Are there many self-made rich people in Thailand?

[Bangkokbaby]

I was chatting with a colleague today and he said that it's a lot more common for Thai people to be born into wealth rather than working hard and becoming a self-made rich person. He said that there are a rich land owners, high-up army/police officials and rich Chinese families, but not so many people who come from nothing and are now rich. I have absolutely no idea if what he was saying is correct, so I thought I would ask the opinions of others who have been here a lot longer than me.

[KhunBENQ]

I don't know one personally and not often have thought about it.

Becoming super rich coming from rural Thailand: looks close to impossible to me.

Generally Thailand offers lot less chances for social climbers than western societies.

I just stumbled upon one example where a person came up from relatively basic background.

Its the founder of the Global House chain of hardware stores:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/suzynam/2013/07/03/thailands-richest-newcomer-is-a-retailer-who-made-his-fortune-in-nations-poorest-area/

But even his mom&pop shop parents opened him the way to study engineering.

For the super rich, the term "rich Chinese families" is not a stereotype but fits for most on top of the list:

http://www.forbes.com/thailand-billionaires/list/#tab:overall

Their ancestor generations (emigrants from China) have built up the fortune, probably from ground up.

From "Mr. Central" (#3 on the list):

http://www.forbes.com/profile/chirathivat-family/?list=thailand-billionaires

In 1927 Tos' grandfather Tiang Chirathivat, a poor emigrant from China, set up his first shop in Bangkok, named Keng Seng Lee (baskets for sale).

The transcription of names in the Forbes list is so useless that is quite difficult to find other source with that.

#1 Mr CP, 7/11, Makro, True etc. pp.

Dhanin Chearavanont's father, Chia Ek Chor, and uncle, Chia Seow Hui, left China for Bangkok in the 1920s to begin selling seeds and agricultural chemicals

#2: Thai Beverage, Chang Beer etc.pp.

Born to a Thai family of Chinese origin, he is the sixth of 11 children of a poor street vendor who migrated to Bangkok from southern China. He left school early, at the age of nine, to work.^[2] To this day Charoen speaks Teochew, his native Chinese dialect, as well as Thai.^[2]

tbc

Edited November 9, 2015 by KhunBENQ

[chiang mai]

Bill Heinecke was born of US parents in the military, stationed in the Far East and Asia, he's spent his entire life here and is now a Thai subject. He grew Minor Group from nothing to what is now a multi billion dollar group of companies employing over 50,000 people in 32 countries:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Heinecke

http://mint.listedcompany.com/

[swissie]

I'd rather like to know how many Farangs have "made it big" in Thailand, starting from scratch ! (Not the ones that arrived here with a big fortune and left with a small fortune.)

Cheers.

[eldragon]

Immigrants in America have always told me the big difference between their country and mine is hard work gets you nowhere in developing nations if you don't know the right people. I guess it depends on how rich you're talking about though b/c I know a couple Thais who have reportedly come from nothing and done well.

[Thai at Heart]

Not many recently. The major markets are in the hands of a select few, and barriers to entry are everywhere. No digital billionaires in Thailand recently either.

[CharlieH]

Chompu seems to do alright for herself.As have many of the TV characters/presenters/actresses.

But here is the top 50..

http://www.forbes.com/thailand-billionaires/list/#tab:overall

[Briggsy]

Without connections in the government here, you will hit a fairly low glass ceiling. Nobody gets rich here without friends in the police, military and the relevant ministries.

[chiang mai]

Most of us will not be able to answer this question, simply, we don't know what we can't see.

[fang37]

I know one who I would classify as quite rich.

Thai-Chinese of course.

What I admire in him -

He treats his staff fairly

He has formed a foundation

He does not show off his wealth eg his car would be 20 years old.

[Robert24]

In Asia in general most rich people used to live in poverty before and became rich through their business. Whereas in Europe most rich people have inherited their wealth. Behaviour is also very different. Rich people in Asia tend to take more risks when investing, they seek opportunities to make more money whereas rich people in Europe tend to be risk-averse and focus on wealth preservation.

