VietNamNet Bridge - This year's Forbes list includes the female leaders of two leading dairy companies of Vietnam: Mai Kieu Lien, chairman and CEO of Vinamilk, and Thai Huong, chair of TH Group.

Mai Kieu Lien, chairman and CEO of Vinamilk.

Forbes magazine recently published a list of the 50 most powerful businesswomen in Asia. This year representatives were from 16 countries and involved in many business areas. China dominates the list with 14 representatives, followed by India, Thailand and Singapore.

This year, Vietnam had only two on the list - Mai Kieu Lien, chair and CEO of the Vietnam Dairy Products JSC (Vinamilk), and Thai Huong, chair of TH Group.

Forbes said Vinamilk was a famous brand in Vietnam. According to Nielsen, Vinamilk now holds 51% market share of liquid milk. Its revenue in 2014 increased by 14% to $1.7 billion, thanks to two new milk plants.

Mai Kieu Lien is trying to bring this figure up to $3 billion in 2017 by expanding abroad.

Vinamilk exports to 30 countries and is now focusing on the Middle East, Africa and Cuba. However, Vinamilk is also facing difficulties. Its profit last year remained the same as the year before because of the high price of raw materials, mainly imported milk powder.

Thai Huong, chair of TH Group.

Thai Huong is the latest representative of Vietnam on this list. She was involved in the dairy sector in 2009 with a commitment to change the dairy industry of Vietnam. Since then, TH Group has invested $450 million to import and raise cows, and to produce clean milk with Israeli technology.

The company now breeds 40,000 cows on 8,100 hectares of farms and plans to raise its farms to 37,000 hectares. TH’s estimated 2014 revenues exceed $200 million, holding a third of the domestic fresh milk market.

This is the biggest rival of Vietnam's largest dairy company - Vinamilk. Thai Huong began doing business in 1994 and is the founder of the North Asia Bank. She is still the president of the bank.

To select this year's list, Forbes based it on the following criteria: revenue (usually billions of dollars), the position of the candidate in the company and the level of participation in the work.

Mai Kieu Lien entered the list in 2012. In 2013, Vietnam had one more representative, Pham Thi Viet Nga, President of the Hau Giang Pharma Company.

Last year, three Vietnamese businesspeople were on the list: Mai Kieu Lien, Nguyen Thi Mai Thanh, chair and CEO of Refrigeration Electrical Engineering JSC (REE), and Nguyen Thi Nga, chair of Southeast Asia Bank (SeAbank).

Nam Hai