Ms. Mai Kieu Lien: Memories from a special letter to the "captain" of the billion-dollar "national" milk brand

For Ms. Mai Kieu Lien, General Director of Vietnam Dairy Products Joint Stock Company (Vinamilk), the decision to study dairy was a turning point in her life. From the desire to build a source of quality nutrition for Vietnamese people, she led Vinamilk to become a billion-dollar "national" dairy brand in Vietnam, establishing a respectable position on the world dairy industry map.

The special letter that sparked a lifetime of achievement

“ You should study dairy. After the war, the most urgent problem was to overcome child malnutrition and improve people’s health. Only dairy could solve this problem …” - that was the content of the letter that the father wrote to his daughter Mai Kieu Lien, who was facing the decision of choosing a major. The father’s advice guided and shaped the ideals of the young student.

That ideal not only followed Ms. Mai Kieu Lien during her 6 years of studying in the distant land of Russia, but also fueled her journey 50 years later, with the aspiration to build a quality source of nutrition by the Vietnamese and for the Vietnamese, for the mission of caring for people.

“It can be said that it was a turning point in my life. Looking back now, I see that my decision to study dairy was the right one, because it contributed to building the Vietnamese dairy industry, which is self-sufficient by Vietnamese people and known to the world ,” she said.

Start with "white revolution"

After graduating from the dairy processing major at Moscow University in 1976, Ms. Mai Kieu Lien returned to Vietnam with the aspiration to build a quality source of nutrition for Vietnamese people.

From a young engineer at a milk factory, in 1992, she became the General Director of Vinamilk . Having been with Vinamilk for nearly 50 years, with 33 years as General Director, Ms. Mai Kieu Lien has led the enterprise to build a billion-dollar "national" milk brand in Vietnam and achieved a respectable position on the world dairy industry map.

During its development journey, Vinamilk has overcome many difficult stages with important, breakthrough decisions from its leaders, especially always being a pioneer in innovation, from the "white revolution" in the 1990s to the current brand rejuvenation strategy.

Established in 1976 during the difficult subsidy period, Vinamilk took over and restored the operations of 3 old factories, which only produced 8 million cartons of milk per year.

When the country entered the period of innovation, opening and integration, foreign goods began to penetrate the Vietnamese market, the Company had to face a series of harsh challenges, especially the "wave" of foreign milk, while production capacity was limited, raw materials were scarce...

To solve the problem of competition, Ms. Lien and the Company's leaders sat down together, analyzed competitors and products on the market, and from there found a solution to proactively source domestic raw materials, both ensuring the quality of finished products and saving costs.

In 1989, Vinamilk, together with Vietnamese engineers and scientists , successfully restored the Dielac powdered milk factory, producing the first batches of "made in Vietnam" powdered milk for children for the domestic market and export.

Around 1990, realizing early that dependence on raw materials would not allow development, Ms. Mai Kieu Lien and Vinamilk's leaders pioneered the "white revolution", with the goal of building dairy farming areas to proactively source domestic milk materials. Not only that, with a strategic vision, this female leader also set the goal of domestic raw milk meeting international standards, with production costs approaching the world level.

Since then, Vinamilk has built and developed many high-tech dairy farms across Vietnam and is cooperating with more than 4,000 dairy farmers. Vinamilk's farms are the first in Vietnam to possess high world standards such as Global GAP, European Organic... At the same time, Vinamilk also built factories, modernized machinery and equipment, and used the world's leading advanced technology.

Firmly maintain Vietnamese brand

In the late 90s, many state-owned enterprises chose to enter into joint ventures with foreign investors. In the context of a very vibrant mergers and acquisitions market, Vinamilk was also faced with the choice of entering into a joint venture or keeping the brand. Ms. Lien said that the company's board of directors discussed for many days and debated for a long time before deciding not to enter into a joint venture. That was probably also the decision that created the Vietnamese milk brand as it is today.

Not only maintaining the domestic market, in 1997, Vinamilk exported the first batch of powdered milk, with the product Dielac, to the Iraqi market, through the "oil for food" program. "At that time, no one thought Vietnam could export milk. But I believed the company could do it, because Vinamilk's milk quality is actually not inferior to that of other countries, it's just that it hasn't found a way to enter their market yet," Ms. Lien recalled.

Reality has proven that her determination and strategic vision not only put Vinamilk on the world milk map, but also affirmed the position of high-quality Vietnamese products in the international market.

To date, Vinamilk products have been exported to 63 international markets, with a total cumulative export turnover exceeding 3.4 billion USD.

