FRIDAY, March 29, 2024
nationthailand

More power to women entrepreneurs

More power to women entrepreneurs

Start-up that helps fish and shrimp farmers wins competition initiated by the israeli embassy

Maneerat Wongjaroenporn has won the inaugural Thailand Women Entrepreneurs Startup Competition for producing LenNam, a device and smartphone application  that helps fish and shrimp farmers monitor water quality.
More power to women entrepreneurs
The product was created by start-up firm TechFarm, where Maneerat serves of the founder and chief operating officer. Maneerat has won the right to represent Thailand at Start Tel Aviv 2016 in Israel in September as part of the award.
The Thai competition was initiated by the Embassy of Israel in cooperation with other partners and is the first competition for women innovators and entrepreneurs in Thailand.
“I really appreciate the judges and audience for giving me a chance to be an ambassador for Thai start-ups in Israel,” the 22-year-old said. 
Agriculture is booming in Israel, she said, adding that the trip to Israel was a good chance to learn about the country’s smart farms and bring the knowledge back home.
More power to women entrepreneurs
Maneerat, who is a third-year student in information and communications engineering at Chulalongkorn University, said she would like to motivate the new generation to develop products that were beneficial to society. She said Israel start-ups helped drive the country’s economy.
“I believe that Thailand will be able to do it too,” she said.
LenNam eliminates the complexity of using multiple equipment to get the job done. It produces data 24 hours and has real-time quality warnings. It improves the quality of marine life and as such adds value to products.
“It is really amazing. It’s the mother of inventions, as you need a solution for farmers who cannot afford costly high-technology solutions,” Israeli Ambassador to Thailand Simon Roded said.
He added: “It could help farmers guarantee income. I wish the unique idea and the innovative solution could be adopted to Israeli people.”
More power to women entrepreneurs
Minister of Science and Technology Pichet Durongkaveroj, who presented the awards on Sunday, said the wining project was not only a quality work for a start-up but could potentially contributed to society.
The cooperation between the Israeli Embassy and the Thai private and public sectors has probably launched a new window of opportunity for Israel and Thailand to work together on start-ups, Pichet said.
The minister said not only did Maneerat demonstrate the capability of Thai women but she would represent Thailand in Tel Aviv. 
He said the aim was to have more participants at the event next year.
Roded said the award showed women’s power, and urged more women to show the world how powerful they are and how they could benefit society.
 “The most important thing is it could exposure Thailand as a place for doing new-innovation entrepreneur business to complement the focus on tourism and agriculture,” the ambassador said. 
More power to women entrepreneurs
During the all-expenses-paid five-day trip to Israel, Maneerat, along with winners from each of the 30 participating countries, will participate in lectures, workshops and meetings with leading investors and professionals from Israel and abroad, as well as attend the Digital Life Design Tel Aviv Innovation Festival, Israel’s largest international high-tech gathering. She also received Bt100,000, sponsored by Chulalongkorn University.
Ponglada Paniangwet from Freshket, an online marketplace fresh-food suppliers and restaurants, received Bt50,000 as the runner-up, sponsored by Amata.
The second runner-up award was shared by Thitirat Wangratana-parkdee from Skootar, a messenger-service provider targeting small and medium-sized enterprises, and Sirasom Borisutsuwan from U drink I Drive, a service and mobile application which offered drivers on demand to late-night partygoers. They got Bt10,000 each, sponsored by SCG.
RELATED
nationthailand