[2] After Phạm Nhật Vượng, she is the second Vietnamese person (as well as the first Southeast Asian woman) to be recognized by Forbes as a US$ billionaire.
[3] Nguyễn Thị Phương Thảo became a millionaire at age 21 while studying finance and economics in Moscow,[4] where she began distributing fax machines, plastic and rubber[5] from Japan, Hong Kong and South Korea in the then Soviet Union.
[5] She also has investments in HD Bank and real estate, including three beach resorts.
[10][11] In 2021, she signed a memorandum of understanding with the University of Oxford's Linacre College for a donation of GBP£155million.
[5] Her son has previously studied at Oxford University's economics & management department and has founded an express delivery company with investment from VietJet.