Skip to main content
Feature Story
Driven to Lead: Women Shaping Viet Nam’s EV Industry
SHARE
Tweet（http://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=Driven to Lead: Women Shaping Viet Nams EV Industry%0A&url=https://www.cif.org/news/driven-lead-women-shaping-viet-nams-ev-industry&via=CIF_Action） Tweet
Like（http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=https://www.cif.org/news/driven-lead-women-shaping-viet-nams-ev-industry?fbrefresh）
Share（http://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https://www.cif.org/news/driven-lead-women-shaping-viet-nams-ev-industry&title=Driven to Lead: Women Shaping Viet Nam’s EV Industry&summary=When Nguyn Diu Linh toured the VinFast electric vehicle manufacturing complex, the fourth-year engineering student saw her own future.These factory tours opened my eyes to the important role of women who can become pioneers in the field of science and technology, she says. Her visit was part of a broader collaborative effort to open pathways for women into the countrys growing green economy. This effort was made possible through catalytic CIF financing and a partnership with the Asian Developmen） Share
Email Email
Oct 19, 2026
When Nguyễn Diệu Linh toured the VinFast electric vehicle manufacturing complex, the fourth-year engineering student saw her own future.
“These factory tours opened my eyes to the important role of women who can become pioneers in the field of science and technology,” she says.
Image
Her visit was part of a broader collaborative effort to open pathways for women into the country’s growing green economy. This effort was made possible through catalytic CIF financing and a partnership with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and VinFast, Viet Nam’s leading electric vehicle manufacturer.
Financing a National EV Network
In July 2022, Viet Nam set a national target for all road vehicles to run on electric or green energy by 2050, with a ban on the production, assembly, and import of fossil-fueled vehicles by 2040.
Image
To help meet that target, CIF provided almost $5 million in financing for this specific project, which enabled the ADB’s Southeast Asia Department Private Sector Development Unit, to mobilize an additional $93 million package for VinFast.
The project drew on a blended finance approach bringing in concessional loans other sources of funding from organizations like the Australian Climate Finance Partnership and a grant from the Climate Innovation and Development Fund. This combined financing supported Viet Nam’s first fully electric public bus fleet and its first national EV charging network.
The financing helped address a major infrastructure barrier by supporting electric public transport and a national EV charging network. But the project team recognized another challenge: manufacturing and engineering remain male-dominated fields, with women particularly under-represented in leadership and technical roles, and closing these gaps would take more than infrastructure alone.
Building a Pipeline of Women Leaders
Women hold about 20% of leadership roles at VinFast, including the CEO position, but are concentrated in functions such as legal and human resources. Fewer than 10% work in STEM-related roles, according to the company.
To address this, VinFast introduced the Women in Leadership and Management (WiLM) program and its follow-on, Advance WiLM, with support from ADB and the Australian Government. The initiative aimed to support more women in leadership roles, equipping them with the skills, behavioural tools, systems-thinking frameworks, and peer support networks necessary to overcome structural barriers to advance their careers.The programs started with 10 participants and have since reached more than 100 women across the company, aiming to build a critical mass of leaders able to shift organizational norms on women’s leadership rather than relying on a handful of individual promotions.