Jumbo’s Singapore-style Chinese seafood will be available at the Chao Phraya development.

It anticipates more 200,000 customers in its first year.

Ded Chinsupakul, managing director of CJ Seafood Co, Ltd, a restaurant operator with more than 10 years’ experience, said: “Jumbo Seafood first opened in Singapore in 1987 and today has 13 outlets, including in Shanghai, Beijing, Taipei and Ho Chi Minh, generating more than Bt1 billion in annual sales. We are very excited to bring to Thailand the first Jumbo Seafood, especially because we know how popular our famous Singapore-style seafood restaurant is with Thais.”

He said Singapore-style seafood was an under-served category in Thailand.

According to Visa’s Consumer Payment Attitudes Study, three in four (74 per cent) of Thai respondents are aware of QR as a payment method – the highest in Southeast Asia.

Almost half (46 per cent) indicated they would like to use it regularly.

Suripong Tantiyanon, Visa Country Manager for Thailand said: “Consumers have told us they want to use QR code payments on a regular basis. It is important that they are able to make payments with their favourite mobile device and are not limited to one source of funding.

“With Visa on your mobile, consumers in Thailand now have more options to pay without compromising on security or convenience. By choosing to pay using credit cards registered on their mobile applications, consumers will also be able to enjoy other advantages such as loyalty programs, flexibility on repayment and dispute resolution.”

According to the Bank of Thailand, in Q1/2018 there were 34.5 million mobile banking application accounts in Thailand, an increase of 31 per cent from the same period last year.

To support the launch of QR payments Visa will be running a comprehensive education campaign across digital media, point-of-sale ads, and online

The securities will be used to encourage the bank’s borrowers to set up tree plantations.

Awareness of the need for climate change adaptation among private companies and people in Thailand remains very low, said Nipon Poapongsakorn, a distinguished fellow at the Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI), yesterday. This was despite the increasing damage from floods, drought and other natural disasters over recent years, Nipon said.

“Thailand experienced a big flood in 2011, and flash floods every year, as well as drought, but public awareness about mitigation of natural disasters and climate change adaptation remains really low,” he said at the signing of a memorandum of understanding on the Adaptation Finance Fellowship Programme. The scheme provides training for those in the state and private sectors, along with academics, on climate change issues. It is supported by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Frankfurt School of Finance & Management, the Thailand Research Fund, the BAAC and the TDRI.

Natural disasters are expected to occur more frequently in the future due to the impact of global warming and the poor are the most vulnerable as they lack the resources to cope with them, Nipon warned.

State-owned BAAC has initiated many projects that seek to address the impact of climate change, such as supporting insurance cover against floods and drought among small-holder rice farmers. The government and the BAAC have been providing subsidies to farmers for their insurance premium payment since 2009.

“Farmers themselves should pay their own insurance premiums because they receive the benefits from it,” said Nipon.

Apirom Sukprasert, president of the BAAC, said that the government wanted to cut its subsidy of Bt54 per rai for each farmer, totalling Bt1.8 billion. The bank allocates about Bt900 million annually to co-subsidise the farmers, working out at Bt36 per rai, he said. “We will discuss with the Finance Ministry and farmers about the subsidy cut for the next rice crop, but we worry that only a few farmers would continue engaging in the insurance programme,” said Apirom.

Some farmers have started to pay the insurance premium themselves in case they want to extend insurance coverage to more of the land on their rice farms, he said.

The government this year aims to have the insurance scheme cover 30 million rai of rice farms out of a total 60 million rai under rice cultivation nationwide. The coverage now is 27.6 million rai.

Regarding the green bonds, the BAAC is pondering how it will proceed with the plans for the issuance, which would finance the establishment of tree plantations by farmers who borrow money from the bank, Apirom said.

The agricultural reform committee is drafting a law to promote tree plantations. In a related move, the National Legislative Assembly is vetting amendments of the forest law, paving the way for farmers to grow rare tree species and expand opportunities for business in some activities that have been restricted.

The green bonds would raise funds from investors and the proceeds would be allocated to farmers who will grow the trees before having them processed for timber or sold in the carbon trading market, Apirom said.

The BAAC already runs a tree-growing project by giving subsidies to farmers who grow trees on their land. The government recently approved the BAAC’s proposal to allow farmers to use the trees as loan collateral. Some 6,800 communities are participating in the scheme and 11.7 million trees have been grown.

