Those reflections seven years ago prompted him to embark on his own business, which has since grown to encompass animal feed production, a restaurant and eco-tourism operations that pull in sales of up to Bt250 million a year.

“I asked myself, when I retire how much money will my wife and I need for expenses each month? The answer to my question was Bt1 million,” Prasert said in an interview with The Nation recently.

“That meant that if I remained an employee in the company that I worked for that I could not earn enough to have the means for spending of Bt1 million a month after retirement.

“As a result, I decided to resign from my job in 2011 and start to look into business opportunities that I could do in my home patch of Khon Kaen province,” Prasert said.

A year after his resignation, Prasert, who graduated with a bachelor’s degree in engineering from Chulalongkorn University, spent some time travelling in several provinces on the lookout for business ideas.

Upon returning to Khon Kaen, he decided to further expand the family business that his father started. The business was engaged in producing tapioca for animal feed, with distribution of the raw material to animal feed plants.

“I decided to set up my own animal feed plant by establishing Choke Prasert Feed Co Ltd with registered capital of Bt1 million in 2012 by myself,” he said. “I was able to use my father’s land as a guarantee for a loan of Bt20 million from the bank, enabling me to build the animal feed plant on my father’s land, which covers 43 rai.

The animal feed plant subsequently proved a success, with sales in the domestic and overseas markets, such as Laos and Cambodia, coming in at an average of Bt230 million a year.

Encouraged by this success, Prasert, now 45, established One More Dairy Co Ltd, with registered capital of Bt1 million in 2015. The business is engaged in raising dairy cows and produces ice-cream from the milk they produce. The operation forms part of a business plan to serve the eco-tourism market under concept “Feed-Food-Farm”.

After getting the dairy operation up and running Prasert last year established another company, Aura Organic Co Ltd, with registered capital of Bt1 million. The venture backed his vision for a tourist destination that caters to visitors who want to see how a dairy farm is run, while enjoying organic food and an eco-lifestyle.

Prasert opened the eco-farm, called Aura Farm, in April and it is now draws an average of 5,000 visitors a month.

From the three business units, Prasert said the company expects to generate revenue at an average of Bt250 million a year, with up to 95 per cent of the total coming from the feed business.

“With my experience of seven years as an entrepreneur, I have learnt how to carry out a business and succeeded in changing my lifestyle from that of a white-collar worker to a business owner. The challenge for me is to keep the business performing well in order to achieve our goals.”