This is the opinion of Lawyer Truong Thanh Duc, Chairman of the BASICO Law Firm on the occasion that Forbes published its World’s Billionaires list 2018, of which Vietnam has four billionaires.
What do you think about the role of billionaires in each country?
Lawyer Truong Thanh Duc: In the context of close global economic integration as today, the economy of each country is mainly based on goods and services of enterprises and businessmen. In particular, billionaires are successful pioneers, leaders of economic drivers and they give the next generation of entrepreneurs the inspiration spirit.
Therefore, in my opinion, the true billionaire is not only a personal title, but also a national brand.
How are the billionaires treated in foreign countries? Compared to Vietnam, what are differences?
Lawyer Truong Thanh Duc: In developed countries, it is natural to assume that billionaires are successful in terms of both fame and fortune. No poor businessman in the world is considered successful. In our country, the billionaire has not been properly recognized and evaluated.
However, I think that there is one thing in common between Vietnam and other West countries, which is that billionaires have to be good at business and using money.
Is this true that the billionaire has to be a great contributor to society?
Lawyer Truong Thanh Duc: If the billionaire does not inherit or win the lottery, he/she always contributes a lot to society through their products, taxes, salary for employees, etc. A person becoming rich based on illegal activities is not a true billionaire.
A rich person who does not work, dedicate or is not associated with the brand products and services is also not a true billionaire.
I do not admire any billionaires if I do not find three important criteria which are their goods or services, total amount of tax payment and the number of jobs they created for the workers.
In term of business sense and being in compliance with the law, do you appreciate any entrepreneurs or billionaires in Vietnam?
Lawyer Truong Thanh Duc: The person impressed me most is billionaire Pham Nhat Vuong, who is associated with leading Vingroup ecosystem with three different points.
The first point is the highlight of the products and services in terms of speed, quality and utility.
The second one is a great deal of success from housing, resorts to shopping malls, schools and hospitals.
The last point is the great commitment on the manufacturing sector including agriculture and especially recently the automobile and electric motorcycle industry.
Vingroup's Vuong is a billionaire going up from production and is steadily doing business in a solid way based on Trade, Service and Production.
Thank you very much.
