Lessons for Thailand from China’s start-up mentality
Start-ups have been in the news a lot in Thailand in recent weeks. The Commerce Ministry has proposed an economic model that includes developing traditional small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to become smart enterprises and start-ups, and there hav
It’s great to see this discussion taking place as I think we all recognise that Thailand needs to find new ways of nurturing entrepreneurs and encouraging innovation.
Having been based in Shanghai for several years now, I’ve witnessed first-hand how China has embraced the start-up mentality and the success of both the public and private sectors in developing small, innovative businesses.
It was Apple CEO Tim Cook who last year described Shanghai as a “magnificent city that can make any dream come true” as it pursues its goal of becoming a global centre of science and technology.
Central and local-government-funded research institutions and incubators are a key part of this strategy, offering the necessary technical advice and funding. More prosaically, shared office spaces have sprouted across the city, providing cash-strapped start-ups inexpensive access to desks, rooms, Internet connections and sometimes storage in prime business locations, starting at prices for single-person desks of around Bt4000 per week.
The benefits of these economies of scale aren’t just physical. For many start-ups, communal facilities also provide informal opportunities to network and share ideas without surrendering business secrets. Spaces are typically modern and full of budding entrepreneurs bashing away on laptops and brainstorming over coffee.
An estimated 14 million start-ups will be created nationwide in China next year, so demand for shared office space is set to increase. Soho China, one of the biggest central business district landlords in Shanghai and Beijing, wants to boost the number of desks in its communal offices in the two cities to 100,000 by 2017, mostly by converting its existing premises.
In Bangkok (and other major cities in Thailand), more shared office space and incubator facilities suitable for start-ups are becoming available (Hubba and BaseCamp are just two examples), but at a level many times lower than in China. This likely reflects not only the disparity in population but also the greater emphasis China has placed on nurturing a start-up culture.
Let’s hope local capacity continues to grow, and that the initiatives announced in recent weeks achieve their goals.
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