What small businesses make a lot of money in Thailand?

[Tmymaimee]

With a 51% interest held by Thai partners,you could most likely

end up with nothing.

regards Worgeordie

Could you elaborate further? Was that based on your personal experience? How were your shares structured that allowed your 49% ownership to be removed from the registry without your knowledge? Sorry, but I just don't understand how this could knowingly happen to you.

Is this case still before the courts?

Who said that you wouldn't be informed that your 49% ownership would be removed from the registry ?

He said with 51 % of shares held by Thai partners (and only a 49% of the shares in your name), you could most likely end up with nothing. So I assumed that to go from 49% to nothing implied that somehow your shares became the property of another person. Either that, or fraud occurred whereby company assets were sold without your consent or sold but the funds not transferred to the company accounts.

In that case, you could make a claim for losses on your insurance. It would be up to the insurer to sue and recover the property from the offending party.

Sorry, but it seems like most posters here are thinking a small, unprofessional business whereas I'm thinking something a fair bit bigger where there are more controls in place.

[PeterSmiles]

With a 51% interest held by Thai partners,you could most likely

end up with nothing.

regards Worgeordie

Could you elaborate further? Was that based on your personal experience? How were your shares structured that allowed your 49% ownership to be removed from the registry without your knowledge? Sorry, but I just don't understand how this could knowingly happen to you.

Is this case still before the courts?

Who said that you wouldn't be informed that your 49% ownership would be removed from the registry ?

He said with 51 % of shares held by Thai partners (and only a 49% of the shares in your name), you could most likely end up with nothing. So I assumed that to go from 49% to nothing implied that somehow your shares became the property of another person. Either that, or fraud occurred whereby company assets were sold without your consent or sold but the funds not transferred to the company accounts.

In that case, you could make a claim for losses on your insurance. It would be up to the insurer to sue and recover the property from the offending party.

Sorry, but it seems like most posters here are thinking a small, unprofessional business whereas I'm thinking something a fair bit bigger where there are more controls in place.

You mean a business as big as this one ?

(SBU) According to Monson, he formed a joint venture with

Thaksin and tried for several years to get the required

license. Monson oversaw the import of necessary equipment.

Although Thaksin at one point wanted to pull out of the

partnership, he showed renewed enthusiasm for the cable TV

venture in early 1989, when the government approved cable TV

in principle. Thaksin made Monson an offer in mid-April of

that year to remain as a consultant while Thaksin would keep

the license and operate the cable TV system. Monson made a

counter-offer to buy Thaksin out. Thaksin said he would

consider the offer. Instead, however, on April 25, 1989

\”Thaksin representatives and Police\” broke into the offices

and seized the equipment. Monson and some of his Thai staff

were accused of embezzlement; one Thai official of the

company was actually jailed for several days. Thaksin went

on to get the license for IBC, the first major cable TV

provider in the country. Later that year, he got the

concession for paging services; in 1990, he got the cell

phone concession. He was on his way to being a millionaire.

Monson, by his own account, began a very long legal process

to defend himself and gain restitution.

http://thaicables.wordpress.com/2011/07/13/06bangkok5229-the-ghost-of-deals-past-thaksin-defends-against-perjury-charge-from-former-american-business-partner/

[dom samui]

Hey Mister Where you stay, why dont stay where you stay with your 30 millions bahts ahah!

Put all your money in McDonalds Cement Factory , be more harsh with people and arrogant.

Wish you a very sad new year.

[CraigSchuler]

It would be a cold day in hell before I would invest that kind of money in Thailand, Up to you!

You need to do more homework.

[SheungWan]

With a 51% interest held by Thai partners,you could most likely

end up with nothing.

regards Worgeordie

Could you elaborate further? Was that based on your personal experience? How were your shares structured that allowed your 49% ownership to be removed from the registry without your knowledge? Sorry, but I just don't understand how this could knowingly happen to you.

Is this case still before the courts?

Who said that you wouldn't be informed that your 49% ownership would be removed from the registry ?

He said with 51 % of shares held by Thai partners (and only a 49% of the shares in your name), you could most likely end up with nothing. So I assumed that to go from 49% to nothing implied that somehow your shares became the property of another person. Either that, or fraud occurred whereby company assets were sold without your consent or sold but the funds not transferred to the company accounts.

