VIETNAM'S FAST-GROWING CONSUMER BUSINESSES

Founded in 2017 by Heloise Buckland and Carol Rius, HUSK leads in regenerative agriculture in Southeast Asia. Joined by Richard Kendall in 2019, the company emphasizes female leadership and innovation. Training women as carbon-farming ambassadors, HUSK promotes sustainable practices and soil health education. In Cambodia, women-led sales efforts contributed 27% of sales in 2023. In Vietnam, HUSK targets midland plains for vegetables and coffee, and Mekong regions for rice, aiming to boost organic fertilizer use.

Two Belgian entrepreneurs, Gaëtan Crielaard and Alexandre de Caters, began their adventure in 2013 after realizing the huge potential of insect protein for animal nutrition during their business school years. They quickly identified Vietnam would be one of the key markets to set up this kind of business. In early 2019, Entobel constructed one of the largest insect production sites in the world in Dong Nai province with an annual capacity of 1,000 tons of insect meal. Looking forward, Entobel’s next plant will be operational by 2023 and will respond to rising global demand while supporting the reduction of our global food chain’s environmental footprint.

10 years of researching Cancer Biology and Genetics in the U.S was eye-opening for Dr. Nguyen Hoai Nghia when he discovered the benefits and applications of genetic testing. With the intention to make genetic testing affordable and accessible to millions of Vietnamese, thus transforming their health, he returned to Vietnam to start his entrepreneurial journey. In 2017, Dr. Nghia together with Dr. Nguyen Huu Nguyen and Dr. Giang Hoa who also had background and solid experience in genetics, cancer biology, clinical medicine, and biotechnology co-founded Gene Solutions.

Ten years climbing the ladder from a fresh graduate to the senior executive at VNG – Vietnam’s first-ever unicorn start-up, Phan Le Manh saw himself as a mountaineer ready for the next climb. An opportunity came when he experienced the fragmented real estate market and noticed the rising needs of homeownership from the tech-savvy population. In 2016, Manh and his senior colleague at VNG, Vo Thang Loi, with two other friends founded Rever as one of the pioneering proptech companies in Vietnam with a mission to transform the brokerage market, enabling more people to access their dreams of homeownership easier.

Mutosi was established in 2018 by Mr. Tran Trung Dung and 3 co-founders with extensive operating experience in the water purifier industry. From the start, Mr. Dung was highly passionate about introducing safe, convenient, and efficient appliances for Vietnamese homes. Therefore, while the Home Appliance sector already has some strong players, Mr. Dung chose to set up Mutosi to offer more affordable high-quality household products in the water, air, and kitchen categories. In 4Q22, by increasing 936 active Points of Sale (POS), Mutosi achieved a total of 3,903 POS across Vietnam.

Back in the 2000s, on her trip to visit Korea, Mrs. Le Thi Bich Phuong, who was always excited about beauty for women, was dazzled by the Korean skincare and cosmetics market and was inspired to bring the opportunity to Vietnam. Thus, in 2004, Phuong and Mr. Nguyen Quoc Binh co-founded HSV Group as the exclusive distributor of The Face Shop and then expanded the portfolio with Reebok and Adidas. In 2018, reflecting on her journey, Phuong realized that her commitment was beyond having more international brands, so she decided to open Beauty Box to provide Vietnamese women with an engaging shopping experience for all their health and beauty needs. Now HSV Group is one of the largest cosmetic retailers in Vietnam in terms of the number of stores.

After 15 years of studying and working in molecular biology in Japan, Dr. Nguyen Hoa Anh came back to Vietnam to pursue his mission: An antibiotic-free future for the Vietnamese. But at that time, probiotics products available in the market weren’t efficient after entering the intestines. In 2010, Dr. Anh and his friends, Mr. Duong Song Ha and Mr. Dang Quoc Hung co-founded the precursor company of LiveSpo to embark on the excursion called ‘spore probiotics’. It took them 3 years to successfully launch the first commercial spore-based probiotics in water form, which had much greater efficacy than the traditional probiotics in the market.

Marou Chocolate was founded in 2011 by two Frenchmen, Sammuel Maruta and Vincent Marou, who came across Vietnamese fine flavored cacao, which somehow remained hidden for over a century. When they found it, they quickly understood that they could make great chocolate. On the ferry back to Ho Chi Minh City, decided to try their hands at chocolate making. Since then, Marou has achieved several accolades, including the Gold International Chocolate Awards, putting Vietnam on the world chocolate map. Henceforth, Marou Chocolate has stayed true to its origin of making dark chocolate entirely from Vietnam’s finest ingredients.

Transforming from his high-school days as a famous computer hacker, Mr. Phung Anh Tuan began his entrepreneurship as the founder of a  Cybersecurity company. The company then experienced financial hardship and Tuan had to pawn his things to pay his employees. This challenge led Tuan to co-found F88 with his entrepreneurial co-founders. After 10 years, given the founders’ strong commitment to leadership transformation and the company’s vision, F88 emerged to be the leading financial services group for Vietnam’s non-banked population with many branches nationwide.

After many years of working in store operations in the largest supermarkets in Vietnam, Mr. Luong Quang Thi realized that the cold chain in Vietnam was only being used for export rather than domestic grocery retailers. So in 2008, he decided to found ABA Cooltrans with a mission to deliver ‘Food safety for Vietnam’. Since then, ABA has grown from a temperature-controlled transport provider to become the integrated cold chain logistics leader.

With its nationwide network of 350 refrigerated trucks, 2 cold storage warehouses and 1 distribution center, ABA is serving Vietnam’s largest modern retailers and suppliers, including Bach Hoa Xanh, Masan, Vinmart, Mega Markets, and more.

Wrap&Roll was founded by Nguyen Thi Kim Oanh, Vietnam’s first Miss Sport. Although Kim Oanh was famous for her title and her celebrity siblings, she was originally an entrepreneur while helping her mom with the family’s restaurants. Thus, after becoming Miss Sport, in 2006, she chose to open Wrap&Roll as one of the the pioneer and the top healthy Vietnamese traditional food chain company in Vietnam. In 2016, Kim Oanh decided to partner with Mekong Capital to expand her business. Wrap&Roll was transformed into Red Wok, a multi-brand restaurant company. After 6 years of operation, Red Wok completed its transformation into a unified restaurant group operating four brands: Wrap&Roll, Quan Ut Ut, Bia Craft, and Lau Bo Sai Gon.

In the 2000s, Ngo Thuy Ngoc Tu and Pham Anh Khoa were co-founders of an online forum that helped students win scholarships to universities in the States called VietAbroader. They then received scholarships for themselves and departed to the US for their separate degrees. In 2009, after returning to Vietnam, the pair chose to continue their mission to help Vietnamese students access the life-changing experience of studying abroad. Together with two US alumni, they co-founded YOLA as a digital learning company that connected Vietnamese students with American tutors. 13 years later, YOLA continues its transformation to maximize and unlock students’ full potential through inspiring education provided by dedicated and experienced teaching professionals across its 11 centers nationwide.