Issue 14: 31 October 2014
Thailand’s rice industry demonstrates that quality is just as important as quantity in today’s increasingly health conscious world.
Just some of the many Natural food products available from Medifoods
Thailand is the kingdom of rice. However, at the biggest gathering of Thailand’s food produce, the DITP’s ThaiFEX 2014, a new angle to the country’s industry was introduced - rice farming is no longer all about the yield.
“At least for Medifoods, growing rice is about sustaining our farmer, their communities and the agricultural environment,” says Warren Barr, CEO of Medifoods.
The concept of khon tham na demonstrates his company’s commitment to working with and gaining public trust in the quality of its produce. Medifoods Director Ben Boonlai explains that the expression is a combination of khon meaning humans, tham which resembles that of Dhamma in Buddhism and means the truth, and na which means both the result of good deeds and practical learnings, developed in the fields, that we pass on to future generations.
Issue 13th: 29 Sept 2014
It was stress, not the sort of thing usually associated with the Land of Smiles, that made Paisal Wongwaikolayoot come up with a potentially world changing idea.
Paisal Wongwaikolayoot of Toewongwai Company
“The pressure made me think,” says Paisal Wongwaikolayoot. Building a house while financially troubled, he discovered that Thai rules about foundations needing pile drivers just added to his frustrations. Then one day noting that he had a truck on site and needed a pile driver, he put these two things together and though a proverbial light might not have gone on, he did do a very Thai thing. “I meditated on it,” he explains.
The result is one of those ‘why-didn’t-I-think-of-that’ inventions –a mobile pile driver.
Pile drivers are usually erected on site, something which can add days to the construction process,whereas a truck-loaded one is driven there and only takes a few minutes to assemble. “Everything is on the truck,” says Wongwaikolayoot. His reckoning is that one mobile unit can do the work of eight tower pile drivers due to its greater flexibility.
Issue 11: 1 Sept 2014
Driven by an increase in exports, Thailand’s economy has rebounded from the malaise it endured during the first half of 2014.
When Thailand announced that exports for June rose 3.9% compared to the same month last year, it was the sign the business world had been looking for; that the country’s economy was starting to rebound. The positive economic news was doubled when the government announced that Southeast Asia's second-largest economy had avoided recession in Q2 by growing 0.9% compared with the previous quarter.
This marked a significant volte face for the country’s economy that had previously been staring recession in the face following the political transformation in the first few months of the year.
Now the government is predicting a V-shaped rebound by December, based on rising consumer and business confidence and political stability, with a projected 4% growth in the second half of the year after a 0.1% contraction in the first.
Issue 12 : 15 Sept 2014
For thousands of years, silk and cotton have been two of the world's major commodities. Pilan Dhammongkol, the owner of Thailand’s 112-year-old silk and cotton company Thanapaisal tells Horizon how Thailand keeps pushing the business forward.
Like so many other industries, the world of textiles has undergone massive changes in recent years. The invention of cheap synthetic materials has placed increasing strains upon manufacturers who use traditional materials such as silk and cotton.
“My family used to do on-demand bleaching and dyeing,” says Pilan Dhammongkol the third generation in his family's silk and cotton company –Thanapaisal. “[To expand our business], we decided to manufacture our own fabrics. This made me realised that I needed to invest in RDD – research, design, and development – for our business to grow.”
Issue 10: 18 Aug 2014
Horizon Thailand talks to the director of Thai film sensation Pee Mak Phra Khanong about the future of the Thai movie industry.
“Our principle is to make very good content and quality of work,” says Banjong Pisanthanakun of Grammy, Thai Entertainment and Hub Ho Hin (GTH) as he explains the core idea behind his internationally successful movie, Pee Mak Phra Khanong, based on a famous Thai ghost story.
Now the most successful Thai horror-comedy film in history, Pee Mak Phra Khanong has grossed more than US$33 million. And the film has not just been a commercial success, drawing attention from publications such as the special edition of The Hollywood Reporter magazine circulated at the Cannes Film Festival 2013. “We believe in what we like and believe that audience will like it too,” adds Pisanthanakun.
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