FRIDAY, March 29, 2024
nationthailand

Unilever, marketing groups urged to support start-ups

Unilever, marketing groups urged to support start-ups

DEPUTY Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak yesterday urged international consumer-product giant Unilever Thailand and the Marketing Association of Thailand to participate in the Pracha Rath project to help Thai start-ups.

“Unilever has strong marketing techniques. The company should help build up local start-ups and help them run their businesses successfully,” he said.
“The Marketing Association of Thailand is [operating] traditionally as it has done over the last 30 years, just hosting marketing seminars and talking about 4P initiatives [product, price, place and promotion]. They should help the government’s Pracha Rath project in providing start-ups with good marketing practices,” Somkid said.
Supattra Paopiamsap, chief executive of the Unilever Thai Group of Companies and president of the Marketing Association of Thailand, declined to comment.
Somkid yesterday chaired the opening of a forum titled “Mobilising Collective Action to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals of a Zero Carbon, Zero Poverty World” held by Unilever, in cooperation with the Federation of Thai Industries and online news organisation Thai Publica.
He said Pracha Rath means close coordination between the government, private and people sectors in moving the country forward for sustainable growth and development.
“Pracha Rath itself is not a new idea. It is a joint working between the government, the private and people sectors to move the country forward,” said Somkid.
He said that with sustainable development, Thailand would not be run only on the basis of GDP growth and an export-driven economy.
“Focusing only on economic growth will lead to many problems for the country, including poverty and inequality in society, as well as natural disasters. Such a society will not last long,” said Somkid.
Somkid added that the country and all stakeholders must prioritise sustainable development, which will cover three dimensions – economy, society and the environment.
For the Pracha Rath project, which will promote sustainable development of the country, the government will focus on three key dimensions: 1) increase income and reduce expenditure of people; 2) shift the country from an export economy to make it competitive; 3) promote good governance, especially in government projects.
Suphachai Chearavanont, president and CEO of True Corporation, said the group has been supporting the Pracha Rath project in promoting and developing a strong foundation for the country’s education system.
“We have already signed MoUs with 12 private organisations to grant support in areas of personnel and investment capital to 3,300 schools throughout the country. And if the project is running successfully, we plan to increase the number of schools being supported to 7,400 within the next three years, covering all tambons [sub-districts] throughout the country,” he said.
Suphachai said that the collaboration would cover the sharing of knowledge, promoting good governance and developing new leaderships at the school level. They will be changed from a teacher-centric to a child-centric learning system, which will allow children the ability to question, find answers, and make them capable of analysis and execution.
He said that True Corp, two years ago, set up a US$10-million fund called ‘True Incube” to support start-ups in the area of digital technology. The fund will now be expanded to between $30-50 million within the next three to five years.
“In addition to digital technology, we plan to set up funds to promote local and regional start-ups in areas of bio food technology, nano technology, and robotic technology. The move will attract regional talents to Thailand,” said Supachai. 
Unilever recently joined the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI), online news organisation Thai Publica, and representatives from 32 public, private, and non-governmental organisations for a symposium to exchange ideas on reducing obstacles for sustainable businesses and build new partnerships to help businesses better tackle Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set by the United Nations.
The establishment of the SDGs by the UN and the signing of the Paris Agreement on climate change (COP 21) by 193 countries from across the world, including Thailand, brought sustainable development and addressing climate change to the forefront as key challenges for every sector to achieve by 2030
 
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