An Unexpected Discovery

One thing I never expected to encounter during our visit to Vietnam was the ever-present name "VIN." With the power of the internet at my fingertips, I decided to investigate who or what "VIN" is.

As it turns out, while Jeff and I were graduating from high school back in 1968, a young man named Pham Nhat Vuong was born in Hanoi to parents who were humble farmers living on the outskirts of the city. After studying Russian at Hanoi National University and graduating in 1993, Vuong started a company called Technocom, which initially dealt with dried foods and beverages. It was through this company that he established a popular instant noodle business in Ukraine during the 1990s. This venture later evolved into the conglomerate that is now known as Vingroup.

Today, Pham Nhat Vuong is a Vietnamese billionaire businessman and the founder and chairman of Vingroup, one of the largest and most diversified corporations in Vietnam. Over the years, he has rapidly expanded Vingroup into various sectors, including real estate, retail, hospitality, education, healthcare, and automotive. It includes, VinPearl the hotel and resort chain we visited upon our first day in Vietnam.

In August 2023, Vuong took his automotive company, VinFast, public through a SPAC listing on the Nasdaq stock exchange, solidifying his position as one of Asia's wealthiest individuals. VinFast is currently building a factory in North Carolina to manufacture electric SUVs for the American market. Our guide mentioned that "Vietnam is not ready to 'go electric', yet, so they've recently shipped 90,000 VinFast cars to the US."

As you navigate the streets of your neighborhood, you may notice electric vehicles with a distinctive blue tint, indicating that they were not assembled here in the United States. I doubt, however, that VinFast electric vehicles are likely to be widely adopted in Wyoming due to the state's cold, snowy conditions and long distances between charging stations. This situation raises questions about our nation's own readiness to embrace electric vehicle technology.

Nevertheless, with a net worth estimated at around $7.1 billion as of 2023, Pham Nhat Vuong is currently the richest person in Vietnam. His journey from humble beginnings as the son of farmers to becoming Vietnam's first billionaire and leading one of the country's largest conglomerates is truly an inspiring success story in Vietnam's post-economic reforms era.