It added and that it has recently received affected Chinese suppliers’ requests for more orders.

The company’s management are working to raise OEM share to 50 per cent within two years from the current level of 30 per cent as a way to cut production cost and cope with future minimum labour wage hikes, while maintaining the manufacturing processes under rigorous control to ensure that the products will meet the same quality standards as those achieved for Sabina’s own brands.

Bunchai said the company was confirming its no-layoff policy but will not accept new workers to replace those resigning, and that the increase in the OEM activities involving production of the company’s products at Chinese factories will not lead to a need to enhance production capacity and build or expand factories but will improve the production efficiency and the company’s capability to meet rising demand for (and sales of) products that are processed under rigorous control.

The company also stands ready to enjoy a baht appreciation given the Fed’s potential decision to cut interest rates earlier than expected, which will keep down the cost of importing OEM products from China. It seeks to increase marketing spending to boost purchases over the second half of the year, Bunchai Punturaumporn, chief executive of Sabina PCL (ticker symbol: SABINA), the manufacturer and supplier of Sabina lingerie products.

Toh said in an interview with The Nation that the Singapore-based ride-hailing giant feels extremely positive about its business outlook for 2020 and beyond, having the largest number of rides in the market.

“We are investing in Myanmar for the long term and have put the building blocks in place to bring positive impact to different communities,” she said.

The firm has enjoyed an average 30 per cent increase in daily bookings since June last year, said Toh.

“This is extremely encouraging, because Grab users are also adopting cashless payments with a 10 per cent increase in the use of GrabPay over the same time period.”

To date, nearly 2 million people in Myanmar have downloaded the application, suggesting that users have embraced Grab’s safety features and the convenience of upfront, fixed fares.

“While we have taken strides in Myanmar since our launch in 2017, we believe the journey here is just the beginning,” she said.

In Myanmar, Grab is now in Yangon, Mandalay and Bagan, and will be expanding its ride-hailing services later this year. It will soon introduce the web-booking service for hotels and multi-site offices to efficiently book more rides through an online portal, and will offer hourly and daily car bookings in Mandalay. Available packages include tour options and oneway trips to Pyin Oo Lwin, Sagaing and Innwa.

“Our expansion plans are always influenced by the needs of residents in each city. Grab users are always encouraged to try beta versions of our new services,” she said.

“In Yangon, we have the largest driver-partner base among all ride-hailing providers. On average, we register several hundred new driver-partners each month.”

In Mandalay, the GrabThoneBane driver base has increased by 50 per cent since January this year. GrabBike and GrabTaxi are also service options found in Mandalay, and the firm is also working with more than 50 drivers in Bagan to serve foreign and domestic visitors.

As the commercial hub of Myanmar, Yangon continues to mainly drive the firm’s business, accounting for 90 per cent of Grab passengers. The passenger and driver base in Mandalay and Bagan is also on the rise, said Toh.

She stressed the importance of caring for the needs of thousands of driver-partners in Myanmar. She lauded the efforts of the Partner Care team whose members work behind the scenes to assist drivers – from inspections of vehicle safety conditions, registrations and licensing, to the education of customer service best practices and trouble-shooting the software.

Through its partnership with locally-owned CB Bank, the firm has brought thousands of driver-partners into the digital banking ecosystem. The partnership results in the safe-keeping of drivers’ earnings, ensuring easy cashout at the bank’s automated teller machines at any time.

“Our goal is always to deliver the best possible experience for drivers and passengers. We believe we are best placed to help transform Myanmar’s transportation sector further,” she said.

“This can happen by making strategic investments in product and technology development, quality driver recruitment, and a focused commitment to out-serving all users on our platform.”

As more and more passengers and driver-partners enjoy the safety, comfort and convenience of Grab services, the firm gets a bit closer to its primary goal of improving lives and providing value-added services to Myanmar and its people, said Toh.

In 2017, the firm announced its plan to invest US$100 million (Bt3.1 billion) in Myanmar over three years. Toh said the firm stressed the importance of investing in local talents and building an independent local operation, as it can better position them to understand local issues and deliver real solutions to local needs.

The firm now has more than 100 employees, with 99 per cent of them local talents, including leadership comprised of repats and young professionals across Yangon, Mandalay and Bagan who have a passion to see their motherland be fruitful.

“We will continue to scale up our workforce according to our operational needs and the rollout of new services in the months to come,” she said.

“Rooting ourselves in Myanmar means we can accelerate digital literฌacy and the adoption of technology services when users need it most.”

Toh takes pride in the increasing number of business rides with Grab, with more than 100 companies in Myanmar having adopted Grab for Business services for corporate travel. They include private, public and multinational companies from various industries operating in Yangon and Mandalay.

“Our mission will expand beyond transport services. As a technology platform, our team is constantly workฌing on other solutions for Myanmar companies in order to drive efficiency, help retailers gain more market exposure, and provide safer solutions for the general public,” she said.

