Thailand solely rolled out its surprisingly controversial money handouts in late September, doling out 10,000 Thai baht ($303) handouts to eligible Thai residents in a bid to revive the nation’s flagging consumption.
But Thapanee Techajareonvikul, CEO of Thai retail conglomerate Berli Jucker, is already seeing the results of the money handout. “September was a very good month for us,” she says, nothing that the money handouts helped increase gross sales even when they have been solely disbursed within the final week of the month.
Thai officers stated the primary part of the stimulus might increase progress by 0.35 proportion factors.
Nonetheless, some economists argued that the stimulus may solely result in a short-term increase as many recipients will prioritize paying off family debt as a substitute of consumption. Thailand has one of many area’s highest ranges of family debt, at 16.4 trillion Thai baht ($484 billion), equal to 90% of its GDP.
Thapanee expects a great October as properly, however warns client confidence continues to be “very soft.”
Thais are “clearing up their personal debts, and they’re just buying one-time spending,” she says.
Who’s Thapanee Techajareonvikul?
Thapanee Techajareonvikul, ranked No. 47 on this 12 months’s Asia version of Fortune’s Most Highly effective Ladies rating, took over Berli Jucker in June 2023. She’s the primary feminine chief govt of the 142-year-old Thai firm. Thapanee has held management positions on the firm since 2003.
“I didn’t even think about [being Berli Jucker’s first female CEO] until I was in the position,” she says.
Thapanee changed her husband, Aswin Techajareonvikul, as Berli Jucker’s CEO, who’d moved to take over Large C, a Berli Jucker-owned hypermarket. Large C is focusing on worldwide markets, and is planning a list. (Thapanee suggests the IPO might come by the tip of 2025).
Courtesy of Berli Jucker
She’s additionally the daughter of Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi, one the nation’s richest folks. By means of TCC Group, Charoen owns Berli Jucker, in addition to ThaiBev, the producer of Chang Beer.
That gave Thapanee early expertise with company administration. “Getting so involved with the management team at the top level from a very young age—I think I was lucky,” she says.
How did Berli Jucker grow to be a part of her household empire?
Albert Jucker and Henry Sigg, two Swiss retailers, established the buying and selling home that finally grew to become Berli Jucker in 1882. The corporate first engaged in rice milling, mining and transport, then expanded to manufacturing, packaging and distribution after the Second World Battle. The corporate was one of many first to be listed on the Thai inventory change in 1975.
When her father took a majority stake in Berli Jucker in 2001, Thapanee had simply graduated from MIT and was making ready to enter Harvard. But she nonetheless performed a task within the deal, starting from manufacturing unit visits and fascinating with key companions to even “doing the flip charts,” she explains.
Courtesy of Berli Jucker
Berli Jucker’s income on the time of the acquisition was 11.2 billion baht ($334 million at at this time’s change charges). In 2023, the corporate’s income grew to $4.8 billion, placing it at No. 79 on Fortune’s inaugural Southeast Asia 500 rating, which tracks the most important firms in Southeast Asia by income.
Thapanee as Berli Jucker’s CEO
Since taking the highest place on the firm final 12 months, Thapanee has targeted on build up relationships with Thailand’s mom-and-pop shops by way of the corporate’s “Donjai” program.
This system offers funds for small shops for tasks starting from utilizing Berli Jucker’s software program to a full renovation of the shop. Store-owners then pay charges again to Berli Jucker relying on the extent of funding; at greater ranges of funding, retailers have an understanding to supply items from Large C, the Berli Jucker-owned hypermarket.
Berli Jucker will get one other profit: Shopper information on last-mile and last-minute purchases, one thing Thapanee says she’s sought for a very long time.
Thapanee says she’s additionally making an attempt to entrench feminine empowerment on the Thai conglomerate. Sixty p.c of Berli Jucker’s 55,000 staff are girls, and the Thai conglomerate’s administration workforce additionally has the identical variety of women and men.
She credit her late mom Khunying Wanna Sirivadhanabhakdi for normalizing girls in positions of energy within the household’s companies. Thapanee describes her mother and father as a duo: Her father “drives business forward,” whereas her mom is the “risk control baseline.” Khunying Wanna was vice chairman and govt vice chairman at Berli Jucker, and likewise vice chairwoman at ThaiBev.
“On diversity, we are very open,” she says of Thai society.
The World Financial Discussion board not too long ago ranked Thailand in twenty first place out of 146 international locations for feminine participation within the economic system, forward of wealthier economies like France and Japan. (Thailand ranked sixty fifth within the WEF’s total Gender Hole Index). But variety among the many workforce has but to translate to prime administration: Slightly below 20% of board administrators at Thai firms are girls, in line with a current Deloitte research. Simply 12% of CEOs of Thai firms are girls.
Nonetheless, Thailand compares properly to the world common: Globally, 23% of board administrators and 6% of CEOs are girls.
