by Dr. Iain
Corness
A very successful self-made businessmen in Pattaya is
Sutham Phanthusak, a man who could use ‘modesty’ as his middle name.
It is not often that you will meet a man honoured by King Bhumibol
Adulyadej, but Sutham Phanthusak is one. He is one of Pattaya’s quiet
achievers.
Sutham
was born in Trang, southern Thailand. His father was a simple rubber
farmer, toiling in the plantations while his mother stayed at home to look
after Sutham and his five sisters.
Sutham would get up early in the morning and walk
around his village selling bean sprouts for 25 satang that his mother had
grown. When he was at school he would sell toffees that his mother had
made as well. “Mother taught me how to save money, and I would take my
own lunchbox to school, rather than buy lunch there.”
His schooling was through the local government schools,
and it was there that he had his first taste of the Scouting movement,
joining the Scouts in primary school and enjoying that part of school
life, though he admitted that he was not a good academic student.
He left when he was 16 years old, and initially hoped
to join the military, but his grades were not sufficient as he had not
worked hard enough. His family could not support him financially, and so
he moved to Bangkok and entered the hotel business as an assistant night
auditor; there were no lower positions!
He stayed in the hotel in Bangkok, sending money home
to help pay for the education of his younger sisters, as is the way for
dutiful children in Thailand. However, he was swayed by an offer to come
and work in a hotel in Pattaya as a cashier, because it offered free board
and lodgings.
He stayed there for three years but when the GM moved
to the Royal Cliff Beach Resort, Sutham went with him to be the assistant
manager of administration and personnel.
After another three years he was snapped up by the
Holiday Inn chain to be the personnel director at their Pattaya property,
in charge of 300 staff. He was only 25 years old, and it looked as if he
was destined for great things in the hotel industry. History would later
show that he was indeed destined for greater things, but not as part of
that hotel chain.
By this stage he had married Orawan (and they are still
happily married today) and they decided they should start a little
business. Sutham noticed there were no commercial banks in Pattaya, and
tourists could only exchange money in their hotels, at less than
favourable rates. This engendered dissatisfaction in the tourists and
Sutham could see a niche. By doing what Sutham described as, “carrying
out business in a manner fair to all concerned,” they opened a currency
exchange, with Orawan working there, while Sutham worked in the hotel.
They had saved up 100,000 baht and borrowed another
100,000 baht, and Sutham left the hotel to throw his energies into their
own business. “We were the first to be licensed by the Bank of
Thailand,” said Sutham with some pride. “My life was just starting.”
The currency exchange was successful beyond their
wildest dreams and Sutham began to look around as to what else he could
do. He began a real estate business, and was approached by a small company
called Tiffany’s show. They had a tiny theatre with 10 actors in South
Pattaya, but it was going nowhere. “Transvestites had no career at that
time. I asked myself, what are we doing for the country? I felt some kind
of social responsibility, so through my real estate company we built a
theatre for them.” He was asked to become involved in the business and
he built up Tiffany’s from 10 actors to its current level of 100 actors
and a similar number of staff members. “It is now the largest theatre in
SE Asia, and the best!” said Sutham with a smile.
His next project was to have his own hotel, and the
small Woodlands Resort was built. Again, through astute management, this
grew until it became obvious that it would have to be redeveloped, which
was carried out a few years ago, to become a very fine example of a family
resort in Pattaya.
On his own family front, he and Orawan have seen their
three daughters grow up, being educated in Thailand and then sent overseas
for further tertiary education. All have responsible jobs, with their
middle daughter Alisa now taking over the management of the family
businesses, leaving Sutham saying, “Now I am free!” However, he went
on to say that he is now free to look after the needs of others.
Historically, those needs have not been just Pattaya,
but Thailand as well. Having already become a well-known businessman in
Pattaya, he was appointed by the Ministry of the Interior as a city
councillor, serving 12 years. He was also retained by a former Thai PM as
an advisor, as well as being asked to be a member of the Education
Development Foundation. He joined the Rotary International movement, there
serving two terms as the local president and another as district governor.
He then began to look at the requirements for child
development. “I looked at the Scouting movement and found it was very
useful to develop our young children in terms of discipline and ethics - a
basic need in youth development, especially in developing countries.” To
that end he swung behind the World Scouting Organization many years ago,
with his efforts even being noticed by the King of Thailand, who awarded
him as a Distinguished Member of the National Scout Council. Currently he
is the Director of International Relations Department for the forthcoming
Asia-Pacific Region Scout Jamboree to be held at Sattahip December 2005.
This will be a success, just the same as all his other successes! You
can be assured. Sutham Phanthusak certainly is the quiet achiever.
