ADB’s deputy director general Christopher Thieme said the bank supports infrastructure development in Asia countries. This project will improve the mass transit system in Bangkok and reduce cost of living for residents  in the city.

Northern Bangkok Monorail Co Ltd will operate the pink line stretching from Bangkok to Karai Nonthaburi, totalling 34.5 kilometres.  Eastern Bangkok  Monorail Co Ltd  will  manage the 30-kilometre yellow line from Bangkok to Sam Rong Samutprakarn province.

He also hoped that a new and stable government could be set up within this month.

He said the group has slashed by half its sales growth forecast for the year – from 5 to 6 per cent, due to unfavourable economic conditions.

He said that in the past the group had focused mainly on manufacturing products but from now on its focus will also cover other areas such education and services in response to fast-changing technology, lifestyles, and demand of the new generation.

It will open King’s College International School Bangkok in partnership with King’s College School Wimbledon, England.

It will also focus more on adopting advanced digital technology to enhance its operational efficiency and enhance customer experience.

Saha Group will sign a number of memoranda of understanding and deals with foreign partners on June 27-28.

The group declined to elaborate details of these projects, only revealing that one of them is a plan to join with Japan’s Tokyu Corporation to develop a hotel and condominium project.The hotel will be set up in Sri Racha.

The other one is a plan to join with Japan’s Sojitz Corporation to seek potential customers to invest in Saha group’s industrial parks in Kabinburi, Mae Sot as well as Lampun.

Saha group will hold the 23rd Saha Group Fair from June 27 to 30 at Bitec Bangna.

The fair will offer varieties of products from the group.

The event will unveil its vision “Path towards the Future” and feature a full range of products and services enhanced with digital technology as well as cultures, negotiate trade deals with investors, showcase innovations and offer exclusive sales promotions of leading products at their exhibition booths.

In addition, Saha Group will jointly work with the Commerce Ministry to invite more than 30,000 Thong Fah (Blue Flag) Pracha Rat stores nationwide to participate in the event.

Sathapon Patanakuha, managing director at Smart Contract Thailand, said the firm aims to provide the health care industry with its S-curve business, including their blockchain solution.

That solution is a health information exchange and personal health records platform using blockchain technology and designed for hospital and government healthcare organisations.

The platform, Sathapon said, could help patients, medical practitioners, as well as hospital and healthcare service providers in the areas of the Nationwide Health Information Exchange, e-referral and e-claims, universal personal health records and health literacy and awareness.

The firm has also developed an electricity distribution system based on peer-to-peer solar energy trading using blockchain technology.

The firm moreover also provides an identity management platform, tokenisation platform and smart contract management platform to support both enterprise and government markets.

Their identity management platform offers eKYC (electronic know your customers), identity sharing, fraud prevention and consent management.

Meanwhile, the tokenisation platform is a new technology platform related to energy, bonds, shares and securities, as well as property.

With the contract management platform, the firm offers supply chain and logistics solutions to support enterprise and government markets.

“We are a local development team that developed S-Curve technologies to support the local and international market,” said the managing director.

Sathapon added that the firm is under negotiations with business partners to provide its technology solutions to support international market such as Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong.

The firm expects that by the end of this year it will generate a revenue increase from last year of around 150 per cent.

“Our developments are disruptive technologies, including blockchain. We also saw that emergent technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics would change business processes and daily life for people as a whole,” said Sathapon.

IDC has also reported their expectation that spending on blockchain solutions within Asia Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ) would reach nearly US$523.8 million (Bt16.49 billion) in 2019, an increase of 83.9 per cent from the $284.8 million spent in 2018, according to the latest update of the IDC Worldwide Semiannual Blockchain Spending Guide.

Furthermore, IDC forecasts that blockchain spending in APEJ to grow at a robust pace during the 2018-2022 forecast period with a five-year compound annual growth rate of 77.5 per cent and total spending of $2.4 billion by 2022.

“Networked integrity, distributed power, value as incentive, security, privacy, rights preserved and inclusion are the seven basic design principle of the blockchain economy,” said Ashutosh Bisht, senior research manager for customer insights and analysis at IDC. “And they provide the confidence for industry leaders to accelerate their adoption of this maturing technology.