Vinamilk is currently holding the No. 1 position in the Vietnamese dairy industry, among the top 40 largest dairy companies in the world, with brand value ranking 6th in the global dairy industry. In 2024, Vinamilk will continue to prove its position as the only Vietnamese dairy company in the top 150 of the Fortune 500 Southeast Asia 2024 list, first published by Fortune Magazine (USA).

Owning 15 farms and 16 modern factories at home and abroad, Vinamilk is a Vietnamese National Brand bringing international quality nutritional products to many generations of Vietnamese people and conquering more than 63 global markets.

“Vinamilk’s operations for nearly 50 years have always put quality first. Vinamilk’s principle has always been to do everything the best, with quality that meets international standards. Quality - Price - Service are the three factors that help the company develop the domestic and international markets,” Vinamilk General Director Mai Kieu Lien shared.

In fact, after more than 20 years of equitization, Vinamilk's revenue has increased more than 15 times. At the time of equitization, Vinamilk's charter capital was 1,590 billion VND. By the end of 2024, the Company's market capitalization had reached 132,503 billion VND.

Rebranding, Inspiring the Young Generation

When asked about the bold innovation of the billion-dollar brand Vinamilk in the past 2 years, Ms. Mai Kieu Lien said: “In 2023, Vinamilk will innovate comprehensively, not only in terms of brand, products, packaging, but also in terms of management, operation, digital transformation and approach to consumers, which in this case is the young generation. Vinamilk is nearly 50 years old, so it has created a sense of familiarity and tradition. If there is no innovation, the brand cannot last.”

The result of that transformation is a colorful, youthful and vibrant “new world” of a nearly 50-year-old brand, impressively introduced to young people. But that is not all. The real “inspirational story” of Vinamilk is that the brand dared to innovate itself to be “better and better”, even when it was already a solid symbol of the Vietnamese dairy industry.

Vinamilk has succeeded in innovating more than 125 products in just one year. Not only “changing clothes”, Vinamilk has also launched completely new products, appearing for the first time in Vietnam. Advanced technologies in the world such as “milk vacuuming” or “ultra-microfiltration technology” have been brought back by Vinamilk, creating new standards for the domestic dairy industry.

It can be said that Vinamilk is truly innovating in the true sense, not only rejuvenating the brand, but also convincing customers with its quality. “With Vinamilk, if we do something, we will do it the best. There is no trade-off with quality, because once food has entered the body, there is no chance to correct the mistake!”, Ms. Mai Kieu Lien emphasized this many times in a conversation with Dau Tu Newspaper.

Determined to rejuvenate the brand so that Vinamilk can accompany the young generation on the new journeys of the country, Ms. Mai Kieu Lien shared passionately: “Young people today have much more conditions and opportunities than the previous generation, but also face many pressures and increasing competition… Therefore, if you want to truly innovate, you need to start with yourself. No one can change you, it must be because you have the desire to change.”

For young people who are choosing the path of entrepreneurship, the General Director of Vinamilk advised that the important thing is to find the meaning of the work they are doing, for themselves, the community and the country, because during the process of studying and working, there will be many challenges. If you do not determine your passion and ideal to pursue to the end, you will never reach your destination.

Vietnam is entering an era of growth, with the core being the country's young talents, not only good at knowledge, but also with the ambition to contribute. Ms. Mai Kieu Lien's message is not simply a sharing from the previous generation to the future generation, but a strong commitment to the spirit of innovation of the billion-dollar brand, when inspiring and gathering the young generation with ideals and aspirations to develop together and continue the mission.

Building and developing Vinamilk from the first bricks, businesswoman Mai Kieu Lien is the embodiment of resilience and innovation, bringing Vietnam far on the world dairy map. She was honored by Fortune Magazine (USA) as one of the 100 most powerful women in Asia in 2024 and is the only businesswoman honored by Forbes Vietnam with the "Lifetime Achievement" award.
For her contributions to the country's development, she was awarded the Third Class Independence Medal, the First Class Labor Medal and the title of Labor Hero in the renovation period by the Party and State.

On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Liberation of the South and National Reunification Day, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee honored 60 outstanding individuals in the cause of building, protecting and developing Ho Chi Minh City. Ms. Mai Kieu Lien, General Director of Vietnam Dairy Products Joint Stock Company (Vinamilk) is one of the 5 economic figures honored.

Source: https://baodautu.vn/ba-mai-kieu-lien-ky-uc-tu-la-thu-dac-biet-den-thuy-truong-thuong-hieu-sua-quoc-dan-ty-do-d275201.html