(L to R) John
Hamilton from Waste Management Siam; Alain Deurwaerder, managing director of
Ducati Motor (Thailand) Co., Ltd.; and Artitaya Kaewmark, senior sales
manager of the Royal Cliff Hotels Group.
Staff reporters
With a sponsor list of eight companies, the British
Chamber of Commerce Thailand (BCCT) held its latest networking evening at
the Holiday Inn on Beach Road. This was part of a cunning plan to ensure
there was enough in the kitty to pay for the event, and at B. 5,000 per
sponsor, represented excellent value for their money.
The networking was held in the Holiday Inn’s Caf้ G
adjoining the pool on the fourth floor, and the finger food could be eaten
with the fingers, though the Holiday Inn also supplied natty trays which had
a slot for the wine glass stems and caught your food droppings as well.
(L to R) BCCT Director Stephen
Frost, Siam Gazette MD Alan S. Verstein and Simon Matthews, country manager
of Thailand Manpower Group.
Paul Wilkinson (Operations Manager of Kevin Fisher’s
dynamic CEA Projects), and Greg Watkins the executive director of the BCCT
were chatting, joined by BCCT Chairman Graham Macdonald (MBMG).
Down from Bangkok were half of the Sutlet ‘twins’ Chris
Thatcher plus Simon Matthews (Manpower). Alain Deurwarder was another happy
face, now on two wheels as the MD of Ducati motorcycles in Thailand.
Joe Cox, Pattaya’s ‘dog man’ running the Defence
International Security Services was seen making the rounds.
Peter Smith from AA Insurance Brokers was seen chatting
among some of the other regulars including Cees Cuijpers (Town and Country),
Mark Bowling (Colliers) and John Hamilton (Waste Management Siam).
Kerry Matison from Allied Pickfords told PMTV his company
is trying hard to gain more business with people who want to move their
effects from Australia and England to Thailand. They also do local removals.
His office is located at the Village Shopping Center.
(L to R) Joe Cox, Jutharat
Champawong, office manager of Defence International Security Services, and
Russell Jay Darrell, managing director of Soundzgood Co., Ltd.
Sponsor Markus Wehrhahn talked about how Resource Link
Consulting Group is an executive recruitment company based in Bangkok.
They’ve been her for 12 years already, and they’ve been very busy the last
few months promoting their brand in the Eastern Seaboard. They specialize in
putting together executive teams, from the human resource officer to the
financial officer. Their business works closely with those in the fields of
technical and engineering jobs.
Tony Malhotra from Pattaya Mail talked about how
they can now help companies with their branding, using our graphics
department, and in house printing facilities. He announced that Pattaya
Mail is now the sole agent for the new massive LED screen at the end of
Thepprasit Road. He welcomed people to take a look at the Pattaya Mail
website, which underwent a massive facelift earlier in the year.
Athitkrit Saksataporn from Air France & KLM stated that
they now offer 2 daily flights from Bangkok to Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam
and Charles de Gaul Airport in Paris. In Asia, KLM has daily flights from
Bangkok to Taipei and onwards, and Air France flies 3 times a week from
Bangkok to Phnom Penn.
(L to R) Gerry C. Healy, vice
president of development for Raimon Land; David Watkinson, director of 3D
Interiors; and David English, project manager for Cornerstone Management
Co., Ltd.
The manager of the Holiday Inn was not available;
however, PMTV spoke with the manager of the Holiday Inn’s Tea Tree Spa,
Papakan “Jeena” Saguansap. Jeena said that they are now running a Pattaya
sunshine package at the spa which is a 2 hour session consisting of a body
scrub followed by a body mask and then an aroma massage, for just 2690 baht.
Richard Bell from Cornerstone explained that they are
project managers, quantity surveyors and construction managers with many
buildings in Pattaya. These include Northpoint, the tallest project in
Pattaya, as well as Centara Hotels the Cliff, and Northshore. They have many
new projects coming up, including the biggest building in Thailand in
Bangkok called the river. He said that Pattaya has changed a lot in the last
20 years and that they were delighted to be part of its growth.
The final interview of the evening went to Alexander J
Hutton-Potts from Simplicity International. The company was founded in
Australia in 1996 and opened its Bangkok branch in 1997. He said they have
been working in Pattaya for the last six months, noting that the demand was
so great that they decided to open a branch here. He explained that they are
an IT services company that can run your network, provide your hardware, set
up your software, your website & email and provide maintenance. They even
have staff who can come to your house or business to deal with any problems
you might have. Their office behind Big C Extra has a coffee shop with free
internet access.
No representative from Jotun, the 8th
sponsor, was on hand. Perhaps they were out painting the town red.
Bancha Subthakung (left),
Uthen Malailek, project manager of Cornerstone Management, Co., Ltd.
As ever, the ladies enjoyed themselves, including Jeena
from the Holiday Inn Spa, trying to get everyone in for a dip, Anongrat
(Som) Corness advising on when her new cosmetic supplies venture (Siam
Country Club Beauty Supplies) will open its doors (early September) and Sri
Matisin with her natty burlap handbags.
The red wine was one of Peter Papanikitas’ Stonefish
varieties, and certainly a lovely drop. Try some if you can ever find it in
the bottle shops.
The next BCCT networking will be published in the
Pattaya Mail.
Graham Macdonald (left),
chairman of the British Chamber of Commerce Thailand and Simon Landy,
executive chairman of Colliers International.
(L to R) Pattaya Mail Asst.
Managing Director Tony Malhotra, Mackenzie Smith Managing Director Gregory
Pitt, BCCT Executive Director Greg Watkins and ABC Asian Business Consulting
Co., Ltd. Managing Director Helmut Buchberger.
(L to R) Panida Ottesen, PR
Executive for Holiday Inn; Papakan Saguansap, spa manager at the Tea Tree
Spa; Juthanard Boonchinwudtun from Holiday Inn; Vassacho Khrueasan from
Holiday Inn; Yuwadee Prohkhuntod, sales manager at Holiday Inn; and Artitaya
Kaewmark, senior sales manager for Royal Cliff Hotels Group.
(L to R) Alexander J.
Hutton-Potts, MD of Simplicity International Co, Ltd.; Richard Bell,
Managing Director of Cornerstone; Tony Malhotra, Pattaya Mail Asst. Managing
Director; Athitkrit Sakataporn, Account Manager of Air France; Kerry
Matisin, General Manager of Allied Pickfords; and Markus Wehrhahn, general
manager of the Resource Link Consulting Group.