In that case, you could make a claim for losses on your insurance. It would be up to the insurer to sue and recover the property from the offending party.

Sorry, but it seems like most posters here are thinking a small, unprofessional business whereas I'm thinking something a fair bit bigger where there are more controls in place.

Making a claim and recovering losses after the fact in Thailand a great experience. Somewhat naive at best.

[ezzra]

The way to have a million baht business in Thailand is to start with 2 millions.....

[Naam]

Did I miss something in my calculations?

you missed the (highly likely) probability not achieving 10% yield per annum

Not unlikely at all. Many great dividend paying stocks yielding 4% annually. A further 6% growth is easily achieved. PM me if you need some reccomendations. I'm referring to carefully chosen individual securities, not mutual funds or exchange indexes.

one of the main reasons why i opted to live in Thailand is because i don't pay 46.5% of my income and an additional 25% tax on capital gains to the taxman in my home country Germany. although i'm a "full time" investor since i retired from my job 24 years ago i never touch any stock but move in rather small niches of the asset range.

offering me advice on stocks with a 4% dividend yield minus 20-35% (depending on the country of incorporation) withholding tax plus the "easily achieved" additional 6% forces a tired smile on my face. i am too polite to laugh out loudly.

[Naam]

In that case, you could make a claim for losses on your insurance. It would be up to the insurer to sue and recover the property from the offending party.

Sorry, but it seems like most posters here are thinking a small, unprofessional business whereas I'm thinking something a fair bit bigger where there are more controls in place.

insurance? controls in place?

how much accumulated time have you spent in Thailand? please check appropriate time period.

o none at all

o less than 7 days

o 21-28 days

[canman]

It's a NO GO PERIOD !!

Could you elaborate further? Did you try and were unsuccessful? Why did you fail? Were you successful at your own business in another country prior to coming here? Is it something specific to Thailand or to the business itself?

You do realize 90% of small businesses fail within the first 5 years in most countries? So perhaps its not unique to Thailand. Just look around at the pathetic attempts at free enterprise all over the Chonburi area and you see businesses started with people of limited capital, lack of vision and absence of basic business understandings ( I mean both Thai and farang ownerships).

It's a "NO GO PERIOD" to make an offer for an existing McDonald's in Pattaya? Maybe the owner wishes to move on or retire? I'm just not sure why "its a NO GO PERIOD!!"

The average profit from a McDonalds franchise is 10%. Of course some do a lot better and some a lot worse. Maybe look at getting the rights to sell Tim Hortons franchise in Thailand?

[canman]

I have know several expats who started businesses in Thailand, built them up, sold them and started again.

My advise to you would be not to compete with the Thais. All the people I have know who were successful started businesses which offered a service and expertise which could not be found in Thailand. Mind you the businesses I speak of were all involved in some way in the oil and gas industry so unless you have specific knowledge there or want to buy into an existing startup its not much use to you.

The priciple is still the same, if you are going to compete with established Thai businesses expect low returns and a battle, find a nich market which you can exploit.

[CapeCobra]

Entrepreneurs won't discuss serious business ideas on such a forum. You could as well ask regulars at any beer bar for advice.

Cement is a hot product, indeed. A Thai friend with good connections told me how difficult it was to get the stuff for his building projects. They have to pay in advance and somtimes add gifts. Very few people get rich in this industry. You will be up against evil monopolists.

[jacko45k]

Hmm, I was reading somewhere that the supply of cement here is, shall we say, cut-throat!

[davidst01]

OP firstly I would not waste your time with bickering with members of this forum. There are a lot of random people on this url.

A lot of farang have mentioned to me that one of the most successful and maybe safer businesses to own is a hotel. The pattaya / jomtien area will have good year round occupancy rates due to the number of Russians that visit this location year round- in addition to all the s$x tourists.

The problem with buying a franchise like Mc D or 7 Eleven is that you will always have staff problems. Its guaranteed that at some point each year you will have staff steeling from you.

I wish you the best of luck in the Land of smiles.

