From humble beginnings to huge business empires

Boonsithi Chokwatana, chairman of Saha Group, the country’s largest manufacturing and trading group, said his family was originally from Sua Tao in China.
His grandfather opened a small business selling miscellaneous products at Werng Nakorn Kasem in Bangkok 120 years ago, and established Saha Pathanapibul 45 years later, in 1940.
“I personally think my grandfather had a long-term vision in deciding to be in Thailand. There were few Chinese people deciding to stay in Thailand at that time, while a lot of Chinese opted to be in other countries, particularly Vietnam, the Philippines, Singapore and Indonesia.
“Building Sahapat was a great achievement by my father, Tiam Chokwatana. What I have done is to continue his initiative,” said Boonsithi, adding that doing business is also like planting a tree, which requires both toleration and scarification to be successful.
Speaking at a forum on “The Future of Thailand and China in Asean”, hosted last week by the Thailand-China Business Council to celebrate the 40th year of diplomatic relations between Thailand and China, Boonsithi said he had learned how to achieve great success in navigating his conglomerate – the giant Saha Group – from his favourite pastime, piloting an executive jet.
“Before taking off, a pilot needs to check the equipment as well as the fuel level of their plane. This is similar to running a business. In the world of business, if we have not expended a full effort in our business, it means we are failing to run it [properly]. It is like once we take off in a plane, we need to make ourselves well-prepared to reach our final landing at the right destination. As a pilot, I need to see my way in three dimensions.
“While flying my jet, I have to concentrate on the flight path. I have to know the limits of the jet. Once I have taken off, I have to make sure that I can make it land successfully,” said Boonsithi, who takes the helm of his small aircraft a couple of times a month.
“It’s quite similar to doing business in the sense that a business-owner needs to look carefully at the business’s direction and environment, and whether it’s appropriate to invest. You have to know your own capabilities and how to make the most of them,” he explained.
“Once you start your business, you have to make it succeed without faltering,” he added.
 Meanwhile, Kraisorn Chansiri, chairman of Thai Union Frozen Products (TUF), said his grandfather was very poor and decided to move his family from China to Thailand, where he started selling cigarettes in front of a cinema in the Yaowarat area.
“I myself was unlucky in that I had no chance for school study. My father had not created any business for the family, and I just gained a small education from Chinese books for a few years. At that time, I did work myself by teaching Chinese language at home, as well as other daytime jobs, such as house painting and cleaning, sending letters, being a sales and accounting clerk, which used the Chinese language,” he said.
Kraisorn said that he started his life from “three zeroes”: zero in knowledge, zero in capital, and zero in credit.
“I raised Bt10,000 in cash from playing the stock market to be my initial investment capital. I joined with two friends to set up the first company with only Bt40,000 in investment capital, selling imported car paint and construction materials. Then, I was persuaded by my friend to open a garage at Saphan Khwai, and also opened a fabric shop in Sampeng market,” he said.
Kraisorn said he had in fact entered the seafood business by chance, as he had no knowledge or any relatives in this field.
In 1976, a friend of his father who lived in Hong Kong and had just set up his own company for importing frozen shrimp from Thailand, asked him to find a source of fresh shrimp for him.
“I was shocked and nearly tore the letter up, as I did not know where I would find fresh shrimp. But I was lucky in that one of my staff had a cousin selling frozen fresh shrimp in Mahachai, in Samut Sakhon. After contacting them, the vendor agreed to sell frozen fresh shrimp to me on a 1-per-cent commission basis, and that was the starting point for me in entering the seafood business,” said Kraisorn.
He told the forum that he had started the business with only 150 employees, generating sales of around US$1 million (Bt32.6 million) in the first year.
TUF today employs more than 30,000 workers, with targeted global sales of $5 billion this year.
Kraisorn said TUF opened its first marketing operation in China in Shanghai, and expected to make losses for the first five to eight years by investing heavily in advertising activities to educate consumers.
China was seen as a market with massive potential and, with such a huge population, the country was bound to face a problem of fresh-food shortages in the future, when people would increasingly turn their consumption to canned food products, he said.
The company focused on this trend and, with a local Chinese manager, the Shanghai operation was able to make a profit in its sixth year, he explained.
“Chinese investors are skilful and have good business and production techniques. For TUF, we have already been awarded a concession to set up a freshwater oyster farm in Thailand by bringing experts from China. Thailand is about 20 years behind China in the feeding technology for freshwater oysters,” said TUF’s chief.