Labour Hero Thai Huong honoured as Global Sustainability Leader of the year

DNHN - The world's most prestigious award ceremony for business, the Le Fonti Global Awards ceremony honoured entrepreneurs with a lavish celebration on December 14, 2023, in Dubai.

Labour Hero Thai Huong, Founder and Chairwoman of the TH Group Strategic Council and General Director of Bac A Commercial Joint Stock Bank, was honoured in the Global Sustainability category with the Leader of the Year Award.

The Le Fonti Awards were established in 2008 in Italy by Le Fonti, a business community of over 10.5 million members. The awards are ultimately assessed by the Le Fonti Scientific Committee, along with a group of reputable journalists, and legal, economic, and financial experts based in over 120 countries. Le Fonti conducts a particularly rigorous selection process to honour corporations that have a profound impact on the global economic community. The Le Fonti Awards ceremony is also considered one of the world's leading award ceremonies for the business community.

Held annually in influential financial centres around the world such as Hong Kong, Milan (Italy), New York (USA), London (UK), and Dubai (United Arab Emirates), Le Fonti honours businesses and entrepreneurs with outstanding achievements in the fields of business innovation, leadership philosophy, technological breakthroughs, employee engagement, and more. Le Fonti Awards have recognised entrepreneurs and leaders such as Jeff Bezos (Chairman and CEO of Amazon), Elon Musk (Chairman and CEO of Tesla), Warren Buffett (Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway), Mark Zuckerberg (Chairman and CEO of Meta), Bill Gates (Chairman Emeritus of Microsoft), Mary Barra (Chairman and CEO of General Motors), Naser Taher (Chairman of MultiBank Group), and more.

Ms. Thai Huong, a Labour Hero of Vietnam's Doi Moi period, impressed the Le Fonti Scientific Committee as the successful creator of high-tech agricultural projects with a strategy of utilising Vietnamese intellect, Vietnamese natural resources, and the world's cutting-edge technology to promote agricultural production with the motto "Cherish Mother Nature, who will give you everything." TH Group, founded by Ms. Thai Huong, is a model of sustainable development, pioneering with many contributions to the green economy, circular economy, and knowledge economy in Vietnam. Her projects all implement a systematic sustainable development strategy under the international GRI standards with six pillars: Nutrition - Health, Environment, Education, People, Community, and Animal Welfare. She is the first and only Vietnamese representative to be honoured by CSRWorks International in the list of Top 10 'Women for Sustainability' 2021 in Asia. Previously, Forbes magazine (USA) ranked her among the Top 50 Powerful Businesswomen in Asia for many consecutive years for changing the nature of the dairy industry in Vietnam. She is also the only businesswoman in Vietnam to be voted for the Outstanding Achievement Award for Community Contribution in Dubai (UAE); the Powerful Businesswoman Award at the World Knowledge Forum (WKF); the Stevie Award for Outstanding Female Entrepreneur, Outstanding Asian Entrepreneur, and more.

Ms. Thai Huong is the one who successfully carried out the fresh milk revolution and the nutritional revolution for Vietnamese people, pioneering the economy under the forest canopy, creating livelihoods, alleviating poverty, and protecting the environment. Starting her career in the agricultural sector with the TH true MILK fresh milk project, she has contributed to ensuring food security and nutrition in Vietnam (This project set a record for the world's largest closed high-tech dairy farm complex, and TH true MILK fresh milk currently holds a 45% market share of fresh milk in Vietnam).

As the initiator of the National School Milk Program, she always wants to bring the best to children, serving the mission "For the stature of Vietnam." TH Group, led by her, has accompanied the Vietnamese education sector in researching school meal models and many activities to improve nutrition and physical fitness for children.

She is also consulting on investment in sustainable agricultural development projects in the Northwest, Western Nghe An, Central Highlands, and other regions, regenerating forests, conserving, and exploiting native medicinal herbs to help people develop the economy, alleviate poverty, and protect the environment - the source of clean water and the ecosystem for the entire community.

Her successful sustainable development models are being replicated with major projects in the Russian Federation, Australia, and other countries. As the Chairwoman of the Vietnam Women Entrepreneurs Association, she has made many contributions to promoting the activities of women entrepreneurs and sustainable development in Vietnam.

In the context of COP26, where Vietnam and 147 other countries committed to achieving net zero emissions by mid-century, this message was reiterated by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh at COP 28, which was held in Dubai in late November and early December 2023. Vietnamese businesses are striving to accompany the government in achieving this goal - with TH Group leading the way. Ms. Thai Huong has oriented TH Group to become one of the leading enterprises in Vietnam's high-tech agricultural sector, pioneering the establishment of green production and a sustainable economy. From thinking to action, from governance to implementation, TH focuses on three activities: reducing greenhouse gas emissions; switching to green energy sources, renewable energy, and absorbing greenhouse gases. Continuously implementing initiatives, TH Group has set a target of reducing direct greenhouse gas emissions at farms and factories by an average of 15% per year in the scope of direct greenhouse gas emissions. The target of reducing the total scope of direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions per unit of product at TH's factories and farms is also to reduce by an average of 15% per year.

With many synchronous solutions and decisive actions, in 2022, TH's farm system reduced an average of more than 20% per unit of product, exceeding the set plan. With the switch to green energy sources, right from the first fresh milk project, TH Group has invested in using the world's most advanced technology. Since then, all of TH's activities have followed the principle of using environmentally friendly materials, green energy, and renewable energy. TH has installed solar power systems on the roofs of the TH Fresh Milk Factory and the Dairy Farm Complex. In 2022, TH farms connected to the grid approximately 7 million kWh (meeting nearly 10% of the electricity consumption at the farm unit), equivalent to reducing/recovering more than 4,500 tons of CO2 per year. In addition, TH's leadership has developed a strategy to develop green tree planting areas (including forest protection and new planting) to absorb and offset the amount of CO2 emitted during the production process, ensuring the NET ZERO process as committed by the government.

T.M