[jaideecm]

I am doing a very small bakery now for 1 year and looking for investors to enlarge and expand. Product freezes well and can be warmed up in the toaster. The profit now is more than 80% over product costs. The bakery caters to the Thai and western tastes. Anyone interested contact me.

[muratremix]

Why not invest Cambodia? You can enjoy pattaya style life in sihanoukville and own 100% of your business without dealing anything. You can own land, hire workers at 60-80 usd per month. They do speak much much better than Thai and work hard. It is a developing country, it means your chances to grow your company is much bigger.

In Thailand there is no transparency, no rule of law, no enforcement of law, so many scams. Besides, your business practices may not work in Thailand. They only do things in Thai way here and they are not open to new things, self development simply doesn't exist here in LOS.

[rfurdzik]

HEY,

Most people stay in negative state of mind, tgat is why they fail, you can see from those posts. I know many successful people in Thailand. It takes focus and commitment. It is very easy to endup with some girls. They ill try to take all your money, believe me, so you need to be careful. Stay low key, do not let anybody know you have money like that.

I also recommend BOI website. I have BOI company myself.

Please also join Singapore Chamber of Commerce. STCC, send me an email and I will intro you as I am a member already. It is the best chamber I know so far. There is many businesses networking in Bangkok. Pls see the website:

http://www.citynetevents.com/bangkok/events?utm_source=event&utm_medium=email&utm_term=event&utm_campaign=201216nlbangkok

American Chamber of Commerce is also very active in Bangkok.

If you in Bangkok let's meet for a coffe, I will be glad to give you more advise. My office is opposite of terminal 21, www.dnndirect.com

You can also email me directly: rfurdzik at dnndirect.com

I personally have few business ideas as well, we can discuss in private.

I recommend for you to avoid Thai partner, unless you know somebody well. BOI is the way to go, you can own company 100%, own land, hire foreigners, no tax for 8 years etc.

[PeterSmiles]

I recommend for you to avoid Thai partner, unless you know somebody well. BOI is the way to go, you can own company 100%, own land, hire foreigners, no tax for 8 years etc.

Americans can own land ? Must have come into law just overnight then.

Americans can own 100% of certain businesses, but the company can not own land.

Search for US-Thai amity.

[canman]

I recommend for you to avoid Thai partner, unless you know somebody well. BOI is the way to go, you can own company 100%, own land, hire foreigners, no tax for 8 years etc.

Americans can own land ? Must have come into law just overnight then.

Americans can own 100% of certain businesses, but the company can not own land.

Search for US-Thai amity.

Under section 27 the BOI can issue a permit to own land.

[PeterSmiles]

I recommend for you to avoid Thai partner, unless you know somebody well. BOI is the way to go, you can own company 100%, own land, hire foreigners, no tax for 8 years etc.

Americans can own land ? Must have come into law just overnight then.

Americans can own 100% of certain businesses, but the company can not own land.

Search for US-Thai amity.

Under section 27 the BOI can issue a permit to own land.

What is section 27 ?

I can only see 10 sections

http://bangkok.usembassy.gov/relation/175usth/timeline-of-u/spotlight-on-treaty-of-amity.html

And I can see the following restrictions

Under the Treaty, Thailand restricts American investment only in the following fields of business:^[1]

1. Communications
2. Transportation
3. Fiduciary functions
4. Banking involving depository functions
5. Exploitation of land and natural resources
6. Owning land; and
7. Domestic trade in agricultural products.

If with section 27 you mean that a foreigner who invests 40 million Baht under a BOI program can be issued a permit to own 1 Rai of land, this is not limited to US citizens only.

[Feesbay John]

You could buy some land and invest in solar. The government is paying 6.95B per KW. With an investment of 30 million baht you could generate a very nice income for the next 25 years.

[mmh8]

I don't think you can compete with SCG or Siam cement. SCG is a monster it is also connected to cpac I think.

[canman]

I recommend for you to avoid Thai partner, unless you know somebody well. BOI is the way to go, you can own company 100%, own land, hire foreigners, no tax for 8 years etc.

Americans can own land ? Must have come into law just overnight then.

Americans can own 100% of certain businesses, but the company can not own land.

Search for US-Thai amity.

