Pham Phu Ngoc Trai, chairman of the International Beverage Company (IBC), Pepsi Cola’s partner in Vietnam, is one of the best-known businessmen in the country’s commercial capital of Ho Chi Minh City. He is also one of Vietnam’s more accomplished golfers.
Over the past decade, Trai has steered Pepsi through troubled economic times to become one of the leading soft-drink producers in Vietnam. Pepsi and rival Coca-Cola jointly command 88% of the market in a country of 81 million, 40% of whom are under 25.
Trai, 41, has maintained important connections with the authorities and is prominent in Vietnam’s Union of Associations of Industry and Commerce, a business-government forum. IBC, the sole franchise owner in Vietnam of the Pepsi brands, has contributed financially towards children’s health programmes in Ho Chi Minh City.
He is a past joint winner of the Vietnam Golf Challenge tournament and is closely linked with the Palm Song Be Golf Company. — GL
