Sufficiency economy entrepreneurs:
By the people for the people
By Jon Fernquest[Introduction|Vocabulary|Article]
[Reading Questions|Answers]
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When you study economics in school your teachers will tell you that you need lots of mathematics skills.
Economists need to be able to analyse statistics and create mathematical models of how economies and markets work.
Sometimes it's difficult to see the human beings buried deep within these numbers though.
Numbers without faces can raise nagging questions.
How did people from the provinces adapt to economic hardship in their everyday lives after the 1997 economic crisis?
That's what today's moving article, written by Amitha Amranand, looks at closely.
Entrepreneurship is one possibility that many people seized upon after getting laid off and losing their job in 1997.
In Thailand the cost of starting a small business is still relatively low compared to other places in the world.
There's an elderly women who sells little cakes on the pedestrian bridge in front of Carrefour in Klong Toey.
I'm sure at her age she would rather be at home relaxing with her grandchildren, but her delicious little cakes certainly make her a productive part of the Thai economy and a hero for persisting and working so hard.
Clothing is another good that everyone needs in life.
The entrepreneurs in today's article went from producing clothing for family and friends to producing clothing for larger markets.
This sort of exploratory search for a market of customers with needs to satisfy is a common pattern in entrepreneurship that is definitely worth emulating.
Reading Questions
Here are some questions to guide your reading (See answers at end):1. Where did Nirubol and her husband begin their work life? Was it where they were born?
2. What did they do for a living?
3. Did they have a good life working in Bangkok?
(Find the words and phrases that indicate a good or bad life)
4. What ended their life in Bangkok?
5. Where does the couple live now? How old are they?
6. What do they do for a living nowadays? Do they earn as much as they used to?
7. How big is their family?
8. Do they work for others or are they self-employed?
9. How has their life changed with their new work situation?
10. Why do many of the women in Nakhon Ratchasima go to Bangkok to find work? What was one big reason they eventually left Bangkok?
11. What sacrifices do people make for coming to work in Bangkok?
12. What kind of products did her business make initially?
13. What was the initial form of advertising for their small business?
14. What products do they make nowadays? Who are their customers?
15. How many workers do they have in their factory? (Use inference)
16. How old are the workers in the factory?
17. What are some of the advantages and benefits from working in this sort of self-owned factory?
Bangkok Post Article May 17, 2007
Putting PEOPLE before PROFITS
Emphasizing family and community, a small clothing factory in Isan is setting an example for socially-minded employers AMITHA AMRANAND
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They both knew what they wanted out of life, and when Nirubol got pregnant with her first child she thought the timing couldn't have been better. Financially secure, they were ready to start a family. Then the stock market crashed and they were forced to redefine their happiness.
"We both had good jobs. We both had a great future to look forward to. However, those jobs weren't really ours. They were our employers'. They were paths to our employers' success, not ours. I thought we would have children when we were ready - when we were stable and settled down. When the time came, I realised it wasn't really our stability that we were working for. We forgot to define what our own stability and readiness meant," Nirubol says.
Today, 10 years later, Nirubol and her husband are happily rearing three children in the latter's hometown of Nakhon Ratchasima. She has converted part of their home into a small factory-cum-tailoring business, which she co-owns with other women in the community. Her husband is a building contractor. Their income is slightly less than what they earned in the capital.
On the day of our interview a weekday - Nirubol's husband was home by mid-afternoon, helping her operate the stitching machine. One by one, her children came home from school. Her colleagues - the "team" as they call themselves - arrived at work after lunch as they had been helping out at a funeral in the village. They chatted and laughed amidst the rumbling of the sewing machines. Some brought their children to work. A few hours later they left to continue helping at the funeral rites.
This is the 35-year-old Nirubol's personal definition of success, happiness and stability.
