“Thais are living longer and Thailand has already become an ‘ageing’ country, but no one talks seriously about a second career after retirement. A second career is important for retirees who are able to work. I decided to found Ming Corporation by leveraging my experiences in the past to my second career,” said Anusorn Buranakanonda, CEO of Ming Corporation, operator of the Ming brand of essence of chicken drinks.

Essence of chicken drinks are a mass-market product with a total value of Bt8 billion a year, dominated by two major players in the Thai market.

Anusorn noticed, however, that as these major players were focused on consumers in the B+ and above segment, there were huge gaps for his company to offer essence of chicken to people in the B and C segments.

The economic slowdown has also opened up an opportunity for another brand – one that offers value for money, he said, adding that this was not only the case among Thai consumers, but also among people abroad seeking good value, especially in tough economic times.

Such a new brand can be compared to the success of the low-cost airlines, which now have higher cabin factors than premium airlines, he said.

As a mass-market product, distribution channels must also serve the masses, which is why Ming is being made available at leading supermarket and convenience-store chains.

These distribution channels also require ‘second brand’ products to offset the decline in sales from premium brands, he explained.

Ming essence of chicken drink retails for Bt45, against Bt55 for the established players’ products.

The company is currently talking with more modern trade and convenience-store businesses to bring Ming to their shelves.

However, access to funding is a barrier for the company’s expansion, as it is for other small businesses, because his company needs capital to increase its distribution channels and promote its products.

Ming Corporation presented its business plan to the Small and Medium Enterprise DevelopmentBank of Thailand (SME Bank), after the bank accepted the company under its venture-capital funding programme.

“We require funding of around Bt15 million-Bt20 million for this year and next, for expanding our distribution channels and promoting our products through online marketing,” Anusorn said. “The company needs to spend [to expand], as any small business needs to. We don’t have much money for promoting via above-the-line media at this stage. Once our products can be distributed nationwide, we will consider promotion using such media,” he added.

Ming essence of chicken drink is currently distributed in Bangkok and other major provinces, and its founder wants to establish a firm foundation before thinking about market expansion in other provinces, as well as in neighbouring countries.