[IMA_FARANG]

Rather depends on what you call a "self-made rich man".

I know of one man who is of Thai-Chinese origin.

As a young boy he helped in his family business.... which was pumping out septic tanks and cleaning them.

As he was the youngest and smallest boy in the family his particular job was to climb down into the empty septic tank and hose down and wash down the walls of the tank.

He later operated a small hotel in Bangkok though he is now retired.

He, over the years, earned enough to build himself a few million Baht house in Bangkok for him and his family.

That may not be exactly what you meant by "wealthy".....but from his point of view, going from washing down s--t from septic tanks as a boy to a building several million Baht house for his family he feels he has done very well in his life.

Guess it depends on your point of view.

[Thongkorn]

There is no middle class here in Thailand, So the rich get richer by exploiting the poor. probably the same in any Country, But there is little protection in thailand for workers,

[Thai at Heart]

In Asia in general most rich people used to live in poverty before and became rich through their business. Whereas in Europe most rich people have inherited their wealth. Behaviour is also very different. Rich people in Asia tend to take more risks when investing, they seek opportunities to make more money whereas rich people in Europe tend to be risk-averse and focus on wealth preservation.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_British_by_net_worth

5 of the top 20 inherited their wealth.....

[Robert24]

There is no middle class here in Thailand, So the rich get richer by exploiting the poor. probably the same in any Country, But there is little protection in thailand for workers,

no middle class in Thailand? Say families earning between 30k and 200k per month I would consider middle class here. And this group has been growing steadily over the last 20 years and still keeps growing.

[Thongkorn]

There is no middle class here in Thailand, So the rich get richer by exploiting the poor. probably the same in any Country, But there is little protection in thailand for workers,

no middle class in Thailand? Say families earning between 30k and 200k per month I would consider middle class here. And this group has been growing steadily over the last 20 years and still keeps growing.

30K is the average for a Thai builder now , I would say thats not a lot of money now, dont forget the rich money threshold has risen too, along with the price of food,So really it's relevant.

[Robert24]

There is no middle class here in Thailand, So the rich get richer by exploiting the poor. probably the same in any Country, But there is little protection in thailand for workers,

no middle class in Thailand? Say families earning between 30k and 200k per month I would consider middle class here. And this group has been growing steadily over the last 20 years and still keeps growing.

30K is the average for a Thai builder now , I would say thats not a lot of money now, dont forget the rich money threshold has risen too, along with the price of food,So really it's relevant.

a construction worker makes about 400 baht per day. So if he works without a day off he can make maybe 12k per month.Not more. And they don't belong to the middle class. I don't understand what you are trying to say. In the previous post you say there is no middle class and now you claim a construction worker makes 30k per month? What are you trying to say?

[Thongkorn]

There is no middle class here in Thailand, So the rich get richer by exploiting the poor. probably the same in any Country, But there is little protection in thailand for workers,

no middle class in Thailand? Say families earning between 30k and 200k per month I would consider middle class here. And this group has been growing steadily over the last 20 years and still keeps growing.

30K is the average for a Thai builder now , I would say thats not a lot of money now, dont forget the rich money threshold has risen too, along with the price of food,So really it's relevant.

a construction worker makes about 400 baht per day. So if he works without a day off he can make maybe 12k per month.Not more. And they don't belong to the middle class. I don't understand what you are trying to say. In the previous post you say there is no middle class and now you claim a construction worker makes 30k per month? What are you trying to say?

My neighbour in Thailand is a Builder he will not work for less than 500baht a day minimum. In thailand you have Money or not, There is no inbetween.

[puffy]

There is no middle class here in Thailand, So the rich get richer by exploiting the poor. probably the same in any Country, But there is little protection in thailand for workers,

What about all the Doctors, Lawyers, Engineers, Accountants, Journalists, middle and senior management in large companies, the list

goes on. There is an increasing middle class in Thailand. The village I live in most certainly is not Hi So but would say the majority are

middle class. House prices between 4.5 and 7 million. There are loads of similar villages all around me. Ridiculous statement.

