Being a distributor and an investor of many projects related to different business fields, such as fashion, F&B, real estate, non-aviation service, etc., IPPG (Imex Pan Pacific Group) was well known as one of the biggest multi-business corporate in Vietnam, under the leadership of Johnathan Hanh Nguyen, aka “King of brands”, a famous name given by the media & business magazine. He was the pioneer during Vietnam Economy’s tough time to establish the first direct flight between Ho Chi Minh City and Manila, Philippines.

Having been known as an iconic entrepreneur in business world to ever build such a strong company from nothing, Johnathan Hanh Nguyen career marked his very first milestone in Vietnam market when he established the first flight from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam to Manila, Philippines. This was an incredible action to look back during the Vietnam economy’s tough time, it was consider as the starting point to connect Vietnam to the world 33 years ago (1985).

Record Holder/ Entrepreneur of IPPG – Johnathan Hanh Nguyen

At that time, Vietnam was under the USA’s embargo and only left with 2 aviation flights to reach out to the world, including Vietnam – Bangkok flight and Vietnam – Moscow flight. Back then, the flights to capitalism countries were strictly limited, meanwhile Philippines was under martial laws. This means that there was no reason to establish a flight, stated by the president Marcos. Hence, convincing Philippines government to establish a flight with Vietnam was a risky mission.

Speaking about this, Mr. Johnathan said that the day the president of Philippines approved to establish a Ho Chi Minh – Manila flight and gave the permission for Vietnam airplane to land on Manila airport (September 4, 1985) was such a “historic moment of my life”. To make this happen, he had been through a lot to get more than 18 seals and signatures from the Philippines government office. He even submitted all of the documents to every government office by himself to make it on time (shorten the procedure from 1 month down to 4 days). And the rest was the history. On 9/9/1985, the flight from Ho Chi Minh City to Manila was officially established. In that flight, more than 30 tons of medication and goods was delivered to Vietnam. This was considered as the first flight to ever open an opportunity not only for Vietnam civil aviation industry but also for Vietnam’s economy.

Doctor Nguyen Van Vien – Vice President of Vietnam Record Organization has presented a record to Johnathan Hanh Nguyen at the 35th Vietnam Record Holder Meeting, taken place in Ho Chi Minh City.

With the mentioned dedication to the country, in 2018, he was honored a record as a “pioneer to establish the official first flight for Vietnam National Aviation after reunification day on 30/4/1975”.

Destined to “Bringing the best of the world to Vietnam”

2 year after establishing the historic flight, he was one of the first overseas Vietnamese to return to the country and founded Imex Pan Pacific Group (IPPG). Living up to the company’s mission “Bringing the best of the world to Vietnam”, IPPG has cooperated and invested more than 400 millions USD in many different project across the country, and get return of more than 500 millions USD each year, while created more than 25,000 jobs in Vietnam. One of those projects is cooperating to re-construct Trang Tien Plaza (Hanoi) and rejuvenate its new image into a luxury shopping mall. Trang Tien Plaza has distributed more than 90 luxury brands from all over the world and Vietnam, like: Bvlgari, Chanel, Christian Dior, Cartier, Zegna, Lancôme, Louis Vuitton, Salvatore Ferragamo, etc. This investment has changed the shopping & retail market in this city. At the beginning, the project was received a lot of concerns from Ha Noi authorities & business expert as it took on the role of rejuvenating the image of such a historical location into the most high-end shopping & entertaining all-in-one mall to attract not only foreign visitors but also the local residents. It was also very challenging to convince global leading fashion brands to open store in Vietnam through IPPG as their criteria are very high, requiring such a huge investment to keep up with. And yet to come to the result later, IPPG proved that they might be the only corporate to be able to overcome those challenges.

When asked about the reason why he brought hundreds of famous brands around the world to Vietnam, Mr. Johnathan Hanh Nguyen shared: “I lived for many years abroad and realized the need to introduce and distribute the world-class fashion brands products and culinary services, especially fast-food stores at airports are great, and it is the necessity of a developed country. However, when I returned to Vietnam, I found that most of the catering services at the airport were very few and inconvenient. Therefore, I immediately thought of bringing the international brands to Vietnam and the first 3 luxury fashion brands that I brought to Vietnam are Ferragamo, Burberry and Bally. To cooperate and bring famous brands around the world to Vietnam are not easy. I see that the partners require very strict and high standards so the investment must be very large. There are deals for successful cooperation I have to invest up to tens of millions of dollars. But I didn’t cooperate with every famous brands, I had to investigate very carefully because not every brand that succeeds abroad that can succeed in Vietnam...”

