Ms. Tu Huong: The head of Vietnam's most prominent business family.

Ms. Tran Thi Huong (Tu Huong) is the head of one of the most renowned business families and one of the few people of advanced age who are still actively involved in business and even brought the Miss Universe competition to Vietnam.

The mistress of multiple "empires"

Ms. Tran Thi Huong. Photo: Internet

Ms. Tran Thi Huong (Tu Huong), born in 1936, is a first-generation female entrepreneur in Vietnam. Originally from Binh Dinh province, she heads the Hoan Cau real estate empire and Nam A Bank (NamABank), with assets potentially worth hundreds of millions of USD.

Ms. Tu Huong is an exceptionally hardworking businesswoman. Throughout her decades-long career, Ms. Tran Thi Huong continued to work, and this was also the period when she brought the Miss Universe competition to Vietnam and invited Lady Gaga to perform. Alongside the Miss Universe event came the creation of the famous Diamond Bay resort in Nha Trang.

For nearly a decade, at the age of seventy, Mrs. Tu Huong tirelessly pursued her business career, creating the "Hoan Cau" network across the country. Her children, sons, daughters, daughters-in-law, and sons-in-law are all leaders within the business network she built.

Ms. Tu Huong is the Chairwoman of the Board of Directors and the founder of Hoan Cau Group. This is a diversified business group established in 1993, with more than 30 member companies nationwide, holding a strong position in both domestic and international markets.

Hoan Cau Group operates in various fields: real estate, tourism and hospitality, finance and banking, media and advertising, and education, with many famous projects such as: Cantavil Hoan Cau luxury apartment complex, Crown Convention Theatre, Diamond Bay Golf & Villas, Diamond Bay Resort & Spa, Diamond Bay Condotel Resort…

Nam A Commercial Joint Stock Bank (NamABank) has recently been undergoing restructuring. The bank continues to miss deadlines for its IPO and has been very slow in updating its operational information.

However, according to the latest information, Ms. Tu Huong remains a senior advisor at NamABank. Key positions within the bank are held by family members and those closely associated with this businesswoman.

According to a management report for the last six months of 2015, the largest individual insider shareholder of NamABank was Mr. Nguyen Quoc My, the son of businesswoman Tu Huong. Mr. My is the Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of Nam A Bank and holds nearly 4.3% of NamABank's shares.

Mr. Nguyen Quoc Toan, the eldest son of Mrs. Tu Huong and daughter Nguyen Thi Xuan Loan, also previously served as chairman of NamABank. Mr. Toan previously held 5% of NamABank's shares. Pacific Dragon Co., Ltd. – a company owned by Mr. Toan's family – holds nearly 14.2% of Nam A Bank's shares.

Million-dollar profit deals

Runner-up Duong Truong Thien Ly is the daughter-in-law of Mrs. Tu Huong.

In recent years, NamABank has undergone many changes due to its ongoing restructuring. The bank's senior leadership has also changed frequently. In 2015 alone, the bank replaced both of its most important positions: CEO and Chairman of the Board. However, one thing remains constant: the power of Ms. Tu Huong's family at the bank.

In early 2013, runner-up Duong Truong Thien Ly, daughter-in-law of Mrs. Tu Huong (wife of Mr. Nguyen Quoc Toan), unexpectedly became a shareholder holding 4.92% of NamABank's shares. However, more than a year later, runner-up Duong Truong Thien Ly no longer owned shares in NamABank, but Mrs. Tu Huong's family remained the controlling shareholder group.

Despite owning two leading empires in the financial and real estate sectors, Ms. Tu Huong is not from a family with a long history in the business world. In a recent interview, she shared that she grew up in hardship, only completed the 5th grade, worked as a maid, learned sewing, and sold goods…

Her entrepreneurial spirit began to blossom in the 1980s with trading in seafood, agarwood, and timber. In the early 1990s, she established her own business and prospered in the timber industry.

Ms. Tu Huong's business career took off with a series of investment decisions to build beverage factories… and then sell them to large international corporations at a time when the Vietnamese economy was opening up and integrating with the world in the early 1990s, and foreign investors were wary of cumbersome administrative procedures and preferred to acquire domestic businesses.

This veteran businesswoman has become very famous in the market with a series of huge money-making business deals, such as investing in and selling factories like Khanh Hoa Beer (sold to San Miguel), Saigon Cola Factory (sold to Coca-Cola), and Lipovitan energy drink factory. Each deal yielded her millions of dollars in profit thanks to her ability to grasp market trends and circumstances.

The Hoan Cau Group was established later (1993), focusing on real estate and construction materials. It also marked Ms. Tu Huong's strong entry into the real estate sector.

The most striking example of Ms. Huong's family's power is the Hoan Cau Group, with its multi-billion dollar investment in the Diamond Bay resort and facilities serving the Miss Universe 2008 pageant, the first time it was held in Vietnam.

In 2010, Hoan Cau Group signed a cooperation agreement with Deawoo Group (South Korea) to establish DAEWON - HOAN CAU Joint Venture Company Limited, to build the Cantavil Hoan Cau high-end apartment project.

Hoan Cau Group also invested in the Diamond Bay City International Resort Complex, Hoan Cau Shopping Mall and Hotel - 20 Tran Phu Street, Nha Trang. In addition, Hoan Cau Group is developing 10 other projects in Nha Trang with a land area of ​​up to 1,600 hectares.

In 2013, Hoan Cau Group became the owner of Quang Trung University in Quy Nhon and co-owner of Da Lat Palace Golf Club, Da Lat Palace Hotel, and Du Parc Palace Hotel. Simultaneously, it established Hoan Cau Ninh Hoa Company Limited, Hoan Cau Ninh Long Company Limited, and Hoan Cau Da Lat Company Limited.

According to Vietnamnet