The South African-Thai Chamber of Commerce (SATCC) organized the first combined chambers of commerce networking on the Eastern Seaboard in 2021. Due to the situation created by Covid-19, the January event was not able to happen and so the British Chamber of Commerce Thailand (BCCT) kindly gave up their spot to help the SATCC.
Graham Macdonald, Chairman of SATCC, was seen dashing, well waddling capably, around making sure everything was as it should be. Needless to say, the Holiday Inn staff had seen it all before and had everything under control.
The main sponsor, Bromsgrove International School (BIS), was prominent everywhere and headmaster, Dr. Dan Moore, gave a welcoming and enlightening speech as to why education was so important and how Bromsgrove was held up as a leading light in their field both in Thailand and the UK. BIS is considered, by many, to be one of the top boarding schools in both countries.
Apart from SATCC and BCCT, the other chambers represented were AustCham, Beluthai, GTCC, NTCC and STCC. All the chambers had members at the event which was wonderfully hosted by the Holiday Inn Pattaya. More than a few attendees commented on the quality of the food and service as well as being very happy, in all senses of the word, with the South African wine which was kindly supplied by KWV and Anura wines which can both be bought at Central.
The other sponsors for the event were Bangkok Hospital Pattaya, Boots, CSP Projects & Construction, Macallan Insurance, Outback Bar who were promoting their new Deli on Siam Country Club Road, Pacific Cross, PKF, Q Cars, Red Wolf, Vinarco and WHA. Without the generous contributions of these companies there would be no networking evenings.
A lot of old faces where seen. Jack Levy from Macallan Insurance was chatting away to Dr. Iain Corness about a variety of topics but none were more important than what was happening to F1 at the moment.
Joe Barker-Bennett was waxing lyrical on how lucky he was not to be going back to Myanmar at the moment but hoped the situation over there would be sorted out soon.
Kieran Taylor, a newly elected director to the board of the BCCT was there in his capacity as co-founder and organizer of the BCCT Young Professionals who brought many people down from Bangkok as did AustCham and GTCC. It was good to see so many new faces chatting with the old regulars.
OCS (known as PCS in Thailand) was well represented by having the past CEO of the local operation, Heather Suksem, in attendance. Also present was Chris Cracknell who has just been made Chairman of BCCT to add to his accolades of being Chairman of Grant Thornton and previous CEO of OCS Group based out of the UK.
John Sim, who heads up PKF in Thailand after stepping down as PKF Global CEO last year, was seen enjoying a glass of wine and talking about the benefits of the Xero accounting application.
Jon Fox and Q Cars were there too. The quality of the cars and the service that you get from the company itself was there for all to see. Q Cars have been in Thailand for decades and plan to be here for many more … according to Jon anyway!
Carl Sellick from Lucy Electric was showing how Wales would beat England next weekend. This was countered by some wag stating it could be difficult for Wales if fifteen of the opposition stayed on the pitch for 80 minutes as they may have forgotten how to get round the ‘extra’ man.
The event was a roaring success and the next one will be hosted by AustCham. Details will be released closer to the time.
