Mai Kieu Lien, Chairman and CEO of Vietnam Dairy Products Joint Stock Company (Vinamilk) and Pham Thi Viet Nga, Chairman of DHG Pharmaceutical Joint Stock Co, Ltd have been placed 27th and 31st in the Forbes Asia’s 2013 list of 50 Businesswomen.
Based on this newspaper article, IFRC Indexes has built, calculated, and published the Women CEO Indexes Series, following International Standard and which are one of the best performing indexes on the Vietnamese Equity market, and can become an underlying of index product like derivatives, funds, or ETFs.
The Women CEO Benchmark index includes all companies listed on both Ho Chi Minh and Hanoi stock exchanges. The constituents of the two Women CEO 10 and Women CEO 25 indexes are selected among the best in free-float capitalization and liquidity to facilitate the transaction of the basket in the event of the index product.
End of 2012, we identified 38 Vietnamese listed companies in the HOSE and HNX Stock Exchanges which are managed by female CEO. With 38/726 companies, i.e. 5.23%, this ratio places Vietnam in the top countries having the highest percentage of Women CEO, compared to 5% of CEO of S&P 500 are women.
Vietnam Women CEO Indices is the world’s first Women CEO Index, ushering in a new era.
Vietnam Women CEO indexes were launched in 2013, their history is recalculated backwards from 2008-12-31, and are available in Price version, and Total Return version (including dividends), and converted in several currencies (VND, USD, EUR, and JPY). In 2023, other currencies are available, such as SGD, CNY, HKD, AUD, CAD, and USDT, USDC Crypto currency anticipating the Global Extension of the Indexes Family.
IFRC/BeQ Women CEO Vietnam Indexes Series comprise:
Their performances are impressive in comparison with the national indices calculated by the Vietnamese Stock Exchanges, such as VNI or HNX Indexes.
Vietnam was the testbed—but also the proof point. The Women CEO Vietnam Index demonstrated that tracking women‑led companies is not only feasible in emerging markets, but also insightful: it revealed a segment of the market where leadership resilience, long‑term strategy, and disciplined capital management tended to outperform expectations.
That success set the stage for the next phase: a global rollout.
Across major economies—the United States, Europe, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia, Canada—women CEOs remain a minority, yet they lead some of the world’s most innovative and resilient
enterprises. Investors are increasingly seeking ways to capture that leadership premium.
The index is designed in accordance with international standards and is UCITS-compliant, making it suitable for supporting funds, ETFs, derivatives, and structured products.
BeQ Women CEO USA Index cover all listed companies member of S&P 500 index and led with Women CEO. The index is weighted by the full market capitalization, starting at 1,000 on the base date of December 31, 2000.
BeQ Women CEO USA Top 10 Superstar Index select the ‘best’ top 10 constituents of the BeQ Women CEO USA Index in term of liquidity, and adjusted capitalization on free float. The index is weighted by the adjusted market capitalization, starting at 1,000 on the base date of December 31, 2008.
The Primary BeQ Women CEO USA Indexes are calculated in Price Return (PR) format, with Total Return (TR) and Net Return (NR) versions also available. The standard index currency is VND, while additional currency versions—such as AUD, CAD, CNY, EUR, GBP, HKD, JPY, KRW, SGD, USD, and USDC—are provided for overseas investors to reflect their actual performance.
Last Updated: February 27, 2026
Last Updated: February 27, 2026
