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 Café 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) 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.
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.
Bancha Subthakung (left), Uthen Malailek, project manager of Cornerstone Management, Co., Ltd.
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.
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.
Graham Macdonald (left), chairman of the British Chamber of Commerce Thailand and Simon Landy, executive chairman of Colliers International.
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.
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.
(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.
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.
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.
(L to R) BCCT Director Stephen Frost, Siam Gazette MD Alan S. Verstein and Simon Matthews, country manager of Thailand Manpower Group.
(L to R) Joe Cox, Jutharat Champawong, office manager of Defence International Security Services, and Russell Jay Darrell, managing director of Soundzgood Co., Ltd.
(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.
(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.
