by Dr. Iain
Corness
The
chairman of Property Care Services is a twinkling eyed, softly spoken
“Thairishman”, Liam O’Keeffe. He is a man who was born in Ireland
(and proud of it), but who became naturalized as a Thai citizen 27 years
ago.
Liam was born in Dublin at the end of WWII, the second
child to the manager of a chain of grocery stores called Home and
Colonial. “Needless to say, they’ve gone,” said Liam with a smile.
He was educated at Christian Brother’s Schools in
Dublin and took Gaelic, English, Latin and maths as his honour subjects in
his final year. He really had no idea what he wanted to do, other than
take some time off traveling. “I invented the ‘Gap Year’ and found
SE Asia,” he said.
In that year he experienced many of the countries in SE
Asia, but kept returning to Thailand. “It was like coming home. Stepping
into a pair of well-worn shoes. It (Thailand) was foreign, but it didn’t
feel strange. It’s a very spiritual thing. I made a phone call from
Bangkok and said I’m not coming back. It was the 12th of July,
Orangeman’s Day, 1963.”
He had little money, but did have a letter of
introduction to some influential people in Bangkok, given to him by a
German cultural ambassador whom he had met through a mutual friend in
Dublin. “I had to find a job. At 18 years of age I had no
qualifications, but I was a bit of a novelty! The plan was survival.”
Novelty value or not, plus a few words from the right people, saw him
employed on movie theatre advertising, and even doing a bit of modeling.
“I was slightly thinner then,” mused Liam.
That did not last long before he got into something a
little more secure, working for a firm building radar installations in
Thailand, as part of the US involvement in Vietnam, and he spent four
years with them.
His next employer was a trading company, Anglo-Thai
Commercial who wanted someone to run their pest control division. Again,
with the confidence that youth can give you, he took it on. “I didn’t
know a cockroach from an ant at that stage.”
He took on the fledgling company, with his cockroach
killers in one hand, and five employees to help him. Five years later he
added cleaning services to the portfolio. The build-up continued, with
security services next, and by 1989 he was controlling 1,700 employees and
had the position of managing director of the group, known as Professional
Cleaning Services.
I asked Liam to what did he ascribe the success of the
operation, going from 5 to 1,700 employees under his direction. “It was
very hands on. We offered them (the customers) a quality service. We
delivered. We were innovative and kept up to date.”
However, it did not end there. Liam felt it was time to
expand further. He could see the property boom coming, not only for
Bangkok, but for Thailand. The parent company did not see the same need
and allowed Liam to do a management buy-out and he took complete control.
“After I bought it we expanded like mad. The first thing I did was to
open up in Chiang Mai. Everyone said I was mad. We now have 1,400 people
working in Chiang Mai.”
That expansion was not just in the north, however. The
company, now called Property Care Services under the chairmanship of Liam
O’Keeffe, having today 16,000 employees and offices or joint ventures in
Malaysia, Bangladesh and India.
There is another side to Liam O’Keeffe - that of the
art collector. I interviewed him at one of his residences, with rooms just
bursting with an eclectic display of art works. “I always had an
interest in art. When I first came to Bangkok, I used to forage around the
thieves market. It has been an all-consuming interest in art of all
kinds.” I asked Liam if he collected art to sell later when markets
began moving up, but this was not the case. “I’ve never sold a thing
in my life. Everything I’ve ever bought is still with me.” He expanded
further at this point, saying, “I have a great interest in art and
artists - they’re exploited. I like to encourage them. I buy what I
like, I don’t follow fashion trends.”
As part of fostering art in this country, Liam is
backing the publication of a book on art. “It won’t make money, but
maybe it can be my contribution to the art scene in Thailand. It will be
launched in January and feature 23 contemporary Thai painters.” You have
to take your hat off to Liam - he really is someone prepared to back
something he believes in.
Despite becoming a naturalized Thai, Liam is still very
much an Irishman, with a brogue to prove it! “The Irish never forget
their roots,” he said. As part of never forgetting, he and some friends
set up the Irish-Thai Chamber of Commerce this year, with Liam as the
founding chairman. This is an active chamber and the first official visit
of a Thai minister to Ireland came after the inauguration of the chamber
of commerce, as well as the visit of the Irish president to Thailand a few
months ago.
Another side of Liam is his involvement in charities,
being on the boards and committees for many charity organizations in
Thailand. He even has managed to combine his love of the arts and charity,
with the “Art for Life” where 54 artists are helping children living
with HIV.
He has also fostered three Thai children, with the two
girls currently having schooling in Ireland, and the boy going to New
Zealand next year for his education.
When not involved in work, collecting art or charity issues, Liam
enjoys gardening. “I do it by remote control. I have a good gardener and
I point!” he said with typical Irish humour. However, there’s
certainly no blarney about Liam O’Keeffe!
