Henry Nguyen

Henry Nguyen (Vietnamese: Nguyễn Bảo Hoàng) (born 1973) is a Vietnamese-American businessman, entrepreneur and venture capitalist.

Early life

Nguyễn Bảo Hoàng's father, Nguyễn Bá Bang, was a deputy minister of the ministry of economy in the South Vietnamese government.[1][2] After Saigon came under the Communist Party of Vietnam's control in 1975, he left for the United States, taking his wife, Kim Vu, their older son, Huy, daughters Thy and Linh and Henry, who was 22 months old at the time. Henry grew up in Fairfax County, VA.[1]

Nguyen won a scholarship to attend Phillips Exeter Academy but instead attended W.T. Woodson High before attending both Harvard and, later, Northwestern University.[1] After graduating from Harvard in 1995 he began working for Let's Go, a travel guide aimed at a student and backpacker readership.[1] The publisher decided to do a book on Southeast Asia, and as Henry spoke Vietnamese, the editor asked him if he would go, sending Nguyen to Vietnam for the first time since he left the country as an infant.[1] After returning, Nguyen attended Northwestern's medical school, but also enrolled in Northwestern's Kellogg Graduate School of Management in his third year, graduating in 2001 with both a medical degree and an MBA.[1]

Career

Early career

Nguyen worked at McDonald's in his youth in America.[3][4] Nguyen's father, Bang, launched Viaworld Internet Telecommunications Corp (VITC) in 2001 in cooperation with Vietnam's state-owned telephone company, and Henry traveled to Vietnam to establish the Hanoi office, staying in Vietnam for four years.[1]

Investment

After meeting Patrick McGovern, the chairman of IDG Ventures, Nguyen began to run a $100 million venture capital fund for IDG[1][3] as part of IDG Ventures Vietnam, which has invested in over 45 companies including VC Corporation, YAN Media Group, Vat Gia and VinaGame.[3][5] The fund continues to invest in four to six companies a year.[3][5]

Nguyen brought both Pizza Hut and Forbes to Vietnam.[4][6] Having studied its business model as part of his master's degree, he also worked for ten years to ultimately introduce the McDonald's brand to Vietnam, where the first restaurant opened in 2014.[7][4] Nguyen also serves as Chairman of Good Day Hospitality, the main franchisee for McDonald's in Vietnam.[3]

Sport

Nguyen leads a consortium of 22 investors who own the Los Angeles Football Club. Other members of the investment group include Peter Guber, Tom Penn, Earvin ‘Magic’ Johnson, Vincent Tan, Mia Hamm, Nomar Garciaparra, Chad Hurley and Tony Robbins.[8] Nguyen also has interests in both Saigon Heat and the Vietnam Basketball Association.[9]

Speaking

In May 2018, Henry Nguyen along with Patrick Zhong, Ridwan Kamil, Noni Purnomo, were speakers on the "Innovators Who Are Changing Asia" panel[10] of the 2018 Milken Institute Global Conference.

Personal life

Nguyễn Bảo Hoàng is married to Nguyễn Thanh Phượng, the Chairwoman of Viet Capital Securities and daughter of former Prime Minister Nguyễn Tấn Dũng.[6][5]

References
  1. Nakashima, Ellen (12 June 2005). "Coming Home". washingtonpost.com. Retrieved 25 January 2018.
  2. Hookway, James (30 April 2015). "Forty Years After Fall of Saigon, Entrepreneurs Return to Vietnam". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 25 January 2018.
  3. Tan, Liza; Bakhtiar, Adam (15 April 2014). "The entrepreneur who bought McDonald's to Vietnam". CNBC.com. Retrieved 25 January 2018.
  4. Nguyen, Phuong Linh; Petty, Martin (2013). "Tycoon's 10-year crusade to get a Big Mac in Vietnam". Reuters.com. Retrieved 25 January 2018.
  5. "Little Saigon Inside: A Marriage Made in Vietnam". littlesaigoninside.blogspot.com. 29 January 2009. Retrieved 25 January 2018.
  6. Lien, Hoang (2015). "Forty years after escaping war, 'boat people' find fortune back in Vietnam". Reuters.com. Retrieved 25 January 2018.
  7. Harding, David (9 February 2014). "McDonald's opens first location in Vietnam". NY Daily News. Retrieved 25 January 2018.
  8. Straus, Brian (30 October 2014). "MLS unveils Chivas USA replacement in LA with star-studded ownership". si.com. Retrieved 25 January 2018.
  9. "Vietnamese Basketball, Teams, Scores, Stats, News, Standings - asia-basket News". www.eurobasket.com. Retrieved 25 January 2018.
  10. ""Innovators Who Are Changing Asia" panel". milkeninstitute.org. Retrieved 8 May 2019.
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