Among them include Chairwoman of the National Assembly Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan, Vice President Dang Thi Ngoc Thinh, Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Kim Tien and Deputy Governor of the State Bank of Viet Nam Nguyen Thi Hong.

According to the magazine, twenty of the most influential women this year were entrepreneurs, such as Vietjet CEO and President Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao, general director of Nutrition Food JSC Tran Thi Le, general director of Saigon Trading Group (Satra) Le Minh Trang. Others were FPT Retail general director Nguyen Bach Diep, and Bac A Bank general director cum TH Group founder Thai Huong.

It added 30 per cent of these entrepreneurs were on the list for the first time.

Some of the names have appeared on Forbes Vietnam’s lists of top business leaders in the past, like general director of Vinamilk Mai Kieu Lien, chairwoman of REE Nguyen Thi Mai Thanh, and chairwoman of PNJ Cao Thi Ngoc Dung.

“This has shown the firmness, tenacity and great influence of these leading businesswomen,” Vo Quoc Khanh from Forbes Vietnam said.

The list also covers the fields of politics, science-education, social work, communications, arts, creativity and sports.

Forbes applies what is dubbed the Forbes methodology to draw up an annual global Most Powerful Women list, and tweaks the process to fit the Vietnamese context.

It uses four metrics to come up with its list of Viet Nam’s 50 Most Influential Women: financial influence (net worth and company revenue), media presence, spheres of positive influence, and impact level both within the context of each woman’s field and outside. — VNS