[Thongkorn]

There is no middle class here in Thailand, So the rich get richer by exploiting the poor. probably the same in any Country, But there is little protection in thailand for workers,

What about all the Doctors, Lawyers, Engineers, Accountants, Journalists, middle and senior management in large companies, the list

goes on. There is an increasing middle class in Thailand. The village I live in most certainly is not Hi So but would say the majority are

middle class. House prices between 4.5 and 7 million. There are loads of similar villages all around me. Ridiculous statement.

Maybe what you call middle class is different to me, and many others,

[DavidBonnie]

Nobody does it alone without family or friends and people who chose to believe in him/her either in the west or asia.

The nonsense spouted by some of these self made millionaires like Alan Sugar who was apparently a barrow bow in the east end is ludicrous.

'I worked hard', they often say, as if poor people don't work hard!

Sugar, of course is jewish with strong family and inter family connections.

[bkksteve123]

Thaksin Shinawatra? Not from ZERO, but he did manage to build a lot of it himself and it could have ended up very differently. Kind of like Donald Trump

[AlexRRR]

Seems everybody thinks you need to have connections or be a crook in asia to get somewhere, well the real truth is either you got it of you haven't and its the same the world over, don't know anyone personally but I'm pretty dam sure is if making it is your focus most will succeed, then how much is enough and how much is success?

[chiang mai]

There is no middle class here in Thailand, So the rich get richer by exploiting the poor. probably the same in any Country, But there is little protection in thailand for workers,

Rubbish, Thailand's middle class has been the fastest growing group for the past decade.

"BANGKOK, 14 March 2013— Thailand makes UNDP’s list of “high achievers” in East Asia—a group that includes China, Indonesia, Viet Nam, and Malaysia. The rapid human development progress of Thailand and Asia-Pacific nations are helping drive a historic shift, with hundreds of millions of people lifted from poverty and billions poised to join the South’s fast-growing middle class, according to the 2013 Human Development Report, which was launched by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on March 14 in Mexico City".

http://www.th.undp.org/content/thailand/en/home/presscenter/pressreleases/2013/03/15/undp-report-lists-thailand-among-asia-s-fastest-growing.html

[Robert24]

There is no middle class here in Thailand, So the rich get richer by exploiting the poor. probably the same in any Country, But there is little protection in thailand for workers,

What about all the Doctors, Lawyers, Engineers, Accountants, Journalists, middle and senior management in large companies, the list

goes on. There is an increasing middle class in Thailand. The village I live in most certainly is not Hi So but would say the majority are

middle class. House prices between 4.5 and 7 million. There are loads of similar villages all around me. Ridiculous statement.

Maybe what you call middle class is different to me, and many others,

what do you (or many others as you claim) consider middle class and why do you think it is inexistent in Thailand? And tell me again why you claim a construction worker makes 30k and what is the link between that claim of inflated salary to a non-existent middle class?

[cgphuket]

The poor are generally not allowed to succeed too much. Once they have something of value, the rich will find a way to take it. Most if not all rich people in Thailand got there money from either crime or exploitation or their family, who got it from crime or exploitation.

[fang37]

In my experience, the major part of wealth accumulation is derived from real estate transactions.

[Nomyai]

1/2 % of population control 50% of the wealth. answer is cannot!

[Nomyai]

The poor are generally not allowed to succeed too much. Once they have something of value, the rich will find a way to take it. Most if not all rich people in Thailand got there money from either crime or exploitation or their family, who got it from crime or exploitation.

this is exactly how obama sees americda. Uncanny insight sir!

[Brit_Doggie]

1 Good example here thais in my condo compound when first built were offered rooms at reduced rates/terms and therefore several are now self made so called rich people compared to the run of the mill bar girl who live in said rooms sharing with 4 or 5 others to obviously reduce expenses, kinda ironic but fact.