 While the Irish boast a reputation worldwide for their warm hospitality and easy-going outlook to life, these positive social attributes are also being put to very effective use in the corporate sphere.
While the corporate world is in many ways a highly-competitive one, in an international setting, diplomacy is paramount, so clearly Irish expatriates, communities, and businesses based outside Ireland can play an important role in developing ties and meaningful long-term business relationships.
With this in mind, a group of successful Irish businessmen launched the Irish-Thai Chamber of Commerce in 2002 during a private visit by Mary McAleese, the (eighth) president of Ireland. Its first committee took office in 2003 when the chamber was officially registered with the Ministry of Commerce.
It’s also very important to note that the Irish are no slouches when it comes to establishing or operating successful businesses at an international level, and among the larger corporate players in Thailand with Irish connections are Kerry Ingredients, Property Care Services (PCS), and the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET)-listed White Group, which was founded by an Irishman.
Steve Thompson talks to Jerome Kelly, managing director of insurance brokerage Lawton Asia, who is also president of the Irish-Thai Chamber of Commerce.
F. Stephen Thompson (FST): Could you tell us a bit about the chamber’s origins and its members?
Jerome Kelly (JK): We started the chamber in 2003-04. Primarily we started with 10 businesses, such as PCS, which is one of the single biggest employers in Thailand. This company was set up by an Irish person – Liam O’Keefe-Ayudhkij. Then you’ve got companies like the White Group and Kerry Ingredients.
Kerry Ingredients is one of the world’s biggest producers of seasonings, and they started off as an Irish cooperative. They supply seasonings and ingredients to major fast food and snack industries worldwide and to the major poultry and seafood companies in Asia.
As an Irish person I know them for their butter. They were a dairy company that has just kept on acquiring. They’re a big employer and a big producer here.
Then you’ve got companies such as ourselves (Lawton Asia), which are service-based industry, which traditionally the Irish have been very good at.
FST: Would you define Lawton Asia’s business as ‘financial services’?
JK: I’d have to say we’re a traditional insurance brokerage. We do financial services, life insurance, medical insurance and general insurance.
I’d say that as an international independent, expatriate company, we’d be one of the strongest, with representation back in Ireland.
FST: How’s the chamber’s membership base developing?
JK: We’re gaining two or three members a month. We’ve gained members who are in senior positions with companies like Minor (the Minor Group), DST (IT services), as well as senior partners in some of the large accountancy and law firms. So there’s a big Irish business community, which is now coming together - slightly different from our traditional St
Patrick’s Day hoolies! We’ve now developed a business network regionally, which is getting stronger.
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FST: What’s the make-up in terms of your membership?
JK: Probably about 60% of our members would be large corporations, but then there’s also interest from smaller businesses. Connor Brackens, for example, who operates a company called Andovar, provides localization services to the software and media industries.
Then there’re a lot of Irish people in the service industry. Four or five of the big hotel managers are Irish, so it’s a good cross section of what Ireland has become over the last 20 years – a very well-educated workforce going abroad.
FST: Do you have many Thai or non-Irish members?
JK: We have some Thai members, Indian and Bangladeshi members. Quite a lot of our members are not Irish.
In some ways, we like to model ourselves on the Scandinavian chambers because they’re not necessarily the biggest communities in business in Thailand, but they’re very strong communities. With their sort of networks, you end up with 100-150 members, and they’re quality members.
Unfortunately, for Ireland, traditionally we’ve had a strong bias toward North America. It’s only been over recent years where you’ve had proper trade missions coming to Thailand or coming to Asia from Ireland, and we’ve begun to change the focus. Like many other Europeans, we’ve sat more comfortably with North America than Asia in the past, but we’re trying to address that in terms of how we do things. The (Irish) president came out a few years ago to promote that, as well as several Irish ministers.
We’ve always as a country punched above our weight internationally, and now we’re trying to get a lot stronger in Asia.
FST: Thanks very much for an introduction to your chamber.
JK: You’re welcome.
The Irish-Thai Chamber of Commerce is holding a networking evening in tandem with the New Zealand-Thai Chamber of Commerce on June 26 at the Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit. The cost to members is 200 baht (US$6), while non-members pay 300 baht.
For further details on this event and the chamber’s other activities, visit http://www.irishthaicc.com. |
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