The Snake-Born Female General “Turns the Tide”, Transforming a Loss-Making Company into a Billion-Dollar Success

Ms. Dang Pham Minh Loan, born in 1977, the year of the Fire Snake, is currently a member of the Board of Directors of International Dairy Products Joint Stock Company (LOF) (stock code: IDP). Ms. Loan currently owns more than 2.7 million IDP shares, equivalent to a 4.4% ownership stake in IDP. With IDP’s closing price on January 24 at VND 230,300/share, Ms. Loan’s shares are worth nearly VND 627 billion.

Previously, she served as Chairman of the Board of IDP from November 2014 to March 2019, when she transitioned to the role of Board member and General Director of IDP. When Ms. Dang Pham Minh Loan became CEO, IDP was heavily loss-making, with negative equity, and more than half of its key leaders had left. A year later, IDP’s revenue grew by more than 50%, and by 2021, it recorded a pre-tax profit of over VND 1,000 billion for the first time in history.

IDP’s Remarkable Turnaround

Established in 2004, IDP’s main product lines under the “Ba Vi” brand included sterilized milk, pasteurized milk, and Ba Vi yogurt. Later, IDP developed the LIF (love in farm), Kun, and Ba Vi brands, with a focus on products for children.

In 2014, IDP had two major investors, VinaCapital and Daiwa, who held 70% of its capital. At that time, VinaCapital openly expressed its ambition to turn IDP into a powerhouse in the dairy industry, rivaling Vinamilk, but this did not come to fruition.

From 2014 to 2017, the company experienced consecutive years of losses, with a particularly significant loss of VND 298 billion in 2017. However, in 2018, the loss decreased significantly to VND 44 billion, and the company returned to profitability in 2019.

Following its return to profitability, IDP continued its strong growth trajectory in 2020 and 2021. In 2020, IDP’s revenue surpassed VND 2,000 billion, more than doubling its 2019 figure, while its pre-tax profit increased by nearly five times to VND 546 billion. IDP’s financial performance during this period surprised investors.

In 2021, despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, IDP achieved a revenue of VND 4,827 billion and a pre-tax profit of over VND 1,000 billion. In 2022, the company’s pre-tax profit decreased to VND 990 billion but rebounded to VND 1,152 billion in 2023.

In the first nine months of 2024, IDP recorded a revenue of VND 5,563 billion, a 12% increase compared to the same period last year, and a pre-tax profit of over VND 1,031 billion, a 16% increase.

Ms. Dang Pham Minh Loan’s Transformation of IDP

Prior to joining IDP, Ms. Loan served as Deputy General Director and Investment Director at VinaCapital. She spent 15 years with the financial institution, representing its investments in several large companies, including Hoa Phat, Duoc Hau Giang, and Mai Linh Group.

Ms. Loan is currently the CEO of Yen Viet Company. Before joining VinaCapital, she worked for KPMG and Unilever Vietnam. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Hawaii, USA.

Ms. Dang Pham Minh Loan is one of the few female CEOs in the dairy industry who transitioned from a fund supervisor at an investment fund to a direct management role to rescue an investment that she herself had “created.”

After Ms. Loan took on the role of CEO at IDP, the company underwent a period of portfolio restructuring, distribution adjustments, and marketing cost optimization, which helped reduce losses and move towards breakeven.

According to Ms. Loan, the most significant changes she implemented began around April-May 2019 and pertained to execution and marketing strategy. These changes started bearing fruit in May 2019, with a 10% month-over-month increase in sales from that point onwards.

On February 2, 2024, IDP announced the resolution of its Board of Directors, appointing Mr. Bui Hoang Sang as the company’s CEO effective February 25, 2024.

According to the minutes of the Board of Directors’ meeting, Ms. Dang Pham Minh Loan discussed the implementation of the strategy to find a professional CEO to lead the company. The candidate she proposed was Mr. Bui Hoang Sang, who had been serving as a strategic advisor to the General Director of IDP since mid-2023.

Ms. Dang Pham Minh Loan, the current CEO of the company, stated, “In this new phase of development, the company needs to find a professional CEO. Mr. Bui Hoang Sang has worked with the company and demonstrated his capabilities in advising and executing the company’s strategy. With his extensive experience working for multinational companies in the consumer goods industry, we believe that Mr. Sang will be able to lead the company to continued strong growth in the upcoming phase.”

Even though she is no longer the CEO, Ms. Loan will continue to serve as a member of the Board of Directors and provide support to the company in terms of strategy and digital marketing foundations.