Upon returning to Isan, Nirubol made use of her education and experience in tailoring to start up a dressmaking business. As her number of customers grew, the then mother of one sought to involve her friends in the venture. Yet her expansion plans had little to do with financial growth. Looking around her, Nirubol realised that many of the women in her village would end being layed off somewhere like she once was.
According to Nirubol, the majority of people in her area leave behind their families and often their young children to search for better-paying jobs in Bangkok. Some leave at a young age to try and establish a life and a career in the capital while others are forced to move later to pay for their children's education.
Many women end up in garment factories, just like Nirubol did, and rarely return home to see their children. In time, they suffer respiratory damage due to cotton dust and poor ventilation. Factories require their workers to have a yearly check-up, after which employees with detectable lung ailments are promptly fired so employers can avoid being responsible for their well-being. Nirubol has known a number of women whose lives ended shortly after ceasing work at the factories.
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Nirubol began training 20 women, teaching them how to sew in her home. Once she had the staff, she began searching for potential customers.
"It wasn't anything complicated. We started by making clothes for those close to us - our children. They needed bibs, bed sheets, school uniforms. When our neighbours saw what our children wore to school, they began ordering for their children. We didn't have any money at that point, so we asked our customers to pay when they ordered. That became our funding. And eventually, the entire district came to know about us."
Today, this friendly retail and wholesale business - named Pha Boonmak - regularly receives orders from schools and local administrative offices and makes everything from T-shirts to jackets. Nirubol continues to train people from the village. Some use their training to help them find work in Bangkok.
"I think all people are very capable, but they all work under the system. They're part of the system. Why not use our skills and talents to do something outside of that system - something that directly concerns us?"
Nirubol admits that competition has gotten progressively fiercer, but she believes that the business will survive even if they periodically face minor lulls. Their goal - their collective goal - is not only to support themselves and their families, but to do so under healthy, humane and socially appealing conditions that leave them time to spend with their families. If asked to do a big order with a tight deadline that would force the team to work under extreme stress, they will often decline it.
"You need money, but you also need your family and your social life. You need to balance all three. Back then, I was so busy making money that I forgot about the other two. Yet this factory allows me to have all three. Nowadays, people are determined to develop the economy, but they neglect social development. From what I've experienced so far, family, friends and community are the best answers in life ... we can't escape them, and in the end they're what we can depend on."
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"This all began with everyone's money. We knew from the beginning for what and whom we're doing this: Our community and children ... we have put all our dreams together and are trying to make them come true. We do everything according to what we all want, not what one person wants. When we are faced with a problem, we all try to solve it together."
The factory, with 15 sewing machines, is semi-outdoors. The workers range from women in their twenties to sprightly retirees who would be deemed worthless elsewhere. They are paid according to their level of expertise, with some money set aside for an annual trip taken by the women and their families.
Some of women report that the job offers them a stress-free environment. They're surrounded by friends in whom they can confide. Tongbai Noitalay, who's been working at Pha Boonmak for two years, was working with her daughter by her side. She had no sewing skills before she started the job.
"With this job, I get to be with my child. On the days I don't come to work, it feels like something's missing," she says.
The flexible working hours also allow the women to earn money elsewhere. Many of them alternate between farming and making clothes. Working at Pha Boonmak, former factory worker Lakana Dongkratoke now has time to tend to her blind mother, who's also suffering from brain cancer.
"I don't have to worry about taking a day or two off to take care of my mother. But if I was working in a factory, I would have to quit," she says.
Mother of two Thanom Nernkratoke was once employed in a factory and had to spend a considerable amount of money travelling to and from work. Now she no longer comes home late at night and has more time for her children. She also finds Pha Boonmak has a less competitive atmosphere than her old job.
"We had to do everything our employer ordered us to do. There were so many people and there was a lot of brown-nosing. Here, nobody orders you around," she says.
Nirubol believes that the close-knit environment affords the women a healthy emotional outlet where they can discuss their problems.
