Thank you, Mr. Lê Ngọc Ánh Minh and the Vietnam ASEAN Hydrogen Club: bringing hydrogen to the green meal at Green Business Matching Day Vietnam

Mr. Lê Ngọc Ánh Minh · Chairman, Vietnam ASEAN Hydrogen Club (VAHC) · Executive Chairman, Pacific Group

Is plant-based food truly "clean"?

His talk, "Hydrogen and Clean Energy in Vegan Food Production", opened with a direct question: is a plate of plant-based food really clean if the energy used to grow, process and cook it still comes from fossil fuels?

From there he took the audience through the directions VAHC is pursuing. First, "protein from air": protein produced from CO₂ and green hydrogen, entirely non-animal, needing no farmland or irrigation and no pesticides, with carbon-neutral or carbon-negative potential through direct CO₂ capture. Second, hydrogen cooking: according to his slides, a hydrogen stove uses only 100 ml of water and 1 kWh of electricity for up to six hours of cooking, with companies such as Toyota and Rinnai already bringing the technology into practice. He compared a gas grill, where heat from combustion chars the surface and dries the food, with a hydrogen grill, where steam keeps food moist and transfers heat more evenly.

Third, a cycle that starts in the field: rice straw and husks, by-products usually burned, can feed a chain from green hydrogen to green ammonia, for fertiliser production and industrial use. He proposed a "Farm – Factory – Table" pilot in Vietnam coordinated by VAHC, bringing together research institutes, food businesses and international technology partners through South–South and BRICS–ASEAN cooperation. His closing slide was an invitation: let hydrogen become an essential ingredient in the recipe for a truly clean plant-based food system, from molecule to the dining table.

Two memorandums in one morning

Mr. Minh did not only speak; he also signed twice on stage. The programme's second MOU, between the Vietnam ASEAN Hydrogen Club and AnChay.TV, opens cooperation on media and sustainability. It was signed by Mr. Minh and Mr. Thao Le. Standing as witnesses were two guests who represent two of the day's largest networks. Mr. J.P. Shriram is Chairman of the Indian Business Chamber in Vietnam (INCHAM), which represents the Indian business community in Vietnam and co-hosted Green Business Matching Day Vietnam. Ms. Marly Winckler, from Brazil, is Honorary President of the International Vegetarian Union (IVU), the international vegetarian organisation founded in 1908, and the founder of Meatless Monday in Brazil. Their presence showed that an agreement on clean energy and green media can draw the attention of both the international business community and the global vegetarian movement.

Straight afterwards, as Executive Chairman of Pacific Group, he signed the third MOU, on trade and investment cooperation, with Mr. Mohan Ramesh Anand, Founder & CEO of Canopus Group and co-chair of the day.

Those two signatures link clean energy with media for green living, and Vietnamese business with Canopus's India–Africa trade network. That is exactly the spirit Green Business Matching Day Vietnam set out to create: connecting people who seem to work in different worlds.

Meeting Dr. C.K. Ashok Kumar, Chairman of First World Community and EMERGE AURO

Off stage, Mr. Minh walked the booths with Dr. C.K. Ashok Kumar, talking with companies and posing for photos. Dr. Ashok Kumar is Founder & Chairman of First World Community (FWC), a network of more than 20,000 members in India and beyond, and Chairperson of EMERGE AURO, India’s first Conscious Capital Conclave, organised by Section Infin-8 Foundation, First World Community and partners on 5–6 December 2026 at Bharat Nivas, Auroville.

EMERGE AURO puts founders at the centre, brings investors, industry, policy institutions and universities into the same room, and measures itself by investment commitments, MoUs and pilot projects. For a club looking for partners for a "Farm – Factory – Table" pilot, as VAHC is, that is a door worth watching. More about Dr. Ashok Kumar: the story of Dr. C.K. Ashok Kumar.

The friends who came along

Behind VAHC's presence at the day is a club that brings together people from research and teaching, healthcare, banking, beverages, restaurants and tourism. The Organising Committee sincerely thanks the members of the Vietnam ASEAN Hydrogen Club whom Mr. Minh introduced to the programme: Mr. Nguyễn Đắc Hùng Vũ; Dr. Cao Thúy Oanh, Vice Chair and Head of R&D at VAHC, lecturer at Văn Hiến University; Dr. Đào Thơ, Chairman of Fich Medical Group; Dr. Trần Thanh Tâm, Deputy Head of International Cooperation, Ho Chi Minh City University of Natural Resources and Environment; Dr. Ngô Võ Kế Thành, Senior Advisor at SHTPLab and lecturer at HUTECH University; Ms. Lê Thị Như Hoa, Chairwoman of Suối Nghệ JSC; Ms. Dương Yến Ngọc, Chairwoman of GOLDFLOW GLOBAL Co., Ltd.; Ms. Hồ Thị Bích Phương, Sales Director of UNP Healthcare Vietnam; Ms. Nguyễn Thị Thu Dung, Client Relationship Director, Corporate Banking, ACB; Mr. Bùi Thanh Nam, Founder of Funan Tửu; and Ms. Trần Ngọc Điệp, owner of the Đồi Trăng restaurant chain in Phú Quốc.

The club members brought the perspectives of science, energy technology, healthcare and finance to a day about green food, which is exactly what Vietnamese green businesses need as they step into international markets.

VAHC’s next step already has a date: the International Hydrogen & Future Energy Forum Towards 2030, hosted by the club, from 8 am to 4 pm on Friday 27 November 2026 at the Grand Plaza Hanoi Hotel & Resort (117 Trần Duy Hưng, Hanoi), with more than 20 speakers from Vietnam and abroad, among them Dr. Sunita Satyapal, former Director of the Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office at the U.S. Department of Energy. Watch the forum promo below; information and registration through the Vietnam ASEAN Hydrogen Club.

The Organising Committee of Green Business Matching Day Vietnam looks forward to continuing with Mr. Lê Ngọc Ánh Minh, the Vietnam ASEAN Hydrogen Club and Pacific Group to turn the ideas shared at Lumi Hub into concrete projects, so that one day hydrogen truly has a place in the kitchen of the green meal.

Green Business Matching Day Vietnam is co-organised by INCHAM with Canopus, AnChay.TV and Chay Vietnam, with the support of the Consulate General of India in Ho Chi Minh City, Ministry of External Affairs of India.

Based on material provided by the company; compiled by the organisers of Green Business Matching Day Vietnam as a gift to the businesses that joined the day.