Bhim Adhikari, a senior programme specialist at IDRC, said that the private sector in Europe was most active in implementing climate change mitigation and adaptation as countries embrace clean technologies such as solar-cell energy. In Africa, many countries have attracted more private investment in this area, he said. Many pension funds worldwide are looking for investment opportunities in this area as they want to be responsible in their responses to climate change.

Bhim said some companies in Thailand and the Philippines are also looking for business opportunities in relation to climate change issues.

Nipon suggests that Thailand should learn from the warning system implemented by the Philippines and Hong Kong when Typhoon Mangkhut struck recently. He also said the government should learn from the cave rescue operation in Chiang Rai province, as this effort provided valuable information about the management of tourist sites, flash flood warning systems and rescue planning.

Reich said that whether DTAC is the third- or second-largest cellular operator matters less than the company being an important player in the industry, adding that she wants to stop the trend of losses in market share by revenue.

“We want to do the best for customers. We’ve around 21 million customers, who really love DTAC and we care about them,” said Reich, 54.

From being the second-largest cellular service provider in Thailand in terms of subscribers, DTAC has slipped to third place.

Reich said that DTAC is rolling out its 2.3GHz network and densifying its 2.1GHz network at a blazing speed to bring a better service to customers. She added that DTAC would keep on bringing innovative ideas and services to the market.

“We want to do what customers really need. There is so much change in the market now. What we’re working on now is to understand in which directions people are moving and how can we best serve them,” she said.

DTAC group currently operates on multiple spectrum bands, including the 2.1GHz under a licence from the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC). It has also partnered with TOT to provide 4G services on the state agency’s 2.3GHz band.

DTAC’s subsidiary DTAC TriNet was one of the two winning bidders at a recent auction held by the NBTC for the 1800MHz licences.

She added that DTAC has also conducted a lot of research into consumer behaviour and deployed advanced technology to help it gain more insights into what consumers want now and in the years to come. However, Reich, a former golfer, said she would not rush DTAC to achieve all these goals in just one single stroke.

“We need to take time. We should not rush. One thing I’ve learn in the last 45 years is that sometimes you have to be patient. As long as you know where you’re heading to, you will succeed,” she said.

DTAC has increased the number of agile taskforces comprising staff from different departments – from sales to technology – who will work together more closely in order to give customers a better service experience. The management team has also devoted more attention to identifying the pain points of the customers and the results of the brainstorming sessions will drive DTAC’s responses.

Reich, an Austrian national, officially took the top job at DTAC in August. She had served as CEO of Telenor Hungary and head of Telenor Group’s Central Eastern Europe cluster. Telenor, a giant Norwegian telecom operator, is DTAC’s foreign strategic partner.

The new CEO stepped into DTAC as one of the most important moments in its history was playing out. She took the reins in the lead-up to the end of the company’s concession for services on 1800MHz and 850MHz, on September 15, after 28 years of operation under a concession from CAT Telecom.

On top of that, with just days before the concession expiry, the NBTC dug in in its refusal to allow DTAC to continue using 850MHz services for an interim period that would have given its customers more time to migrate to other networks.

With these issues to contend with, the words of her predecessor at DTAC, Lars Norling, have rung true. He told that she will never have a dull moment at DTAC – and that he is 100 per cent sure that she is the right person for DTAC now.

DTAC had to resort to filing a lawsuit before the Central Administrative Court on September 6 that sought temporary protection for its 850MHz customers. The court on September 14 granted the protection to DTAC, allowing it to continue using the 850 MHz spectrum until December 15.

With her hectic work schedule, it’s little wonder that Reich has not been able to find time to indulge her passion for golf in Thailand.

She said that she started out in her golf career as a child, crediting her father for getting her into the sport.

“And the only way to be close to him was playing golf with him,” Reich said. “I spent a lot time with my father on the golf courses. I have had a very close relationship with my father all my life. He was my motivation to start playing golf.”

The second motivation to take up the sport came from the opportunity to travel the world as a young girl playing in a golf team, said Reich, who was on the Austrian national golf team for 20 years.

She said that one thing she has learnt from golf is “to stay humble” as in golf, every day is different.

“Whenever you think you know this game or you can play this game, the next day you might get a disastrous day. If you stay humble and happy about every good stroke you’re doing, that’s OK,” she said.

Reich added that she loves to compete – and with a sense of fair play. “If someone does a good shot, I also respect a good shot and that’s the very same thing in business,” she said.