"These women are the best of friends. If one person has a problem, we can all sense it. When you're happy, money seems so unimportant. Ultimately, happiness is what we want most. If you're unhappy, an understanding friend can make everything seem better. Here, when somebody has a problem in their family or with their husband, they consult each other. Once they've got their anger out, they don't go home angry."
The economic slump that left many people in Thailand grappling for money made this woman want to be free of it. Similarly, when it comes to promoting her business Nirubol prefers word-of-mouth because she believes in the "charm and sacredness" of this approach. "Every article of clothing we make has a story to it," she says.
Nirubol and her friends want to see their children continue what they have started. They believe Pha Boonmak belongs not to them, but to the community.
"We're doing a small thing, but it's going to have a big impact in the future. Social problems nowadays stem from something small, like one's family. As long as parents continue to place importance on material objects their children will grow to strive for material happiness instead of a human touch or relationships. And when you get old, you'll get nothing back from the children except objects. But that's when you'll long for their love. It's a cycle. If you don't give them love, they won't give love back to you because they weren't taught the importance of it."
Vocabulary (in discussion above)
mass - large quantities of
lay-offs - when people lose their job in a company because there is no more work for them
mass lay-offs - many people in a company lose their job because there is no more work for them
assembly line - in a factory when workers, machines, and equipment in a line, assemble a product efficiently (See Wikipedia)
they knew what they wanted out of life - were confident about their future goals and how to achieve them
the timing couldn't have been better - (idiom) the time chosen to do it was the best time
financially secure - don't have to worry about money (their income was certain and sufficient)
the stock market crashed - the prices of all stocks fell and people lost a lot of money (the most famous was the Wall Street Crash of 1929)
settled down - start living a quiet life in one place (usually with family and children)
rearing children - raising children (being good parents and looking after your children and helping them grow into healthy and happy adults)
x-cum-y - partly x and partly y (for example, gardener-cum-home handyman, bedroom-cum-livingroom)
a contractor - a business or person who does work for another business under a temporary contract
a building contractor - a business the organises the building of a building or house
stitch - use a needle and thread to join two pieces of cloth together
* operate the stitching machine
the rumbling - the deep low sound of an engine running
the rumbling of the sewing machines
a venture - a project or new business (usually somewhat risky and speculative)
layed off - lost job at company
fired - lose job, dismissed from a job (because you did something wrong or performance wasn't good enough)
promptly - immediately, without delay
promptly fired - fired immediately without delay
respiratory - related to breathing (lungs, nose, mouth, esophagous)
* suffer respiratory damage
ventilation - air coming into and out of a room (to make being in the room comfortable and healthy)
poor ventilation - air couldn't enter and leave the room, stuffy
x is detectable - can know when x is happening (from visible signs or symptoms)
a bib - cloth hanging from baby's neck to prevent food from falling on his clothes
the system, part of the system - the impersonal system in the economies of large cities
competition has gotten progressively fiercer -
lulls - quiet period between periods of great activity
periodically - happens at intervals, happens from time to time
periodically face minor lulls -
collective - involving all the people in a group
individual - involving one person
collective goal - a group goal
humane - trying to do without harming other people or animals
deadline - task must be finished before this time
tight deadline - a small amount of time to complete a task
x's initiation into y - x's first experience of y, learned about y for the first time
sprightly - has energy and a positive attitude, carefree
stress - worry and anxiety about difficulties in life
stress-free environment - a work or home environment without worry
confide in x - tell x a secret
flexible working hours - possible to change when you work during the day (for example in the morning, at night, taking a break if you need to run an errand)
the atmosphere - the environment
a less competitive atmosphere -
brown-nosing - trying to position yourself above coworkers by pleasing a person with authority
a close-knit group - doing things together, involved in the lives of other members of the group
an environment - the general situation surrounding you (for example, a work environment or home environment)
a close-knit environment - a situation (at work, school, in the neightborhood, etc) where people are friends and concerned about each other
an outlet for emotions - a way to express emotions (in some social situations you cannot express your emotions, for example, if you are a man and you cry, your wife may lose confidence in you)
healthy emotional outlet -
slump - fall suddenly
economic slump - a recession, slow economic growth and rising unemployment (See The Economist on recessions)
grappling - struggling and fighting with someone
grappling for money - struggling and competing with other people for money
word-of-mouth - word-of-mouth advertising, when people tell their friends and family about your product and a company gets free advertising from this (See Wikipedia)
x stems from y - y caused x
a human touch - the product feels like it is made by a human, not a machine, which is a nice feeling
it's a cycle -
Answer Key:
