CEO Sanghyun Ahn. — Courtesy photo

HÀ NỘI — In a time of shifting global trade dynamics, one South Korean business leader has been quietly reshaping the economic relationship between Korea and Việt Nam.

Sanghyun Ahn, a veteran CEO and director with over a decade of cross-border corporate leadership, has built his career on strategic investment that drives measurable economic growth, sustainable job creation and transformative educational partnerships.

In global business, some leaders measure success in numbers. Sanghyun Ahn measures it in people — the jobs created, the students given international opportunities, and the communities strengthened through cross-border collaboration.

For more than ten years, he has led transformative projects as CEO and director of multiple multinational companies, advancing initiatives in investment, educational exchange and sustainable development — all united by a common goal: long-term, measurable impact.

From 2011 to 2022, Sanghyun led five major companies across sectors from educational consulting to sustainable energy. Most notably, as Director of PLUS International Co Ltd, he organised and managed the Overseas Business Team to meet ambitious revenue goals while structuring long-term partnerships with leading Vietnamese universities, including FPT Polytechnic.

These initiatives created new academic exchange programmes and facilitated foreign direct investment that generated hundreds of jobs in both countries.

CEO Sanghyun Ahn and organisers of the Asia Artist Awards 2019. — Courtesy photo

His impact extended to FPT Retail JSC, one of Việt Nam’s largest retail enterprises, where he spearheaded negotiations with multinational companies from Japan, Germany and Canada in the beauty industry sector, unlocking new market opportunities and stimulating workforce expansion in high-growth regions.

These achievements earned him the International Achievement Award from Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Award for Job Creation from the Korea Corporate Social Responsibility Foundation in 2019.

His career also reflects a commitment to sustainable development. As CEO of K&J Holdings Co Ltd, he partnered with Honeywell on green energy cost-saving projects for a major Korean university, an initiative that reduced operational expenses and created skilled jobs in the emerging clean energy sector.

Looking ahead, Sanghyun Ahn plans to bring his cross-border business expertise to the United States, aiming to channel Asian investment into US markets, generate high-skilled jobs and open new export opportunities for American companies in sustainable energy, consumer goods and higher education.

"The US has unmatched innovation capacity," he says. "By building bridges between US industries and high-growth Asian markets, we can create measurable economic impact on both sides of the Pacific." — VNS