 In the first half of this year the company reported total revenue of Bt290.48 million and a net loss Bt17.07 million.

The company is also planning to open a chicken processed-products plant in Vietnam by 2020 to supply markets in Europe and Japan.

Prasit Boondoungprasert, chief operating officer for CPF’s chicken business and international trade, said the company currently has large chicken-processing facilities in Min Buri  in Bangkok, as well as in Saraburi and Nakhon Ratchasima, with a total capacity to produce about 10,000 tonnes of chicken products per month. This year, CPF has spent Bt2.5 billion to set up three new processing factories in its existing complexes to increase its total capacity to 12,500 tonnes of chicken per month.

Its capacity will be further increased by its new US$250-million (Bt8-billion) integrated production plant in Binh Duong of Vietnam, which will not only export chicken products to Japan and Europe but will also cover the domestic market. This plant will be CPF’s first totally export-oriented chicken-processing facility and will be in line with the Vietnam government’s plan to boost exports of chicken products.

The plant will go into operation in 2020 and will have the capacity to process one million chickens per week. Production in the Vietnam facility will cover the entire process – from chicken feed and farming, to slaughtering and processing.

Prasit said the company’s strategy is to focus on the development of processed chicken products, so they have a longer shelf life and better price stability, which will be beneficial for export.

“We expect our total sales of chicken products to reach about Bt45 billion this year, and about Bt50 billion per annum in the next three years,” he said.

“Some 30 per cent of our entire chicken production is processed products. Processed products have contributed to about 60 per cent of our total chicken export, while in Thailand, processed products have contributed to only 10 per cent of our domestic sales,” Prasit said. He added that the company aims to increase its export of processed chicken products by at least 10 per cent every year.

He said CPF’s key export markets for chicken products are United Kingdom, Japan, Germany, Denmark and Scandinavia. Prasit said CPF has expanded its sales and production facilities in Europe to diversify its business risk.

“We acquired a chicken-processing factory in Poland three years ago. It has the capacity to process about 2 million chickens per week for export mainly within Europe,” he said.

In 2017, CPF also acquired two trading houses for chicken products in the UK to add to another, which has been operating for about 10 years. The three trading houses take care of the different distribution channels, including retail and industrial buyers, as well as food service operators.

“Two years ago, we bought a new trading house in Germany to expand our distribution network for future growth. What we have done in Europe is to diversify possible risks from uncontrolled factors, such as the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union, which may affect our chicken business,” Prasit added.

Tauro said in an interview that her team has worked hard to bring something new to the Myanmar market, in order to be able to compete with the existing players there. She was proud to say Viu is the first and only OTT service to ensure that all international content is available with Myanmar subtitles and is downloadable.

“It has been months of hard work to ensure we give our fans in Myanmar what they want. Myanmar is in the nascent stage of OTT services; however, the growth of digital services in this market is unlike any other,” Tauro said.

Before launching its services in Myanmar on September 4, the company did an in-depth study of the market.

The research found that the country has much market potential, she said, pointing to the more than a half-million followers on its Facebook page within three months.

“Myanmar is a true emerging market, and it has the right mix of population size, data usage penetration and initial trends that show video consumption will definitely be on the rise,” said Tauro. “The love that consumers have for us is really overwhelming and it is shown by the increased number of fans coming on to our app over and over again.” According to the research findings, the consumers in Myanmar are passionate about three main things – 100 per cent Myanmar subtitles, downloadable content and popular content from across Asia.

To respond to customer demand, Viu has integrated people with global expertise and those with local experience to ensure they steer the business to become the top OTT player in the market, she said.

“If you are looking for the best of Asian entertainment, Viu is the destination for you. So far, our shows and movies are available in five languages – Burmese, Thai, Indian, Japanese and Korean. All our movies and shows come with 100 per cent Myanmar subtitles,” she said.

Since it regionally launched two and a half years ago, the company has rapidly grown and amassed over 20 million active users.

“Every year our fan base keeps growing and the video consumption in our markets is rising. So, we are very positive about our stand here in Myanmar too,” she said.

Despite her confidence in Viu’s growth, Tauro also discussed the challenges they faced in Myanmar.

“Our challenge in this market was to quickly adapt to the fact that this is not a market where email is prevalent, unlike any other market. The subtitle font used here is local and the data feed can be a deterrent to video viewing,” she said.