Sharing about the secret of success in bringing luxury brands to Vietnam, he added: “If you want to open a product line to achieve success, it is inevitable that you must have manpower in that industry and they must have working experience in large corporations. For example, in the field of fast-food, I have invited the former Director General of Autogrill Asia to take charge of managing personnel and management. Or in the fashion industry, I invited the former General Manager of DFS in North America to become the Deputy General Director. These peoples, from the first day of establishment of the company, they have trained and develop for us a strong and methodical Vietnamese management team. This is also the secret to help IPPG's business activities succeed at international level.”

Cam Ranh International Terminal (CRTC) with architecture inspired by the bird nest is the first 4-star international investment terminal in Vietnam

On June 30, 2018, the first 4-star international airport terminal in Cam Ranh (Khanh Hoa) with a total area of ​​50,500m2 inaugurated after 19 months of construction with many challenges. In particular, IPPG is the largest shareholder, with more than 30 years of experience in aviation business, duty free shops, fast-food restaurants and retail service stores at many airports in Vietnam and Asia. The investment in the expansion of Cam Ranh International Terminal of IPPG is considered a strategic step, promptly met the rapidly increasing demand for air transport throughout the country, and contributed to the distribution development of the aviation industry in Vietnam, in line with the Government's guidelines and policies on socializing the resources for investment in developing the infrastructure system.

Besides, IPPG also cooperates with partners such as DFS, SASCO, AUTOGRILL to invest and open a lot of duty-free shops, souvenir shops, fast food restaurants and many non-aviation services across Vietnam and Philippines airports.

Sharing the reasons for investing in major aviation projects, Mr. Johnathan Hanh Nguyen said: “I really want to become an investor to build international-standard airports into a synchronous system. The airport is not only the gateway for international passengers but also the face of the country and friends around the world is looking at it to assess the stature and economic development of that country.”

With all the achievements and endeavors to the country and the economy of Vietnam, especially the charitable activities for the community, Mr. Johnathan Hanh Nguyen and IPPG were honorably received more than 300 Medals and Certificate of Merits from Vietnam’s government and other countries’ local and department institutions.

Over 30 years in and over 20 years in luxury retail, a partner of hundreds well-known brands, along with the reputation and powerful potential financing, Mr. Johnathan Hanh Nguyen has the advantages in numerous industries such as fashion & cosmetics; food & beverage; wine & tobacco; technology; real estate; high-end fashion malls, … even other flourishing investors could hardly established.

Mr. David Moline – Representative of WorldKing and WFPA awarded certificates and medals to Mr. Johnathan Hanh Nguyen.

Leaving notable impressions of an Entrepreneur – Record Holder, in the second union of all the organizations of Global Record happened on 26/08/2018, Mr. Johnathan Hanh Nguyen becomes one of the first three Entrepreneur – Record Holder of Vietnam, given by the World Founder and Progenitor Academy - WFPA and honorably mentioned in “GLOBAL VISION OF FOUNDER 2018” reward. This is a reward to acknowledge, honor and appraise all the achievements and endeavors of Record Holder – Global Entrepreneur, that established the valuable brands in benefiting the society.

WFPA proceed to honor GLOBAL VISION OF FOUNDER 2018 on 01/2018 to 4 Entrepreneur – Record Holder of Vietnam and India, which included Mr. Johnathan Hanh Nguyen.

With all the achievements and endeavors to the country and the economy of Vietnam, especially the charitable activities for the community, Mr. Johnathan Hanh Nguyen and IPPG were honorably received more than 300 Medals and Certificate of Merits from Vietnam’s government and other countries’ local and department institutions. However, Mr. Johnathan Hanh Nguyen is most proud of is not the awards, certificates… but it is to turning his dream into reality in his homeland, country, trusted by partners and the Government.