Testing the waters

What did you do when you were a student? Some spend most of their spare time studying, other hang around with friends and yet others take on an internship.
Chulalongkorn University student, Maneerat Wongjaroenporn, 22, does of course study and see friends, but for the most part she uses her time to help the country’s farmers by developing apps for TechFarm, the agricultural startup that she founded. Her efforts have paid off handsomely too, winning her top prize in the Thailand Women Entrepreuneurs Startup Competition for TechFarm’s work on the agricultural project LenNam.
Maneerat’s work is not just a step in the right direction for the agricultural sector, but for women as well, and the young woman will be representing her country next month at Start Tel Aviv 2016 in Israel.
Her latest invention, LenNam, is an accessible form of technology that aids farmers who work in the fishing and shrimp industries to observe the quality of water. Maneerat hopes that this new invention will help create a better and more stable life for farmers as well as for the agriculture as a whole. “Farmers have to physically maintain the water quality themselves, and have constant concerns about the survival rate of their shrimp,” she explains.
“So if I hear even one story of a farmer leading a more comfortable life because of my product, I will feel like all our hard work has been worthwhile.”
TechFarm, as the name suggests, focuses on products relating to agriculture and aquaculture. The business model and prototype have been in place since last year and today Maneerat and her team are working on promoting the product to farmers.
Keen on computers since childhood, Maneerat’s engagement in technology began when she attended an ICT camp held by Mahidol University while she was still in high school.
“I knew right away that I wanted to work in the field of technology,” she says.
Other than achieving massive success as a female entrepreneur, as well as for her team’s participation in the Microsoft Imagine Cup 2015 Finals in Thailand, a competition focused on student inventions and potential startups, Maneerat and TechFarm have also excelled in the DTAC Accelerate Programme in 2015.
“Competing in the DTAC Accelerate Programme was the moment that changed my life,” Maneerat says. “I never thought we would win because everybody else who participated had been working in this field for years. We were the only students and we were the youngest.”
Winning the competition allowed her and her team to present their work to investors at a tech exhibition in Norway and also gave the youngsters the opportunity to network with experienced entrepreneurs from all over the world.
The experience enabled her to consider new perspectives, especially in terms of merging the worlds of business and engineering and the importance of adapting their products to suit their customer’s needs.
But success also comes with challenges. Competing in the DTAC Accelerate Programme required her to miss classes, making academic and university life a little more difficult. “I do try my best to prioritise my studies,” she says.
Her family wasn’t keen on the sometimes-unsteady balance between her work and her studies, but they ultimately supported her passion. “When doing projects like this, the most important thing is having a good support system around you,” she adds.
The real inspiration for her innovations like LenNam came when she watched the Microsoft 2010 Imagine Cup Finals, where the winning team created an invention that helped people with disabilities.
“I wanted to help other people in the same way,” she says, “I dreamt that my work would inspire at least one person. It’s an honour to work in a field where I am able to inspire others.”
Though her technological savvy can be expanded to cover other fields, she says she first wants to focus on helping to solve the agricultural problems Thais are currently facing. “This sector lacks startup attention,” she points out. However, she is not limiting use of the application to Thais only and suggests that it might even be beneficial for the salmon industry in countries like Norway because the technology can be adapted to suit lower temperatures.
Maneerat hopes to be inspired by the powerful women entrepreneurs she will meet during her trip to Israel. “I want to gain more insight into the world of startups and technology from women who belong to other cultures and come from different parts of the world,” she says, adding that compared to Thailand, Israel is awash with startups, especially ones that focus on agriculture.
 “I reckon Israel is close to becoming the second Silicon Valley,” she says.
And even though she has never felt at a disadvantage compared to her male peers, Maneerat, who is a third-year student in information and communications engineering, strongly encourages young girls and women who might be hesitant to pursue careers in the fields of engineering and technology to be confident in their own abilities.
“Everybody has something that they are good at,” she says. “You cannot compare your skills to someone else’s. Be proud of who you are and the skills you have, keep working on what you love and what you are good at.
“You should not feel inadequate compared to other people, because everyone is talented in different ways,” she adds.
Maneerat still intends to develop and expand TechFarm after she graduates and is confident that she will make a difference in improving the lives of others.
This young entrepreneur is proving that with passion, drive and a strong sense of curiosity, any dream can be transformed into reality. The world, as they say, is her oyster.