by Dr. Iain
Corness
One
of the directors of the Bartercard brokerage in Pattaya is an energetic,
happy young Englishman, Gary Owen. He is a man who has been an adventurer
and has spent more than half of his life away from his home country. He
has also now settled in Thailand, and Pattaya in particular, so it is not
really likely he will return to the dreary climate of the UK.
He was born in Lambeth in South London, and thought of
himself initially as a Londoner, even though his father came from Ynysybwl
(Gary assures me that is the correct spelling) in South Wales. His father
and his Londoner mother ran pubs, and he described them as the “perfect
partnership for running successful public houses.” He also described his
growing up in Basingstoke as being vibrant and hectic, and believes that
this explains his current little tolerance for boredom!
Part of that vibrant, hectic teenage living was his
dedication to the game of darts, setting himself the goal of becoming a
champion. He did play in competitions all over the country “and even won
a bit of money” but the zenith was partnering his father in a major
doubles competition and getting to the semi-finals.
He left school at age 16 and floated around in a
variety of jobs, but found that he did have a talent in marketing.
However, Basingstoke was becoming too small and he moved to Spain and
spent three years there in marketing in Benidorm and Tenerife.
It was after this that he took stock of his life. There
was no security and he felt that he should have more education, so
returned to Basingstoke and the Technical College to study for a degree in
business. During the day he sold photocopiers and studied at night. “I
was paying for my mis-spent youth,” said Gary. He also found that
business studies were boring, so changed over to Travel and Tourism.
After receiving his degree it was time for adventure
again. He was 25, footloose and fancy free and in many ways escaping from
the confines of life as a Brit in Basingstoke! For Gary Owen, it sounded
as if the great adventure would be in Australia and arrived in the great
sun-burned land down under with a student work visa.
Gary worked all over Australia for the next 18 months,
doing all types of jobs. “Making just enough money to get me to the next
destination,” said Gary. But even backpackers have to settle down, and
with the visa running out, Gary made his plans to return to the UK. On the
way he organized a stopover in Bangkok. That was 1991.
He didn’t make it to the UK. The stopover became
permanent! “It seemed such an exciting place. In those days I didn’t
think more than a week ahead.” The eternal optimist took only the week
to find a job setting up distribution systems for an American company.
Almost overnight he changed from being a backpacker to a company executive
with a company car and staying in luxury hotels. “I was like Oliver
Twist,” said Gary, “who thought the streets were paved with gold.”
The job lasted for two wonderful years, in which time he saw more than 50
Thailand provinces, until the contract was completed.
By now he was fixed in the life of an ex-pat in
Thailand. He met and married his wife Somporn, and they began their family
(now after nine years they have four children). He was working as an
entrepreneur, bringing in agencies, to find that he was being let down.
“I found the realities of being an entrepreneur in Thailand. It was a
tough learning curve, but great for experience.” Once again, the eternal
optimist, who can see positive things, despite the negatives.
He landed a job as a marketing manager for a hotel in
Bangkok and came to Pattaya, purely by chance for a dinner in 1999. He
immediately liked the resort town, which in many ways was similar to the
resort towns in Spain. It was time to change horses again.
He very soon landed a job with some property developers
in Jomtien who impressed him with their fairness and support. This was in
contrast to the life he had been living in Bangkok, and the number of
times he had been let down by others in the nation’s capital.
His work in the property development field has
stabilized. Much of his work now just involved delegation, and suddenly he
saw the opportunity with the Bartercard system. He had friends who had
been in it for years, but had to be serviced from Bangkok. The idea of
Pattaya having its own brokerage was too obvious, from Gary’s point of
view. He met with Graham Brain, the MD of Bartercard Thailand, and nine
months ago the deal was signed and he took over the area. Proudly he says
that they are now heading for 150 members in the region (there are 2,000
in the rest of Thailand). In fact it is growing so fast that he has had to
bring in a new branch manager from Australia (Laurie Muir, the Australian
Gold Coast’s most successful Bartercard manager).
Gary Owen believes in the words penned by John Lennon,
“Life is what happens when you’re busy making plans.” For Gary,
those plans now revolve around educating his family. However, the
adventurer is still there, though he does no longer wish to travel the
world as a backpacker. “Now I want to do it Five Star,” he said with a
smile.
Other ideas in the future include developing his own resort. “It
would be a good lifestyle. Either that or staying on the treadmill.”
However, above all, Gary Owen remains the positive optimist. “I don’t
like listening to negative people - just in case some of it rubs off on
me.” For many, I suggest they go and listen to Gary, hoping that some of
his positive nature rubs off on them.
