On her personal Facebook page, Ms. Nguyen Thi Son - founder of Son Kim Group, and also Mr. Ho Nhan's mother-in-law, shared a commemorative status: "Mom knows that I am a young man with many ambitions in my career, many wishes to contribute to society and I have proven that I can do it... Not a famous person, but I have become a human being".
According to Ms. Son, Mr. Nhan has a heart disease and often says "very tired" but still rushes to work with a passionate spirit.
Mr. Ho Nhan was born in 1966, is Vietnamese-American, used to live in New York and graduated with a PhD in Biotechnology from the University of Arizona. After nearly two decades of research in the field of biotechnology abroad, he returned to Vietnam to settle down in 2006 with the desire to build his own company.
Since September 1997, he and his colleagues have established Nanogen Company, a leading player in the field of drug, pharmaceutical and medicinal product production.
Mr. Ho Nhan is the largest founding shareholder with 70% of the initial charter capital (equivalent to 140 billion VND), holding a leadership role for many years.
Under his management, Nanogen has grown strongly, reaching a total asset of more than VND 1,369 billion by the end of 2019. To date, the company's charter capital is VND 715 billion, of which about 22.7% is held by foreign shareholders. In 2019, Nanogen was valued at more than VND5,000 billion, with Mr. Nhan holding nearly 59.6% of shares, while his wife - Ms. Nguyen Thi Hong Van - owns 14.6%.
In 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, Mr. Ho Nhan was the one who took the initiative to bring Nanogen to participate in the domestic vaccine research race. In March of the same year, the Ministry of Science and Technology assigned Nanogen the task of developing a vaccine to prevent COVID-19.
NanoCovax product becomes one of the first Vietnamese vaccine candidates to enter large-scale clinical trials. Although not officially licensed for circulation, NanoCovax has attracted great attention during the peak period of the epidemic.
In addition to the field of biotechnology, Mr. Nhan also works in the finance and investment industry. From 2013 to 2017, he was a member of the Board of Directors of Vina Securities Company (VNSC). Previously, while in the US, he participated in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in the fields of pharmaceuticals, medical equipment, hospitals and valued medical stocks for an investment fund in Hong Kong.
He is also a major shareholder of One World Services Joint Stock Company (ONW) with an ownership ratio of 15.8% (as of November 2016).
After a period of withdrawal from the executive role, at the end of 2021, Mr. Ho Nhan transferred two key positions at Nanogen to his wife. However, half a year later, he returned to work as General Director and legal representative of the company until now.
On the official website, Mr. Ho Nhan shared about Nanogen's mission of developing high-quality drugs at reasonable costs for domestic and international patients. Nanogen introduces itself as one of the pioneering enterprises in Vietnam in applying recombined DNA/protein technology to produce raw materials and specifically vaccinated drugs, among the leading groups in the Asia-Pacific region.