The project is a joint venture between CPN, who hold a 60 per cent stake, and Malaysia firm i-Berhad who hold a 40 per cent stake.

“Malaysia is the first step to Asean for our group,Vietnam will be the next,”CPN’s deputy chief executive deputy officer Wallaya Chirathivat said.

Rak brings this vision of helping society by expanding access to credit to his new position as president of the Thai Credit Guarantee Corporation (TCG).

“I decided to apply to become president of the TCG after I had success in expanding the business of Export-Import Bank of Thailand to other Asean countries while I was senior executive vice president of the bank,” Rak said in an interview with The Nation Weekend.

“It is my passion to work with the TCG and find ways to collaborate with related parties to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). There are more than three million such enterprises nationwide that can benefit from loans, but only about one million of them managed to get loans from the banks.”

He also wants to open up channels for people who work in a freelance or casual capacity, such as taxi drivers, motorcycle taxi driver and online retailers, along with those who run street food and street stalls, to get bank financing with the help of loan guarantees from the TCG.

“In my view, TCG is a small state enterprise, as it has only about 400 workers. This give us the flexibility to carry out our work in supporting SMEs and micro SMEs to improve their business and achieve sustainable growth over the long term,” he says. “This is the main reason that I decided to resign from Export-Import Bank of Thailand and apply to serve here.”

Rak, 44, began working at the TCG on December 17, 2018; his term covers fours years.

“With my role at the TCG, it was the first time that I became the head of an organisation,” he says. “This presented a challenge for me in creating my own ideas for driving business growth and expanding the business, which is engaged in guaranteeing loans for all kinds of SMEs and Micro SMEs in the market.”

His goal is to open up the services of the TCG to everyone, providing them with the loan guarantees that secure the financing that they need. This support enables such people to create opportunities to learn how to better manage their businesses while using the borrowings to expand over the long term.

“Most people with small businesses cannot gain loans from the banks because they do not know how to manage their financial statements,” Rak says. “But we can help them to learn how to manage their financial statements, such as by doing their accounting and running check lists on their income and spending. In this way, we can help them to prepare a business plan based on their proposals, which they can present to the banks when applying for a loan. All this is provided in a service that we call Loan Clinic, where we effectively become their financial advisers.”

Rak says this open-door approach to doing business required an overhaul of the business model. Previously, the TCG sat back and waited for the banks to propose their customers for loan guarantees. That approach has now been reversed.

With the TCG acting as the applicants’ financial adviser, it advises them on how to gain loans from the banks and other financial institutions with loan products that match their needs.

“We are a partner with all the financial institutions. This means we have more choice for our customers in selecting what matches with their demands,” he says.

“This is the new model that we are implementing alongside our traditional model of dealing with customers that come from the banks. With this way of doing business, we believe that we will increase the growth in the number of new loan guarantees to between 20 per cent and 30 per cent a year from this year until 2022,” says Rak, referring to a timeframe that coincides with the year he is due to step down.

Under the business plan, the company will this year invest up to Bt200 million in upgrading its information technology (IT) system in line with the new business model. To meet customers’ demands, a further Bt300 million will be spent on digital technology development between 2020 and 2022.

With the upgrade of its IT system, the TCG will further reduce the processes involved in approving loan to just a single day next month. The process has already been reduced from 14 days to three days, he adds.

“The faster working process will increase our approval target for loan guarantees from an average of Bt88 billion in previous years to Bt115.5 billion this year,” he says. “It will also boost the number of our new customers from an average of 54,969 a year to 89,166 in 2019.”

“The TCG is also embarking on a reorganisation process. It has appointed PwC as its adviser on a business restructuring and the operational direction it will take for the future. These measures will drive the TCG forward as the top guarantor for both loan applicants and lenders in the country.”

In devising the new business model, Rak says he spent four months learning about the organisation’s work culture and he has sought to integrate the best aspects of the work culture into the business model while also striving to engineer change in the organisation.

“We are working together with the TCG staff and learning together on what we can achieve as the best outcomes,” he says. “This collaboration will help us in our efforts to change the business model and we hope to achieve our goals.”

Amidst all the hard work put in at the office, Rak says he manages to keep his weekends free for time with his family. He takes part in family duties like picking up his son for trips and enjoys the play time together. With this approach, he has succeeded in striking a balance between work and family life.

“In my view, when we have an opportunity to do business we have to be mindful to carry out such business with the aim of improving society and opening up opportunities for people to grow together,” he says. “It has been my quest, while progressing in my career to where I am now as the head of an organisation, to do what I can to serve society and drive forward the country’s growth.”

The event is organised by IMPACT Exhibition Management, Thai Pet Products Industry Association, the Dog Breeding Development Association (Thailand), and Perfect Companion Group.

“Dog’s Fit City” will be part of the event that will also exhibit high quality dog products and outstanding dog services.

Visitors will find discounts on dog products and services of up to 70 per cent.

For more information visit www.thailand-dogshow.com or Facebook: ThailandInternationalDogShow.