Vinamilk's female CEO received the "Lifetime Achievement" award from Forbes
(Baonghean) - Within the framework of Women's Summit 2018 held on October 18 in Ho Chi Minh City, Forbes Vietnam announced for the first time the "Lifetime Achievement Award", honoring Ms. Mai Kieu Lien - General Director of Vietnam's No. 1 dairy company Vinamilk. She is also the only woman to receive this award from Forbes Vietnam.
The “Lifetime Achievement” Award announcement ceremony is part of the 2018 Forbes Vietnam Women’s Forum with the theme “Creating the Future” and is the largest event discussing women’s leadership roles and ways to support women’s development in Vietnam.
In the first award ceremony, Forbes Vietnam honored only one outstanding Vietnamese woman with proven achievements and contributions and great influence on a field, society or country. To select the candidate for this award, Forbes Vietnam team consulted an advisory board of prestigious faces in society, including business leaders, intellectuals, etc.
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| Mr. Nguyen Bao Hoang - Chairman of Interactive Media Company, Forbes Vietnam and Ms. Chu Thi Thu Hang - Editor-in-Chief of Culture Newspaper presented the "Lifetime Achievement" Award to Ms. Mai Kieu Lien - General Director of Vinamilk. |
Consecutively holding key positions in the company, especially the two most important positions of Chairwoman of the Board of Directors and General Director of Vinamilk, Ms. Mai Kieu Lien is the only Vietnamese businesswoman to be consecutively included from 2012 to 2015 in the list of 50 most powerful businesswomen in Asia voted by Forbes and awarded the Nikkei Asia Prize by Nikkei Inc.
In addition, Ms. Mai Kieu Lien is also one of the 50 most influential women in Vietnam voted by Forbes Vietnam in 2017. In 2015, she left the position of Chairwoman of the Board of Directors, focusing on operations as General Director.
Born in 1953 in France, Ms. Mai Kieu Lien graduated from Moscow University with a major in Milk and Meat Processing and a certificate in Economic Management from Leningrad University of Economic Engineering. Appointed as General Director of Vinamilk in 1992, she was determined to equitize this dairy enterprise to create new working motivation, encourage staff and workers to be creative and innovative.
In an interview on stage at the Women Summit 2018 with Mr. Dominic Scriven - Chairman of Dragon Capital Investment Fund, when asked about the thing she is most proud of, Ms. Lien shared on the Women's Summit stage of Forbes Vietnam: "The Vinamilk team is proud to have a Vietnamese dairy industry that is not inferior to the region. We have a dairy farming system, that is the most important thing. When we are self-sufficient in raw materials, we are self-sufficient in everything. Vinamilk's dairy products are now present in more than 40 countries around the world. That is a dream that we have not achieved for a long time."
In 2017, Vinamilk achieved remarkable figures such as revenue of VND 51,041 billion, payment to the State budget of VND 4,200 billion and brand value of USD 2.2 billion. Vinamilk's capitalization is currently over USD 10 billion, 100 times higher than when it was listed in 2006. Vinamilk's products are now available in 43 countries around the world. Since 1997, Vinamilk's total export turnover has reached about USD 2 billion (equivalent to about VND 45,520 billion). Currently, this largest dairy company in Vietnam holds 50% of the domestic dairy market with about 15 billion products launched to the market each year.
Vinamilk currently has a system of 10 farms across Vietnam that meet Global GAP standards with all cows imported from Australia, the US and New Zealand. The total herd of cows supplying milk to the company (including Vinamilk farms and farmers with contracts) is up to more than 120,000, with an output of about 800 tons of raw fresh milk per day. The total herd is expected to increase to about 200,000 by 2020, with raw fresh milk output expected to more than double by 2020.
Vinamilk products are manufactured by 13 factories across Vietnam, including 2 super factories for powdered milk and liquid milk in Binh Duong equipped with the most advanced technology in the world with a closed and fully automated system from processing to finished products and packaging, ensuring absolute food hygiene and safety, and 3 processing factories in the US, New Zealand and Cambodia.