“We have reached an inflection point where implementation is moving quickly beyond the pilot and proof of concept phase for the adoption of Blockchain in APEJ,” said Bisht.

“Blockchain, which emerged out of the financial sector, is more well-established in this vertical industry. The financial sector accounts for about half of the spend throughout the forecast period.”

This programme is run by The FinLab, in collaboration with the Digital Economy Promotion Agency (depa), National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA) and the Office of SMEs Promotion (OSMEP).

The 15 SMEs, selected from close to 150 applicants in Bangkok, come from a diverse range of sectors such as food and beverage, retail, travel, logistics and manufacturing. They were chosen in recognition of their acute awareness of their business constraints and challenges, as well as for their openness to explore new ideas and to use digital tools for scaling new heights in their business.

Through the Smart Business Transformation Programme, UOB (Thai) and The FinLab aim to help these SMEs tap digital solutions to enhance their online marketing efforts and to streamline their business processes. This will enable them to reach more customers in Thailand and expand into new markets.

 The SMEs will attend a series of workshops on various topics conducted by industry experts from May to June 2019 to gain the know-how and to learn about the digital tools they can use for their business. They will then be matched with The FinLab’s curated list of solution providers to pilot solutions that are relevant to their individual businesses. Each SME will receive Bt1 million worth of value through the workshops, professional training, mentorship and publicity garnered from the programme.

“We started our services one year ago, with a specific focus on the installation and repair of air-conditioners, washing machines and refrigerators. And now we have just launched our mobile app to bring the smart experience to this industry,” he said.

The firm launched Zeddite application last week, aiming to see a substantial increase in its customer base. Customers can now enquire or order Zeddite’s services through a variety of channels – app, website, Facebook page and direct call.

Since its first day in business, the firm has enjoyed a growth rate of around 70 per cent, he said, and provides one-stop services to more than 300 customers on a monthly basis.

“With the launch of our app, we expect to grow at around 100 per cent in the near term. In the next 12 months, we aim to achieve 200 per cent growth and around 3,000 orders every month,” said Nyan Lynn Htet.

He said the firm eyes further simultaneous growth in both B2B (business to business) customers and the mass market. While maintaining AC as its main target, Zeddite will expand its service portfolio to CCTV installation from this month on.

In order to ensure the fastest service within three hours of receiving an order, the firm has partnered with more than 20 professional technicians from different townships in Yangon’s municipal area.

“We have covered the whole YCDC [Yangon City Development Committee] area so far, but we still have more than 120 technicians on our waiting list. Later on, we will expand our geographical coverage after testing their quality and professional performance,” he said.

According to the executive, the firm is also eyeing expansion of its service areas to improve women’s involvement in the business.

“The current service lines are not that convenient for female technicians. We are also looking at computer hardware and software services to create more job opportunities for women,” he said.

During the interview, Nyan Lynn Htet explained why he decided to establish Zeddite with three other co-founders.

“People usually have to spend their time outside. So, they want to have the appliances repaired at a convenient time for them, particularly when they are at home. If they contact only one service centre, it is really hard to send a technician to their home at a time convenient to them, due to the limited number of skilled technicians,” he said.

“On the other hand, when we reached out to service centres, we found out that they usually do not have a specific staff member to accept the customer’s order. This may lead to misunderstanding and inconvenience for customers. We tried to solve that pain point.”

He said it is really hard for technicians to draw up an effective schedule and routes, when they accept orders from different townships.

“For example, even if a technician has the capacity to repair four air-cons, perhaps he can service only two if he is tied up with logistics and drawing up the schedule,” he said.

Additionally, it is really difficult for people living in Yangon to find the right service, one that guarantees quality during a certain period of time.

“For customers, it is usually hard to know whether or not the [service technician’s] quality is good enough. Another thing is that many people usually hesitate to bring strangers to their houses for safety reasons,” he said. “As a third party, we mainly take care of an efficient management system to ensure punctuality, quality and security.”

In a bid to raise funds, the firm is currently in discussions with four potential investors, including some foreign firms. It expects six-digit investment in US-dollar terms from the fundraising.