1. Where did Nirubol and her husband begin their work life? Was it where they were born?
They began their work life in Bangkok. They were born in Isan (Northeastern Thailand).
2. What did they do for a living?
Birubol worked in a garment factory and her husband was an engineer.
3. Did they have a good life working in Bangkok?
(Find the words and phrases that indicate a good or bad life)
Yes, it seems that they had a good life working in Bangkok. They were "financially secure" with "good jobs," a "comfortable life," and a "great future," but she worked long hours and he was often away from home travelling to building sites as part of his work.
4. What ended their life in Bangkok?
Getting laid off from their job after the 1997 economic crisis
("Before facing mass lay-offs,...
"Today, 10 years later,....)
5. Where does the couple live now? How old are they?
They live in Nakhon Ratchasima in Isan. She is 35 years old and he's probably roughly the same age.
6. What do they do for a living nowadays? Do they earn as much as they used to?
She runs a small clothing business out of their home. They do tailoring and dressmaking and have a little factory in their home shown in the photos. He works a building contractor. They earn slightly less than what they used to earn when they lived in Bangkok.
7. How big is their family?
They have three children, so there are five people altogether in their family.
8. Do they work for others or are they self-employed?
Apparently, they are both self-employed. She owns the clothing business, while he does building projects.
9. How has their life changed with their new work situation?
They have more time for their family since the factory is in their home. Even the workers can bring their children to work. They have more time to help out in neighborhood functions like funerals.
10. Why do many of the women in Nakhon Ratchasima go to Bangkok to find work? What was one big reason they eventually left Bangkok?
They leave to find better paying work in Bangkok. They often have to leave Bangkok and go back to the provinces for their child's education.
11. What sacrifices do people make for coming to work in Bangkok?
a. Rarely return home to the provinces from Bangkok see children.
b. Develop respiratory problems from inadequately ventilated factories.
c. Are fired when the factory learns of these lung ailments to avoid responsibility.
("Many women end up in garment factories, just like Nirubol did, and rarely return home to see their children. In time, they suffer respiratory damage due to cotton dust and poor ventilation. Factories require their workers to have a yearly check-up, after which employees with detectable lung ailments are promptly fired so employers can avoid being responsible for their well-being. Nirubol has known a number of women whose lives ended shortly after ceasing work at the factories.")
12. What kind of products did her business make initially?
They started making clothing that they need for their children ranging from bibs to bed sheets and school uniforms.
13. What was the initial form of advertising for their small business?
People would see the clothes that their children wore to school and wanted to buy some for themselves.
14. What products do they make nowadays? Who are their customers?
The make everything from T-shirts to jackets and receive orders from schools and local administrative offices.
15. How many workers do they have in their factory? (Use inference)
Not stated exactly, but by inference there must be from 15 to 20 since there are 15 sewing machines and the article says she trained 20 women.
16. How old are the workers in the factory?
All ages.
17. What are some of the advantages and benefits from working in this sort of self-owned factory?
a. Flexible working hours.
b. Stress-free environment.
c. Work with close friends.
d. Get taught a new skill: sewing.
e. Time to tend to children and older members of the family.
f. Less commute time to work.
g. Opportunity to earn money elsewhere from farm
h. A less competitive atmosphere.
i. No need to "brown-nose" boss.
