transport anti-pandemic forces, medical equipment and supplies, and vaccines, among others, to epidemic-stricken areas and has facilitated the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of passengers from epidemic zones. They have supported mass testing with over two million testing samples and millions of vaccine doses. Though the pandemic forced Vietjet to delay some expansion plans, the airline made every effort to make up for lost time.

The pandemic was not deemed as a barrier, but rather an opportunity for Vietjet to innovate, rise with confidence, and emerge stronger than ever. Immediately after the pandemic was brought under control, the airline, within the last year, has led the opening of 33 new international routes, becoming the largest airline flying to Australia and India, while continuing to expand in established major markets such as China, Japan, South Korea and new destinations in its traditional market of Southeast Asia.

A trendsetter

In the Vietnamese business community, it is never a difficult feat to find a talented female leader who has made significant contributions to the country's economy. However, successful women in the aviation industry like Madame Thảo are rare gems worldwide, as the sector has traditionally been a male-dominated field.

As a female billionaire, Thảo always places the protection and promotion of women's rights at the core of the corporate culture and actively works for gender equality. Vietjet has provided opportunities for many women to pursue their dreams of becoming pilots, captains, aircraft technicians and information technology workers.

Like many other Asian women, Thảo undoubtedly faces the pressure of balancing work and family responsibilities. This pressure forces women to work twice or three times as hard as men. However, she has never felt constrained by her gender.

In addition to establishing Vietjet, Thảo, armed with her knowledge as an economist and an expert in automation, takes an interest in various sectors of the economy. She even goes beyond that and starts to pay attention to other fields such as technology, education, and healthcare to bring a better life for the people.

Madame Thảo and Jean-Yves Le Saux, Director of Strategic Planning at UNESCO, signed a cooperation agreement to implement the project "connecting World Heritage Sites and Creative City recognised by UNESCO in Việt Nam", in the presence of Vietnamese Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính and UNESCO Director General, Audrey Azoulay.

Her businesses, operating closely with the entrepreneurial community, have played a pivotal role in advancing the development of the private sector and fostering an image of Việt Nam as an integrated, self-reliant, innovative and progressive nation.

Thảo is a well-known figure among those who take an interest in the development and integration of Vietnam's economy and stock market. She hopes to contribute to bringing the Vietnamese stock market to a level comparable to major markets like London and New York by 2045, creating a brighter future for the country's economy.

Dreams from a kind heart

Every Vietnamese woman is taught about the spirit of sacrifice, caring, meticulousness, elegance, generosity and putting others before oneself. Women are also often dreamy and romantic. For Thảo, dreaming is actually aspirations that stem from a kind heart to bring the best to the community. These are big dreams, and by following her journey, you can see that she acts like an angel to turn those dreams into reality.

She has spread and realised these dreams for all her employees and the community through various charitable activities. During the COVID-19 period, her businesses operated numerous free flights to airlift medical personnel, vaccines and supplies to pandemic hotspots, provided hundreds of thousands of meals in HCM City, sponsored ambulances and testing kits for localities, and played a leading role in building an online contribution website for the COVID-19 Prevention Fund to mobilise donations from both domestic and international sources. The fund raised nearly VNĐ12 trillion.

During the Lunar New Year holidays, Vietjet and HDBank have regularly organised free flights to bring poor workers and orphaned students back to their hometowns to reunite with their families. Each take-off brings happiness to every household.

On weekends or during holidays, Thảo regularly dedicates her time to go to places where she can turn dreams into reality. She often visits and gives gifts to young children in orphanages and cooks charity meals. Tens of thousands of gifts are also sent by her to remote areas across the country during the Tết holiday every year.

With her compassionate heart, the female billionaire has made many dreams come true.

The success of the multi-industry female entrepreneur Thảo, together with her team, and the success of the business community and Vietnamese women, though quietly, has significantly improved the well-being of the people, fostering happiness and propelling the development of the country, and last but not least, constantly bringing Việt Nam closer to the world. — VNS