From post-war hardships to ‘era of national rise’: Vietnam’s family firms face first succession test

[HO CHI MINH CITY] Vietnam is entering its first large-scale generational handover.

Family-driven firms are estimated to make up as much as 80 per cent of the country’s private sector, yet most are only one generation old – having flourished in the four decades following the market-oriented “Doi moi” reforms of the late 1980s.

That leaves Vietnam without an established succession playbook, even as businesses navigate what the country’s top leader To Lam calls an “era of national rise”, marked by the private sector’s elevation as the main growth engine and sweeping reforms to achieve high-income status within two decades.