Reputed newspapers and magazines in the world often announce the list of the richest known people, with assets worth tens of billions of dollars. How is Vietnam? It is said that an overseas Vietnamese in the US, Tran Dinh Truong, has assets worth US$1bil and that he is the richest Vietnamese at present.

In early 2005, I received a fax from the US praising the Miss Vietnam 2004 contest, held annually by Tien Phong Newspaper, and inviting me and Miss Vietnam 2004, Nguyen Thi Huyen, to the US. That fax was from Mr Truong.

After that I received another fax from Mr Truong with the photo of his hotel in New York City. Mr Truong’s younger brother, who owns a hotel in Hanoi, an acquaintance of mine, told me that Mr Truong plans to sell that hotel at $700mil.

In Vietnam, however, it is said that Vu Van Tien, Chairman of the Management Board of the Hanoi General Import Export Company, is the richest person in the country. At the Sao Do awards ceremony 2005 I asked him this and he only smiled. Several days later I asked again and he said: “I’m only one of the richest in Vietnam.”

Often as I walked from my house to my office I sometimes saw cars, the most luxurious in Vietnam, at the headquarters of Mr Tien’s company on Nguyen Luong Bang Street. Several times he waved to me from the back seat.

Last Tet, I wrote an article about wealthy business leaders in Vietnam, but my subjects were displeased because they didn't want the value of their assets in newspapers. That’s the usual thinking of Vietnamese people. They don’t want to boast. That’s a good thing, but another reason may be the old style of many Vietnamese people who don’t like the rich, even those who got that way legally. Maybe doi moi has gradually done away with that thinking.

Life with open economic policies and policies encouraging people to get rich legally - “rich people, strong country" - have made a positive impact and have created individuals with assets worth millions, even hundreds of millions of US dollars. Those people employ thousands of workers.

When I put the above question to Dao Hong Tuyen, the owner of Tuan Chau Island in coastal Quang Ninh Province, where Miss Vietnam 2004 was organized, he only smiled and presented his beautiful villas in Tuan Chau and large projects that he is implementing. He is also rumoured to be the richest person in Vietnam.

We were recently invited to attend the inauguration ceremony of the 25-storey Nacimex Building in northern Hai Duong. I met Tran Van Cuong, Chairman of the Management Board cum General Director of the Nam Cuong Trade and Tourism Company, the investor of the building, at the ceremony. Mr Cuong was modest and discreet and he didn’t want to talk about himself. Nevertheless, his company operates a famous four-star hotel in coastal Hai Phong, a three-star hotel and a trading centre in Hanoi, a five-star tourist site/hotel, Nacimex - Do Son and a new residential area, Hoa Vuong, in Nam Dinh Province, with a total investment capital of nearly VND4tril ($250mil).

In early 2005, I took a trip to Ukraine where I also saw first-hand young Vietnamese entrepreneurs with factories and supermarkets carrying famous brand names. They had invested in large projects in Vietnam as well, such as the $40mil Vincom building in Ba Trieu Street and the famous Vina Pearl resort in Nha Trang, central Khanh Hoa Province, with investments of over $80mil.

Talking with entrepreneur Pham Nhat Vuong, I believed in their active and creative work ethic. Like the owner of Nam Cuong Company, they are also decisive, with both broad vision and great aspirations.

Then there are business leaders like Dang Le Nguyen Vu, the owner of Trung Nguyen Coffee, Tran Le Nguyen, of Kinh Do Corporation, Vuu Khai Thanh, of Biti’s, Vo Quoc Thang of Dong Tam – Long An Brick, Thai Tuan, of Thai Tuan Textile Company, Vo Truong Thanh, of Truong Thanh Wood Processing Company, and Vo Minh Hoai, of Sun Spa Resort in Quang Binh Province. All of them modestly said that they were not the richest in Vietnam.

Though we'll probably never have an accurate answer about the richest in Vietnam, through the above portraits we can see that the country is experiencing great changes with driven young women and men who take the risks and shape the new market.

Pham Duong