“We have worked on these challenges every step of the way. We are not 100 per cent there, but we understand the pulse of the consumer and are constantly evolving.”

Tauro said the category and the ecosystem must be nurtured and grown together. She believes it makes the most sense for a digital video service to partner with others from the ecosystem so that it can come up with innovative bundled products.

“We are always working hard to give our consumers an unparalleled experience. We are very active in developing Viu Originals that highlights the creativity and world-class storytelling, production of local and independent digital moviemakers,” she said.

The company envisions Viu Orginals as a showcase of local creative talents. At the same time, it supports the local entertainment industry to leverage global expertise and produce top quality films and series, she said.

“We are planning to have the same for this market and we are excited to collaborate with top Myanmar artists for our projects,” she said.

Viu has partnered with Myanmar Net, one of the leading data service providers in Myanmar, to offer bundle pack that enable consumers to watch their favourite shows without worrying about data. The pack starts from 1500 kyats (Bt30) for unlimited viewing of Viu’s content for five days.

Under the MoU, GC will provide technological know-how and support for transforming plastic waste into textile products. The companies will focus on developing products that are less environmentally damaging, while bringing high standards to the task of reducing Thailand’s waste problems.

“SPI recognises the importance of investment in the textile industry, and realises that textile products created from plastic waste are an interesting business, as the global shift of sustainability and environmental protection continues to rise among consumers,” Vichai Kulsomphob, SPI president and executive director, said.

“In this partnership, GC will bring expertise in the petrochemical business and manufacturing of plastic resin by incorporating innovative and groundbreaking technology. The combined strengths of the two organisations will ensure the promise of long-term business and simultaneously maximise the potential for Thai businesses, while also corresponding with the growing trend of green business across the world,” Vichai added.

Apart from creating high-value textile products from plastic waste, the business collaboration also aims at expanding into both domestic and international markets. The tie-up will also extend efforts to pursue corporate social responsibility activities such as exhibitions and community development activities.

Lamoon Baby has entered its 8th year strongly, targeting Bt30 million in market value this year through an increase in distribution channels both locally and overseas. After penetrating the organic products market in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia and Laos, Lamoon Baby is ready to enter China, Indonesia and Vietnam with a plan to earn Bt200 million income.

The company aims to gain Bt70 million in three years with Bt50 million from international markets and Bt20 million locally. The target was set after the company became a leader in the organic mother-and-baby product category in leading department stores, including Central, Robinson and The Mall Group.

Netnaphit Rungtanakiat, managing director of Lamoon Baby Co Ltd, said “the brand was inspired by my son’s allergic reaction to general baby products in the market. There is no information on what kind of chemicals should not be used in children’s products, so I took my son to see a doctor. The doctor prescribed steroids, which helped ease the symptoms, but they did not fully disappear. As a result, I started to study and learned that chemicals and preservatives cause allergies, but failed to find any such products.” That’s when Lamoon Baby began.

All Lamoon products are made from natural ingredients and have passed allergenic tests.

Eurobike rolls out new trade show in Thailand

NEO is cooperating with Meese Friedrichshafen, the organiser of Eurobike in Germany, to hold an international bike exhibition in Bangkok.

Thailand is expected to soon become a bicycle hub in Asean and Asia, given its potential, basic structure, communication and logistics.

Sakchai Pattarapreechakul, president of NCC Exhibition Organisation Co Ltd (NEO), said the “Aseanbike Powered by Eurobike 2019” will be held on October 3-5 next year in Impact Muang Thong Thani. The expo is expected to attract more than 55,000 participants from across the world with total sales expected to go beyond Bt4 billion.

Ready Boott targets the new generation

TCP Group, manufacturer and distributor of “Ready”, has reinforced its leadership in the energy drinks category with the launch of “Ready Boott” today. It is suitable for men who want to look good and stay fit.

The drink contains zinc and L-Arginine and comes with the “Ready Boott: ready to roll…in any situation!” tagline to attract working-age consumers. A full-scale marketing communication campaign, budgeted at Bt100 million, will be undertaken with popular actor Jirayu “Got” Thantrakul as the brand spokesmodel. Ready is the first premium energy drink to clearly target white-collar workers.

The launch of Ready Boott was built on the success of Ready Pink and Ready Black launched last year, which contributed to 20 per cent growth of the brand, leading Ready to control more than 50 per cent share in the premium energy drinks segment.