Meanwhile, AOT Plc today opened up bidding for the private sector to submit its qualifications and technical and business plans to manage the commercial and tax-free areas of the three provincial airports.

The committee will then review the qualifications of bidders before considering technical and business plans. Those that make it that far will then have their bid price opened on June 10, with the committee announcing the winner for all three airports on that day, said Wichai. The winner would then be proposed to the company’s board for consideration on June 19.

He added that the company believed that the four private groups that purchased an auction envelope last month would today send in their proposal.

King Power Duty Free Co Ltd, acting alone, was among the four groups to purchase the auction envelope. The next group was Bangkok Airways Plc who joined with South Korea-based Hotel Lotte Co Ltd and Bangkok Airways Holding Co Ltd. The third group was Royal Orchid Hotel (Thailand) Plc jointly with Empire Asia Group and WDFG UK Ltd. The final group was Central Department Store Co Ltd with DFS Venture Singapore Co Ltd.

According to the bid rules, up to 80 per cent of the score will focus on the technical and business plan, with the remaining 20 per cent based on the monetary return to the AOT.

Wichai said that AOT has continued to maintain the revenue to be shared with AOT to not less than 20 per cent, which was the same rule for the previous bids to manage the commercial area of Suvarnabhumi International Airport. That contest was won by King Power Suvarnabhumi Co Ltd, which offered returns to AOT of over Bt2 billion a year.

Under the revenue sharing rule, the private firm that is chosen to manage the commercial area of the three provincial airports must pay at least 20 per cent yearly over a 10-year contract, he said.

Now he sits atop the company that runs the vast network of McDonald’s restaurants in Thailand.

Chew, who is chairman of the executive committee and chief executive of McThai, has been a local pioneer in what is known as the quick-service restaurant (QSR) industry.

Chew says he clocked up a wealth of diverse experiences in his engagement with QSR. Among them are the benefits from networking with people, including friends and other professionals – and that opportunity to pursue lifelong learning.

These experiences have helped him to apply what he has learned in business training. The knowledge he has learned from many developed markets around the world has been put to work, and these insights have helped in the creation of products relevant to the local market.

Hester Chew

He can say with confidence that his joining the QSR business became a central part of his life-long learning process.

Chew began his career in the fast-food business in the early 1980s, when in Singapore he joined the company that later became known as KFC.

“I felt inspired to bring a new industry to the market, exciting curiosity among people, as I took up an opportunity for extensive training. I always keep learning and have grown from that initial experience,” he says.

“Initially, I joined the QSR industry back in 1983 and it was then a very new industry. Being young, I was quite curious and liked to work with people. My passion is to work with people in this industry,” says Hester, who joined KFC in the city state as a management trainee.

“At that time, I went for training in the restaurant. I got to learn not just by looking at the products and organising people, but also by planning for the restaurant.

“ My inspiration was the curiosity that I felt as QSR was a new industry there. The role allowed me to work with people. I grew and learnt from that. It also gave me an opportunity for training overseas, including in Australia and Louisville, Kentucky. It gave me exposure to not just KFC in Singapore but to more developed KFC operations, like in Australia and the US.”

Chew progressed from management trainee to restaurant manager and then to area supervisor. He did training for restaurants and took over all the operations at the area level. After that, Chew went on to a senior role in the company’s regional operations.

Chew was getting noticed and, in 1988, the company president asked him to establish KFC’s business in China. But his family felt China was too far away for their liking, so he was presented with an offer to run the business in Bangkok and its joint venture with Charoen Pokphand (CP). He moved to Thailand in October of that year. “It proved a good move for me as in Thailand I started to learn about a new culture and how to do business here, as well as combining people skills and business skills to grow the business here,” says Chew, who worked at KFC for almost 20 years -13 of them in Thailand.

Chew says that when he moved to Thailand KFC already had a local franchisee, Central Restaurants Group (CRG), which stuck a deal with KFC in 1985.

“When I moved here in 1988, CRG already had the franchise for KFC, but the company had stopped growing the brand,” he says. “Central operated five KFC restaurants, including the Silom store, which burned down.”

