Poomporn Thamsatitdej, director of business incubation and assistant dean for corporate communication at Mahidol University’s College of Management, said that from the society point of view, those who are close to young people, notably their parents and other family members, very often discourage children by raising |concern over what they see as the impossibility of their business initiatives.
The country’s educational system has also not encouraged students to create new business ideas and initiatives, he said. “We have seen many success and failure factors in regard to start-up initiatives all around the world. However, we do not really have any channel that local start-ups can learn from,” he said.
Thai society has not been teaching people to become what he termed “path-breakers”, leaving them uncertain and not daring to make decisions.
Meanwhile, the government should develop local mechanisms, such as taxation policy and measures, financial support and a migration system to attract inbound talent, which in turn would encourage the creation of start-ups, he suggested.
“Human capital should be provided with suitable channels so that they [creative individuals] can be developed with higher skills and knowledge. That can be done through schools, universities and government offices. They should provide information that encourages people to develop ideas and business skills,” the academic stressed.
Poomporn said that only 5 per cent of today’s start-up projects being spun off could survive by themselves.
From the university’s point of view, start-ups in Thailand are not limited to just the digital and e-commerce field, as they can also apply to other broader platforms such as science, technology and creativity, he said.
“We identify a start-up as a new initiator, which has created a new business that is the first of its kind in the market place, both in terms of the business idea and the way it has been executed. Such new business initiatives can be in various sectors, including medical, food and services, and has to cater to the demand of today’s consumers as well as solving their day-to-day problems.
“It must be scalable for being commercialised or expanded in the future,” he explained.
Poomporn said the government, meanwhile, was continuing to promote start-ups as one of its key mechanisms to grow the economy, as such business initiators required new investments and resources.
Moreover, to compete with the newcomers, existing players have been forced to make strategic adjustments to their businesses, which would also boost the economy further, he added.
Foreign start-ups began to emerge around 1980, mainly in Silicon Valley in the United States, which was been promoted as a leading hub and start-up ecosystem for high-tech innovation and development, while start-ups emerged in Thailand in 1990 along with e-commerce businesses, he said.
“Normally, start-ups are mostly set up by individuals who have good initiative ideas for products and services. They also have good knowledge of how to do business, and a business model. However, to be successful, they each need to have a good partner, with strong talent and skilled in technology,” said the assistant dean.
The government should provide an environment that facilitates the development of local start-ups, which are crucial to future growth, he said, adding that relevant laws and regulations should be adapted to allow start-ups to raise funds from foreign investors more easily.
Usually, start-up initiators have to make a business pitch and propose their idea to foreign investors in order to persuade them to invest in the new business.