Entrepreneurship is highly valued in Thai society. Throughout the years, innovation and experimentation have always been encouraged. It's no surprise that many Thai young entrepreneurs have achieved success. Top 10 of Asia looks at Thailand's top 10 successful young male entrepreneurs (given in random order), whose entrepreneurial prowess is reflected in no little part by their diverse company interests.
1. Itthipat Peeradechapan
Tao Kae Noi, a product of packed deep fried flavoured seaweed that is sold globally, has made him one of the most well-known young entrepreneurs. Itthipat's route to commercial success was unusual because he had previously excelled at online gaming and won tournament awards. He started selling fried chestnuts with his own money, which became popular in Thailand. This provided him with the financial backing he needed to launch Tao Kae Noi, which quickly became popular in Thailand and then expanded to Malaysia, Singapore, and Japan.
2. Pita Limjaroenrat
Pita took over as CEO of Agrifood at the tender age of 25 when his father passed away. His father died just three months after launching the company in 2006. "It was the worst moment of my life, and it defined my character," Pita remarked of that time period. Pita, on the other hand, was able to transform the company into a top maker of rice bran products. He received his education in New Zealand and holds Harvard and MIT degrees. He is now the executive director of Grab Thailand and a contender for membership in the Thai parliament.
3. Paul Srivorakul
Paul Srivorakul is a serial internet entrepreneur and investor based in Thailand. He is one of the founders and Group CEO of aCommerce, a full-service end-to-end eCommerce solutions provider that has raised USD$17 million in the largest Series A round in Southeast Asia since its founding in May 2013. He is also the Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of Ardent Capital, a Southeast Asia-focused early-stage private equity fund.
4. Amarit Charoenphan
Amarit's aim and life's work, he says, is to make the world a better place where individuals work with passion, meaning, and purpose while being actively supported by an inspiring community and ecosystem. He is the CEO and Cofounder of HUBBA, a Google for Entrepreneurs Partner Network Innovative Ecosystem Builder. Since 2012, they have serviced over 20,000 members as Thailand's first and largest coworking space and community.
5. Korawad Chearavanont
Korawad was born in Bangkok, Thailand in August 1994 to a family of business owners. He went to Lawrenceville School in New Jersey for high school, where he designed and marketed websites for small enterprises. Korawad began working on group messaging tools for student organisations shortly after, at the age of 16. The app, which was created with three other pals, failed to gain popularity but attracted the attention of Tigerlabs Ventures, a Princeton-based accelerator.
6. Moo Natavudh
Moo Natavudh is a software entrepreneur with over 18 years of experience creating, funding, and managing startups. Moo is the founder and CEO of OOKBEE, Southeast Asia's largest user-generated content community for books, novels, comics, and music. He's also a venture partner at 500 Entrepreneurs, where he manages 500 TukTuks, a $15 million USD micro-fund focused on potential Thai and Southeast Asian startups.
7. Nithipont Bond Thaiyanurak
Bond is the CEO and founder of Box24, a network of smart lockers open 24 hours a day, seven days a week that eliminates missed deliveries, closing periods, and the need to queue for deliveries. Box24 offers a full variety of services, including WashBox24 (24/7 laundry and dry cleaning locker), MoveBox24 (24/7 parcel delivery locker), ShopBox24 (24/7 e-commerce locker), DropBox24 (24/7 personal storage locker), and PayBox24 (24/7 bill payment locker) in Thailand, Singapore, and Malaysia.
8. Chef ThiTid (Ton) Tassanakajohn
Thitid's mother and grandmother's flavours influenced his enthusiasm for cooking since he grew up surrounded by great home-cooked meals. He moved to the United States after finishing his Economics degree at Chulalongkorn University to follow his goal at the famed Culinary Institute of America (CIA).
9. Taro Amornched & Noppon Anukunwithaya
Taro is a trained engineer with a passion for business. He presently serves as the CEO and Co-Founder of TakeMeTour, Thailand's largest peer-to-peer marketplace for local tours. He is in charge of strategic planning, partnerships, business development, and marketing, as well as the day-to-day operations of the organisation. He graduated from Heriot-Watt University in the United Kingdom with a Master's Degree in Robotics.
10. Somsak “Pai” Boonkam
Local Alike's creator and CEO, Somsak "Pai" Boonkam, is a social enterprise that uses community-based tourism to achieve sustainable development goals. Local Alike is a social enterprise that incorporates the concept of sustainable development into the core of community-based tourism practise in order to help villages in Thailand become more self-sufficient and empower communities to benefit from tourism while providing authentic travel experiences to travellers from all over the world.
