Vietnam’s women entrepreneurs win APEC awards

Hoang Minh Nhat (second from right), founder of the Minh Nhat bread chain, was recognised in the category of “​highest growth potential”

While Hoang Minh Nhat, founder of the Minh Nhat bread chain, was recognised in the category of “highest growth potential”, General Director of the Chau Thong Co. Ltd Nguyen Thi My Lien was honoured with the special prize.

The APEC BEST Award and the “best social impact” award went to Rika Yajima, founder and CEO of Japan’s Aeru company.

The “most innovative business model” award was granted to Maria Gracia Dalgalarrando Haritcalde, founder and CEO of MOOWUP of Chile.

The winner of the “international attractiveness” category was Russian entrepreneur Natalia Larchenko, founder and CEO of Matryoshka Rus Ltd.

Meanwhile, the “best green project” award ​was presented to Bernadette de Los Santos from the Philippines, respectively.

They were among 12 women from member economies who took part in the 2017 APEC BEST Award – APEC’ first contest for women entrepreneurs.

To win the prizes, they presented their firms’ vision, customers, finance and personnel issues and later answered questions raised by the jury.

The main idea of the APEC BEST Award, initiated by Russia, is spreading the best practices of women-owned companies among the APEC economies and encouraging business ladies to apply promising business models based on domestic success stories.

The first APEC BEST Award was presented in Lima in 2016 when Peru was the host of APEC.

This year’s event was co-sponsored by Vietnam, Japan, Chile, Chinese Taipei and China. It formed part of the ongoing 2017 APEC Women and the Economy Forum in Hue city, the central province of Thua Thien-Hue.

Founded in 1989, the 21-economy APEC is the Asia Pacific’s premier economic forum. Its primary goal is to support sustainable economic growth and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region.

The member economies account for 39 percent of the world population, 57 percent of the world GDP and 47 percent of the global trade, according to statistics in 2014.

Vietnam joined APEC in 1998 and is hosting APEC events this year after the first time in 2006.