MaiKieu Lien, chairwoman and CEO of the Vietnam Dairy Products Joint StockCompany (Vinamilk) and Thai Huong, chairwoman of TH Group with the THTrue Milk brand, were named in the Asia's Power Businesswomen 2015 list,released by Forbes last week.
Vinamilk is one of the best-knownbrands in Vietnam and, according to research firm Nielsen, has 51percent of the liquid milk market share, Forbes said.
Vinamilk'srevenue jumped 14 percent in 2014 to reach 1.7 billion USD, supported bytwo new factories, the magazine said, adding that Lien, 61, aims topush sales to touch 3 billion USD by 2017 by expanding overseas.
Vinamilkexports to 30 countries and is trying to sell more to the Middle East,Africa and Cuba. But Lien faces certain challenges. For instance, thecompany's profit last year was flat as the price of raw materials –largely imported milk powder – shot up, according to the magazine.
Lien has been included in the Asia's Power Businesswomen list for the fourth consecutive year.
Meanwhile, TH Group Chairwoman Thai Huong, 57, is the newestrepresentative of Vietnam in this list. Huong entered the milk businessin 2009, vowing to change the nature of the industry in Vietnam, whichhas mainly used powder to produce liquid milk, Forbes said.
Sincethen, TH Group has invested 450 million USD to import and raise cows toproduce fresh milk products, using Israeli technology. It has 40,000cows on 8,100 ha, but plans to raise its total land to 37,000ha,according to Forbes.
TH Group estimates that its 2014 revenueexceeded 200 million USD, with a one-third share of the fresh-milkmarket, a challenge to the country's largest milk producer, Vinamilk,Forbes said.
The Asia's Power Businesswomen 2015 list covers the top 50 representatives in several sectors from 16 regional countries.
To prepare this year's list, Forbes applied the criteria of companysales, the positions of the candidates in their companies, and the levelof their participation at work.
In 2014, Forbes namedthree Vietnamese businesswomen in its most-powerful women list,including Vinamilk Chairwoman and CEO Lien, Chairperson and CEO ofRefrigeration Electrical Engineering Joint Stock Company Nguyen Thi MaiThanh, and Chairperson of the Southeast Asia Commercial Joint Stock BankNguyen Thi Nga.-VNA