Elon Musk's Tesla is a major player in the Electric vehicle (EV) market. But the billionaire may face a challenge from another billionaire from Asia. He is not India's richest man Mukesh Ambani, Ratan Tata or Gautam Adani. The man, who is making a bet of over USD 10 billion (around 83,300 crore) in order to make his company a leader in the EV segment is Pham Nhat Vuong from Vietnam. He is the richest man in his country with a net worth of Rs 34200 crore as per Forbes.
The 55-year-old chairs Vingroup, Vietnam's largest conglomerate, with interests in real estate, retail and healthcare among others. The group also has electric vehicle maker VinFast. The company is building a factory in North Carolina to make electric SUVs. The company also plans to invest in the next three years to get factories running in Indonesia and India in 2026, Forbes reported. In November last year, Vuong met billionaire Gautam Adani and the two discussed opportunities.
Vuong's first business was a restaurant in Vietnam where he also served customers. He studied in Russia and started a popular instant noodle business in the Ukraine in the 1990s. In August 2023, he took VinFast public through a SPAC listing on Nasdaq, which made him one of Asia's richest.
Moreover, Pham and his wife's VinFuture Foundation have established a USD 4.5 million VinFuture Prize for science and technological innovation. Apart from being a businessman, he also likes to play soccer regularly with his company's team.
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