Nguyễn Đăng Quang

Starting out selling noodles in Russia

Nguyen Dang Quang was born on August 23, 1963 in Quang Tri province. He went to study in Eastern Europe in the 1980s, earning an MBA from Plekhanov Russian Economic University and a PhD in physics from the Belarusian Academy of Sciences. In post-Soviet Russia, where consumer goods were scarce, he and a group of friends set up a small noodle workshop to sell to the local Vietnamese community. The venture grew into Masan Rus Trading, at times turning out tens of millions of noodle packets a month, and later expanded into chili sauce, soy sauce and other condiments.

Building Masan in Vietnam

In the early 2000s, Quang brought the capital and experience he had built up in Russia back to Vietnam and founded Masan Group. Masan Consumer quickly grew into one of the country's largest consumer goods companies, with household brands such as Chin-su and Nam Ngu fish sauce, Omachi and Kokomi instant noodles, and Wake-up coffee. In 2011, Masan Consumer acquired a controlling stake in Vinacafe Bien Hoa, bringing the long-established instant coffee brand into its portfolio. Masan Group listed on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange in 2009. Quang has also served as First Vice Chairman of Techcombank's board since 2016.

Retail expansion and billionaire status

In 2019, Masan took over the VinCommerce retail chain (VinMart, VinMart+) from Vingroup, later rebranded WinCommerce and WinMart, making Masan one of Vietnam's largest modern retailers alongside its consumer goods, animal feed and mining businesses. On the strength of his stakes in Masan and Techcombank, he has repeatedly appeared on Forbes and Bloomberg lists of Vietnamese USD billionaires. He currently serves as Chairman of the Board of Masan Group.