Chew said the number of KFC restaurants in Thailand had grown to 300 – comprising those branches run by CRG and those owned by the company – when he left KFC in 2002.

“During my first two to three years at KFC, I tried to work hard to reshape the business and work together with CRG. There was a good initial working relationship as I tried to rebuild trust and inter-personnel skills relationships so that we could grow the business,” Chew recalls of that time.

“The way I develop a business, whether at KFC or McDonald’s, is to work on how to adapt the business and enhance and grow the brand within the local context.

“When I first started at KFC, I introduced rice into the KFC restaurant in Samrong. Rolling out rice at KFC in 1989 was my strategy to adapt to the affordability levels and local eating habits of Thai consumers.

“Adapting the business concept is quite important in order for us to see what we are growing with. At McDonald’s today, new products are relevant to families and our consumers.

“Adapting the brand and the business to the local culture is important. What have I gained? I have gained a working knowledge along with experience, and I have got to know many friends in Thailand. At the end of the day, Thailand has proved to be very good place for us to adapt the business and to work.”

Chew, away from his hectic work schedule, goes to the gym at least once or twice a week to keep up his exercise routine. He also enjoys a round of golf once or twice a month.

“I enjoy travelling and the opportunity to meet different people, experience different cultures and tastes and the different foods,” he says.

“I am also very active in the Young Presidents’ Organisation (YPO), which has 27,000 members around the world. You can look at my hobbies and my interests. It helps me to maintain good networking. YPO has a lot of educational programmes. I think at an individual level, whether we are male or female, we always want to keep learning. Lifelong learning is quite important. YPO’s concept is lifelong learning. I think that is good as well.

“Let’s take YPO. When we travel on business, I invite out a group of businesspeople. Like last year in Hawaii, at an evening dinner I got different YPO members from local business industries to join us and they explained about their local industries.

“Getting local knowledge directly from local businesspeople on the ground is one way that we can gain more knowledge.”

Chew cites a recent programme at YPO in Cape Town, where he gained updates on artificial intelligence. A Tibetan monk also talked about mindfulness and how people can work can relax and work under a balanced approach.

“So, I think on-going learning and networking with people are ways that have helped me in business,” Chew says. “Keeping up exercise is also important. This helps me to keep fit and sharp so that I can focus more on my work.”

He says that one of the most important factors for doing well at work is focus.

“So, if you’re not physically fit, it will be difficult for you to focus and concentrate on business. I sleep maybe for four hours a day. Being fit is important,” he says “Everybody says we must sleep at least eight hours a day. For me, sleeping for just four to five hours is good enough. However, on Sunday afternoon, I just relax.

“Going to the sports club is my place to recharge the batteries. It is like a car going for a check-up and battery recharge. People for the same reason need to be recharged. Keeping fit is important so that we can focus on our work. Having networks and ongoing learning are important so that we can keep updating ourselves.”

Technology provides another example of the need for constant updating.

“We need to be updated as the technology is changing so fast,” Chew says. “This morning at 8.30, I attended a business seminar by Facebook to understand what is happening in terms of the disruption we see with technology. Some 150 people were there, so I met many people. I got to know some new people, met some old friends, and also updated myself on what has happening in the technology world as well. It is important to keep bring updated and to be curious and to keep learning as well.

“Technology is disrupting businesses with mobile apps. For example, our app and Web have helped our McDonald’s delivery business to achieve strong double-digit growth. We need to apply technology in the business as well as learn more broadly about it.”

Chew joined McDonald’s in Thailand in 2006. At that time, the company operated 93 restaurants across the country. The number of McDonald’s restaurants has since risen to 248.

“We always look at what we have achieved over the past 13 years. A key thing that we have done is to make our products relevant,” he says. “We are more aggressive on drive-thru. For the past eight to nine years, McDonald’s has been at the forefront in pushing more drive-thru stores in the market. Now, many brands are also opening drive-thru outlets. Drive-thru is one area that we have pushed. McDonald’s is definitely a pioneer in the drive-thru business in Thailand.

If we look at the technology front, today we have more than half of our restaurants with a digital menu board. And we have some 60 restaurants with self-ordering kiosks.

