Bangkok, 31 December 2012 – MBMG’s founding partner Graham Macdonald has been awarded the MBE in the New Year’s Honours list of Queen Elizabeth II. The Honours system was designed to recognise people who have made great achievements in public life and have made life better for other people or been outstanding at what they do.
Alongside well-known sportsmen and women and celebrities, long term Thai resident Graham Macdonald has been given the honour “for services to British business interests in Thailand.”
“While this award gives me enormous pride and satisfaction I would be the first too say that what I have been able to achieve with the British Chamber of Commerce Thailand (BCCT) and at MBMG Group owes a great deal to the outstanding support that I have received from colleagues, friends and the vast legion of people who have been so supportive throughout that time. I like to think that my nomination reflects a job well done not so much by Graham Macdonald but by the dedicated, hard-working and highly capable exceptional individuals at the BCCT and MBMG Group and I would like to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of them.”
The UK Government website (https://www.gov.uk/honours) explains how the Honours system recognises people who have made great achievements in public life and committed themselves to serving Britain. They will usually have made life better for other people or been outstanding at what they do and receive Honours for achievements like:
* Making a difference to their community or field of work
* Enhancing Britain’s reputation
* Long-term voluntary service
* Innovation and entrepreneurship
* Changing things, with an emphasis on achievement
* Improving life for people less able to help themselves
* Displaying moral courage and vision in making and delivering tough choices
Honours are given to people involved in different activities, including:
* Arts and media
* Health
* Education
* Science and technology
* Economy (including business etc)
* Community, voluntary and local services
* Sport
* State (including civil service, politicians, etc.)
Born in Birmingham, educated at Repton School and University of Bradford, Graham Macdonald previously held positions in sales and management in the UK before arriving in Thailand in 1994 and co-founding MBMG in 1995 with Paul Gambles. Throughout his career in Thailand, Graham has been an active member of the business and charitable community. He was the Founding Chairman of the British Chamber of Commerce Thailand Eastern Seaboard in 1997, and served on the main BCCT Board from 1998 to 2012 (for the last seven years as either Vice Chairman or Chairman). For three of those years he was also Chairman of the BCCT Charity Group. He is now President of the South African Thai Chamber of Commerce, and has been a Director of the Board of Trade of Thailand since April 2011.
Graham was President of ‘Care for Kids’ from 1998 to 2010, and Secretary of the Lighthouse Club – Eastern Seaboard 2006/07. He is Vice Chairman of the ‘World of Wine’, a wine distribution business which gives its entire profits to charitable causes. He was elected as President of the Royal British Legion Thailand (RBLT) in 2009, a charity that also helps the Thai Veterans hospitals. It is also worth noting that RBLT Secretary, Bert Elson, was awarded the British Empire Medal in the same Honours List for “services to the British community in Thailand”.
Graham is also well-known as a writer for various publications including Pattaya Mail and Chiang Mai Mail and was nominated for the Lorenzo Natali Prize for journalism, an award created by the European Union for reporting on human rights and democracy in the developing world. As a Managing Director of MBMG Group, Graham in based in both Bangkok and Pattaya, where he continues to serve his clients both in Thailand and in 21 other countries across the world.
