Somsak Boonchanthip is the very shy Thai managing
director of Chai Mongkol Asia Co., a civil engineering firm that will
design and build anything from a petro-chemical plant to an outside loo.
Somsak
was born in Lopburi, and has three younger sisters. His father had a
modest business selling agricultural products, but life was hard in the
country. His schooling was done locally and when he finished he went to
Teachers Training College; however, after only 12 months he knew that this
was not his career path and went to Chiang Mai University to study civil
engineering.
It is sometimes said that the Thai people are not
forward thinkers, but this would be totally wrong when you look at Somsak.
After Chiang Mai he took himself to Japan for three years as he believed
the Japanese presence in South East Asia would continue to grow, and along
with Japanese experience, he would also learn the Japanese language. There
he worked in the tunnelling and express train industries, experience that
was going to stand him in good stead.
His next career move was to Sri Lanka for the next five
years, being involved in many projects, turning infertile scrub into
arable land by the construction of dams and canals. While he was at it, he
also learned the native language of Sri Lanka, Singhalese. The dual flairs
of engineering and language were by now very evident, with Thai, English,
Japanese and Singhalese mastered as well as the various engineering
disciplines and experience.
His linguistic skills are indeed excellent and
interesting. In faultless English he explained that depending upon where
he is, he will “think” in that language, and even said, “Sometimes I
even dream in Japanese!”
But Somsak wanted yet more experience and went to Saudi
Arabia to work on desalination plants for a year and then to Kuwait for 6
months becoming involved in road construction. This was followed by some
time in Malaysia where he was involved in the engineering side of
expressway construction.
However, like all proud Thais, there comes the time
when they must return to their native country, and in 1989, with all the
years of overseas experience behind him he arrived on the Eastern Seaboard
to work for the Japanese company which was building the Laem Chabang
Industrial Estate. His Japanese experience and his ability in the language
standing him in very good stead.
After two years at Laem Chabang, the busy engineer
joined another Japanese company which was building the first expressway in
Thailand. The Malaysian experience made him the ideal man for the job. He
said proudly, “This was the very first one in Thailand.” You get the
feeling that he might have left his initials somewhere on the concrete
foundations.
Somsak is very proud of his “firsts” and his next
venture was also another first for this country, being the expansion of
the Esso Refinery. This he did as a joint venture with his own company and
another called CMT. This was followed by a merger and in the wash-up he
became the managing director.
During that time he met a young lady, Wanida, who was
involved in the construction industry herself. They were married in 1994
and Somsak was quick to point out the great assistance he has received
from her in his MD post. Wanida now also has the difficult business of
rearing their two adopted daughters, the young girls having been the
children of Somsak’s younger sisters. This has given them the unique
situation of having two six-year-old girls born 13 days apart.
In 1996, Somsak struck out on his own, calling his
company the Chai Mongkol Asia Company (CAC), with himself as the managing
director. In retrospect, this was not the opportune moment to kick off a
construction and civil engineering company, with the economic crash of
1997 only months away.
Those were difficult days. “I was scared. It was much
worse than a nightmare. It would have been so easy to lose everything in
front of me, everything I had worked for, if I did not have a good
plan.”
Somsak’s plan did get him and his business through
the bad times, and he feels that anyone who wants to be successful in
business has to become a planner. “I taught myself. It is something that
is easily learned.” Perhaps this is so for Somsak, but there are many
who have not found this quite so easy.
For this quiet and shy man, success is “Having a good
stable business which can help the poor workers and support my own
family.” He continued, “Now I am no longer an employee I can take care
of others. This business I built from my heart and with my knowledge.”
He is also proud of the fact that he has made a success of his life, by
himself, having not come from a rich or influential background.
One factor in his success he considers to be the time
he spent as a monk. “It changed me. I learned a lot. The monk’s
teachings you can adapt to your business life. It’s excellent.” He
added his conviction that all Thai men should spend some time in the
monastery.
He does not have the time for much in the way of
hobbies and looks forward to his times with his family as his main
recreation. I asked him if he thought that his career was a good one for
someone coming through the ranks and he was guarded in his reply. “You
have to really work out if this is what you want to do. You need a strong
character for engineering.” A strong character, like Somsak Boonchanthip,
is very much the self-made man.
