On October 31, in Bangkok, CEO Madam Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao attended as a speaker at the annual Forbes Global CEO Conference titled “The World Reboots”. This is Forbes’s annual event which brings the most prestigious entrepreneurs from all over the world together. This year’s event attracted more than 400 CEOs, executives, investors and global leaders.
CEO Madam Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao is Vietnam’s only representative attending Forbes Global CEO Conference
Madam CEO strongly impressed the global entrepreneur community with traditional costume Ao Dai and ebullient and inspiring discussions on the “exciting” topic: Hyperdrive.
Joining the panel discussion together with Madam CEO Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao are the global leaders, including Mr. Goodwin Gaw, Chairman and Managing Principal of Gaw Capital Partners, Mr. William E. Heinecke, Chairman and Group CEO of Minor International, Mr. Mario Moretti Polegato, Chairman of GEOX Group, and Ms. Tan Hooi Ling, Co-Founder of Grab. Tim Ferguson, well-known Editor of Forbes Asia, was appointed as the Moderator for this important session.
Madam CEO became the center of the panel discussion thanks to her business stories, Vietjet’s lessons and development plans.
Madam CEO shared with the global entrepreneur community about her dream since commencing operations and winning the heart of more than 99% of the remaining Vietnamese population who had never had an opportunity to travel by airplane. That big and beautiful dream originated from President’s charity trip to a village where a farmer told our CEO about her dream of flying on an airplane before she passed away. This was because a flight ticket fare was equivalent to the price of several tons of rice at that time.
“This story changed our decision although we have already ordered aircraft, trained pilots, and built the brand – a luxury brand. We decided to stop everything, changed the aircraft order, operation model and brand so that everyone, like that farmer, could walk into the airplane. This prompted us to establish a low-cost airline project. Then, we have indeed brought flying opportunities to very normal people and created revolutionary trends in the aviation industry,” Madam CEO stressed.
She shared that about 30% of Vietjet’s passengers are people who have traveled by airplane for the first time. “It’s interesting as after we have developed Vietjet into an international airline, our passengers who have traveled by airplane for the first time not only are Vietnamese but also are people from 10 countries that we are flying to,” Madam CEO said.
“The change that we have brought to the aviation sector has been reflected in numbers, Vietnam’s aviation industry has experienced the highest growth rate in the Asia-Pacific region and we have contributed around 70% to that growth,“ President said. The change was made in the regional aviation sector and in Vietjet’s flying radius of 2,500 miles that covers around 50% of the world population and Vietjet’s international revenue currently accounts for more than 50% of the total revenue.
As for the competition with the state-owned sector, our CEO said: “It has really been challenges. Vietjet’s activities have led very positive changes in Vietnam’s aviation sector, from the state’s law and policies to aviation infrastructure investments, new airport construction, airport expansion, and series of aviation services such as engineering, fuel, ground services, training, meal set supply, and other services. It is Vietjet’s activities that have taken the whole aviation industry to boom. As a result, all the companies in the sector have benefited from this; both state and private companies which have joined the aviation market have gained the high growth in terms of revenue, profit, and share value on the stock market. Vietjet’s changes have made the national carrier change too. The technologies which Vietjet have applied also made the whole aviation sector change.
Madam CEO’s shares got the attention of the global entrepreneur community. Many people looked at her admirably, congratulated our President and believe Vietjet would continue to create amazing achievements in the aviation market, expand the wings further to the world and the Consumer Airline ecosystem that Madam CEO and thousands of Vietjet staff are aiming at.
Upon finishing her impressive speaking at the conference and being chased by international media members, Madam Thao has agreed to conduct two exclusive interviews with Reuters and Forbes.
By vnexpress