Ministry to implement ‘Agoda style’ networking for SMEs and start-ups
THE COMMERCE Ministry plans to use the “Agoda model” to help develop businesses in Thailand, a senior official says.
Banjongjitt Angsusingh, director-general of the Department of Business Development, said her department will soon start to implement the concept used by the hotel-booking website to connect new entrepreneurs or start-ups with small and medium-sized enterprises, or between SMEs.
She said: “Similar to Agoda, which has gathered a network of hotels worldwide, the networking concept can help businesses expand faster than each doing it alone.
“Especially for start-ups and newly established SMEs, it is hard to grow fast without having a network. The department intends to close the gaps.”
The DBD will help form networks and match small businesses that can complement one another.
For example, there is a start-up that has developed an application that allows customers looking for transport for its goods to book trucks. But it faced the problem of finding enough trucks to service its customers. The DBD has helped link the start-up with transport and logistics providers that have passed a training workshop with the department.
“Today, this start-up has a network of transport services throughout the country, and it has grown fast,” she said.
The DBD will execute the plan by examining the list of start-ups that have gone through training or development courses provided by the government and educational institutions, including the Commerce, Industry, and Science and Technology ministries, which total about 300 at present.
Foreign expansion
The list will be used to match SMEs, which will be categorised into different businesses to help them collaborate with one another.
Furthermore, it will connect businesspeople who have received training from various programmes such as the YEN-D (Young Entrepreneur Network Development) programme as well as those trained by various institutions and agencies.
The networking will not be limited to Thai businesspeople but will also be expanded to foreign countries, especially Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam.
To help start-ups and SMEs access funding, the DBD will encourage them to exploit the Business Collateral Act, which allows companies to use assets that have economic value to secure debts from financial institutions, as well as organising a venue for them to meet directly with bankers.
