Retired farmer, in her 60s, now a successful entrepreneur

Sales of Pa Pum products now average Bt200,000 a month, while the expanding business is creating more jobs for the local community, as well as serving as a community learning centre in Ang Thong.
Apa Community Enterprise is now expanding its output with a Bt600,000 investment in a new factory, which will double its production capacity to 1,000 500-millilitre bottles a day.
The move is expected to double the company’s income and also create new jobs for local people.
Up to 70 per cent of the investment budget for the expansion is in the form a loan from the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Bank of Thailand. The loan is guaranteed by Thai Credit Guarantee Corporation.
Apa, 68, said that before establishing her herbal-oil business, she had been a pig feeder and rice farmer, but this lifelong line of occupation was curtailed when she had an accident that left her quite severely paralysed.
“At that time, I was unable to move, and I thought it was the end of my working life. However, I didn’t want to be a burden on my family, and so I tried to take care of myself by starting to treat my body through Thai massage, using herbal oil mixed by my husband and based on his family knowledge.
“After the massage treatment, I was able to get some movement back, and I started to learn how to massage myself in the hope that it would be a new occupation and generate income for my family,” she explained.
After completing her training in this field, Apa saw that most customers wanted herbal oil to massage their bodies, and her husband’s special-formula oil received positive feedback from her customers after they applied the product at home.
She therefore decided to produce the herbal oil for market distribution in 2004, with an initial investment of just Bt1,000.
“We were able to make the products with only a small outlay because most of the herb raw materials were available in the home garden. We then doubled the investment to Bt2,000, after witnessing strong growth as word of our products spread from mouth to mouth,” she said.
From her base in Ang Thong, she then promoted her range at the first “Thailand’s Alternative Medicine Expo” at Muang Thong Thani, also in 2004.
Pa Pum herbal products proved an instant success, with sales of around Bt100,000 generated at the event.
Apa has since had further success over the years by participating at other Thai herb and alternative-medicine exhibitions.
Apa Community Enterprise now produces more than 100 items, including body-massage herbal oils, soaps and body lotions.
“Most people retire at 60, but I started to expand my business life in my 60s. This proves age is not a barrier to doing business, if you can find the right field to get into,” she said.