Under section 27 the BOI can issue a permit to own land.

What is section 27 ?

I can only see 10 sections

http://bangkok.usembassy.gov/relation/175usth/timeline-of-u/spotlight-on-treaty-of-amity.html

And I can see the following restrictions

Under the Treaty, Thailand restricts American investment only in the following fields of business:^[1]

1. Communications
2. Transportation
3. Fiduciary functions
4. Banking involving depository functions
5. Exploitation of land and natural resources
6. Owning land; and
7. Domestic trade in agricultural products.

If with section 27 you mean that a foreigner who invests 40 million Baht under a BOI program can be issued a permit to own 1 Rai of land, this is not limited to US citizens only.

Check this site: http://www.boi.go.th/index.php?page=incentive

I was simply pointing out that under BOI incentives land ownership is possible. I don't see why this would be limited to US citizens only.

[DGIE]

I also received many people from Nigeria, Cameroon, South Africa who want to come here to invest their big money in profitable business. I will get 20% when facilitated the transfer to my account. My share would be million in Baht too!

But I hesitated because I don't want to become instant millionaire!

[mogo51]

How do you start with a small business in Thailand, start with a big one!!!

[Alwyn]

why would you seek advice here and not with a reputable consultancy or officer for trade at your local embassy? Weird.

[spermwhale]

Forget a McDonald's franchise. McThai has the sole franchise rights in Thailand for that.

[bluebellpepper]

Hospitality service with fully owned software products, not limited to Pattaya and already setup in Malaysia, S'pore, Australia and Indonesia. If this sounds interesting please PM me.

[Mises]

Did I miss something in my calculations?

you missed the (highly likely) probability not achieving 10% yield per annum

Not unlikely at all. Many great dividend paying stocks yielding 4% annually. A further 6% growth is easily achieved. PM me if you need some reccomendations. I'm referring to carefully chosen individual securities, not mutual funds or exchange indexes.

If you really believe you can achieve a yield of 10% on your money you are heading for a fall. Either that or a large bank is going to give you a job at $10 million a year minimum.

Leverage up your 40 million baht 2:1 and you'll have an income of 8 million baht a year, no need to get involved working in anything messy like cement or employing people.

But first, try reading "Fooled by Randomness" by Taleb.

[umbanda]

My opinion is that Thailand...like many other countries where some materials and labor are very cheap, it is a wonderful place to start a business focus in exports. A prove of that is all the distribution companies in western countries making a fortune selling any kind of "toys" from China and Taiwan, and textiles from Thailand and Philippines....and furniture...and ceramics...and bikes....and precious stones...and machines..and..and..and...

Just think...Why biggest chains in the world like IKEA, just to name one, are based in Asia? Look in China's merchandise prices in alibaba.com .Do you have any idea for how much that merchandise is selling in the US and Europe? Asia's production cost still the lowest in the world.

Before was Mexico, Brazil, Panama, etc.....The famous English cotton, wool and leather from England are from Argentina, the famous marble and granite and the famous Italian's leather shoes still be produced in Brazil.......Swiss watches?.....guess from where now?

Export is the safest business in the world...paid cash in advance...insured by the shipping company....and warranted by the banks....Not large investment is necessary and can be managed from an office located in any country...Better than that?...please let me know...because most of the biggest companies in the world are acquired now by the suppliers....from other countries.

One example...and probably you do not know this if you are American....is that most of the meat and chicken for hamburgers in the US are imported from Brazil...a 3rd world country, now an emerging economic world power......Well.....2 years ago a Brazilian company invested 14 billion US dollar to buy....MC DONALDS!

Edited January 3, 2014 by umbanda

[kingstonkid]

Whereu stay

First off frm a Fellow canuck welcome to LOS.

I would strongly suggest checking in with the TCCC Thai Canada chamber of commerce. You can become a member even if yo do not have a business yet and get a lot of good information. Unfortunate it is in bangkok so you may have to break down and visit the big city once in awhile.

The Embassy here is not very helpful so forget them just get in touch with the Chamber there are a lot of people that can steer you in the right direction.

I(f you want to cha or talk hockey let me know. Lafarge was that the plant near Kingston by any chance.