“ Women role models in business”

As one of the key activities of Ho Chi Minh City to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Liberation of the South and National Reunification, the ceremony to honor 60 outstanding individuals in the cause of building, protecting and developing the City (period 1975-2025) has just taken place solemnly at the City Theater. According to Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Nguyen Van Duoc, this list was nominated by former leaders of the City and went through a very strict selection process, following the procedures with the agreement of the Standing Committee of the City Party Committee as well as the consensus of all classes of people in the area.

“Today’s ceremony aims to recognize the contributions and affirm the importance of outstanding individuals to the sustainable development of the City. At the same time, it motivates the younger generation to follow and continue the cause of building and developing the City, spreading good values ​​in society, inspiring dedication, responsibility and creativity in work,” he assessed.

Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Nguyen Van Duoc (second from right) with delegates in the Top 60 outstanding individuals of the city. (Photo: Nguyen Hoang).

Particularly, the top 5 outstanding individuals honored in the economic field, Hero of Labor in the Renovation Period Mai Kieu Lien - is the only female entrepreneur who is still holding the role of managing a business as a member of the Board of Directors and General Director of Vinamilk. Previously, Vinamilk was also honored in the Top 50 enterprises, typical units with key brands and products of Ho Chi Minh City on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the country's reunification.

In the published list, the organizers evaluated her as one of the most outstanding and influential leaders in the dairy industry in Vietnam.

“Her acumen in grasping and applying market trends, especially the trend of consuming clean and organic food, has helped Vinamilk continuously increase its competitiveness and expand its export market to many countries around the world. She was honored in the list of 'Top 50 most influential women in Vietnam' in 2017. She is not only a role model for women in business but also a symbol of dedication, perseverance and aspiration to rise in life,” the announcement said.

Hero of Labor Mai Kieu Lien – CEO of Vinamilk received the title of Outstanding Individual in the cause of building, protecting and developing Ho Chi Minh City. (Photo: Nguyen Hoang).

Sharing her feelings when being honored with big names, Ms. Lien said that she was very touched, grateful and proud. “I feel that my responsibility from now on is even heavier to contribute more to the City and the country with the company, to bring the Vietnamese dairy industry to a higher level in the world and become a Vietnamese multinational company in the dairy industry,” she said.

Vision of self-sufficiency in high-quality nutrition for Vietnamese children

Joining Vinamilk in 1976 - when the domestic dairy industry was almost non-existent and the rate of malnourished children was high after the war, Ms. Mai Kieu Lien set herself the responsibility of "making sure that all Vietnamese children have equal access to the best quality nutritional products". From this vision, she and her colleagues have gradually laid the first bricks, building the foundation for the current Vietnamese dairy industry.

One of the decisions that showed the vision of this businessman beyond his time was to initiate the “white revolution”, launching a dairy farming movement in Cu Chi, Hoc Mon and then spreading to other provinces and cities in the country. The success of this revolution has dispelled the prejudice: “Vietnam cannot develop dairy cows” and become the premise for building a large-scale, modern dairy farming industry today.

Under the leadership of this female CEO, in 2013, Vinamilk inaugurated two large-scale super factories using the most modern technology and equipment in the world. At the time of operation, the capacity of these two factories alone was many times higher than the total capacity of Vinamilk and applied unprecedented technologies in Vietnam such as smart transport robots, automatic warehouses... This milestone not only helped Vinamilk increase its competitiveness in the global market but also raised the position of the Vietnamese dairy industry on the world map, from having no development advantages to becoming a country with leading dairy factories in the region.

Under the leadership of Ms. Mai Kieu Lien, Vinamilk is the first enterprise to own two super factories for liquid milk and powdered milk in Vietnam (Photo: Nguyen Hoang).

Having been associated with Vinamilk from the early difficult days after the war to the position of Top 6 global milk brands and 36th in the world in terms of revenue, Ms. Mai Kieu Lien has also made great contributions to improving the health of generations of Vietnamese people. In addition to maintaining the price of milk at an accessible level for the majority, Vinamilk has had many long-term programs to help children in all regions have the opportunity to drink milk every day. Notably, the Vietnam Grow Up Milk Fund program has been continuously implemented for the past 18 years, with nearly 43 million milk boxes given to more than 550,000 disadvantaged children across the country.

“None of these things can be done without a global vision, great determination and the right strategy. I still say that Mai Kieu Lien is a businesswoman with outstanding vision and courage, not only in the context of Vietnam but also in the region,” said economist Pham Chi Lan.

Kicking off its 18th year journey in time for the 50th anniversary of national reunification, Vinamilk's Vietnam Rising Milk Fund has donated 500,000 milk boxes to 11,000 children (Photo: Nam Anh).

Having graduated from a dairy processing major in Russia, Ms. Mai Kieu Lien returned to Vietnam and joined Vinamilk at the age of 23. At the age of 29, she took on the position of Deputy Director of a large dairy factory and became General Director of Vinamilk before the age of 40. Just 10 years later, she was honored as one of the 50 most powerful businesswomen in Asia.

NL

Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/anh-hung-lao-dong-mai-kieu-lien-duoc-vinh-danh-ca-nhan-tieu-bieu-cua-tp-hcm-nhan-dip-50-nam-thong-nhat-dat-nuoc-247280.htm