“So at the moment in QSR, we do have different products that we want to make relevant to the customers. We also expanded McCafe into McDonald’s here.”

Chew says his long-term ambition for the company is for it to continue to grow.

“I think it is important for the company to continue to grow our business as well as our team and our people within the company,” he says. “We also want to ensure that our restaurant and CSR programmes, such as Ronald McDonald House Charities, continue to be strong.”

Chew says McDonald’s has three major corporate social responsibility programmes. Under the first one, the company has opened children’s playrooms at 35 hospitals. The second programme concerns Ronald McDonald Houses, which have been opened at the Queen Sirikit National Institute of Child Health, Nopparat Rajathani Hospital, King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital, and Siriraj Hospital.

“Working with the four hospitals on a combined basis, every year we can serve up to 58,400 people who have stayed with us,” he says.

The third programme, Ronald McDonald Care Mobile, provides oral health screening and dental care services to underprivileged children in rural areas for free. Each year, the company serves about 8,000 children with this programme.

Chew says that he believes in work-life harmony, rather than work-life balance.

“This is because balance implies an equal measure. When we enjoy our work we won’t have a problem. We don’t see it as work. The importance for us is to enjoy our work,” says Chew, who notes that when people work hard, they play harder and, sometimes, drink the hardest as well.

“I think we have got enjoy what we’re doing. We work hard so that we can provide for our families, which is important. We work hard to provide more opportunity for our staff and employees. I think working is important.

“As a leader, I believe empathy is important. We have an attitude of empathy. We have an attitude of being a servant leader. We work and serve at the same time, so that we can grow our organisation and to grow stronger together.”

The unlisted company, founded by the late Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha — Thailand’s fourth richest man and owner of Leicester City football club at the time of his death last year — has held a monopoly over Thailand’s duty-free industry since 2006.

That has prompted intense criticism from rivals including some of the world’s biggest travel retailers, who have lobbied for the monopoly to be broken up saying a lone player limits revenues for Thailand’s airports and could fuel corruption.

The concession, administered by Airports of Thailand (AoT), is set to be renewed in 2020.

    Duty-free sales in Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport — which attracted 51.5 million international visitors in 2018 — generate an estimated $1.9 billion a year, according to the Thailand Development Research Institute.

AoT said King Power won the auction despite competition from Korea’s Lotte and Empire Asia Group, which partnered with Switzerland’s World Duty Free Group.

The decision is set to be finalised on June 19.

King Power “proposed higher compensations than the current one AoT receives… we have finalised our negotiations,” said Wichai Bunyu, AoT’s senior executive vice president, declining to reveal how much each company bid.

Rival firms eyeing Thailand’s lucrative duty-free market have lobbied hard to end the monopoly.

But King Power is supremely well connected — late owner Vichai’s funeral earlier this year was partially sponsored by the royal family and saw Thailand’s political and business elite pay their respects.

Rival bidders on Friday expressed dismay over the apparent lack of transparency in the award.

“(AoT) didn’t explain the reasons… I think we can do more to benefit the country,” said Vitavas Vibhagool, CEO of World Duty Free partner Grande Asset Hotels.

A second duty-free concession at Phuket, Chiang Mai and Hat Yai airports is expected to be announced later this year.

Suvarnabhumi rakes in the lion’s share of revenue from Thailand’s airport and AoT earned $522 million in 2018.

The death of Vichai in a helicopter crash last year raised questions over the ability of his youngest son, Aiyawatt, to maintain King Power’s hold on its cash cow airport monopoly.

But winning the auction suggests “that even without the patriarch, the conglomerate still has enough pull”, said political analyst Thitinan Pongsudhirak.

At the time of his death in October, Vichai’s empire was worth around $5.2 billion, according to Forbes, making him Thailand’s fourth richest man — a meteoric rise since his company started in 1989 with a single Bangkok shop.

Last year, a Thai court rejected an attempt to sue King Power for hundreds of millions of dollars in unpaid revenue to AoT — a rare legal challenge issued by the company’s rivals.

The winner will be approved on June 12,  he said.