Thus, Sea (Thailand), a leading consumer internet platform provider which offers a diverse range of services, including Garena, Shopee, and SeaMoney, has initiated the Women Made program, which aims to help Thai women overcome their fears and maximize their fullest potential as women entrepreneurs. In this program, Sea (Thailand) has collaborated with the Creative Economy Agency (CEA), the governmental organization that promotes creative economy to drive social and economic growth, to provide learning space and a testing ground in which all business women from 10 selected Thai MSMEs can apply technology and creativity to scale their business, add value to products and services for their sustainable growth.
Ms. Maneerut Anulomsombut, Chief Executive Officer, Sea (Thailand), revealed: "After launching the project in late 2022, the Women Made program has attracted a lot of attention from female entrepreneurs in Thailand. For this intensive program, we've selected 10 successful brands out of over 100 applicants by using three criteria; business performance, online scale potential, and social impact. The participants were equipped with the skills and knowledge in business and branding development they need to succeed in today's competitive market. At the end of this program, all brands successfully developed their own special collection and recently launched them on Shopee since the New Year."
Overcome fears and create more opportunities for women
After joining the program, the participants reported that their confidence in being entrepreneurs increased, and they are confident to apply newly acquired skills and knowledge (e.g. business development in a digital environment, and creativity skills to innovate new products and services) to improve their businesses. This led to an approximately 20% increase in online sales in a month. All brands also experience a practical and relevant approach to enable their operations to be more social and environmentally friendly," Ms. Maneerut added.
Dr. Chakrit Pichyangkul, Executive Director of the Creative Economy Agency (CEA), said "CEA's role is to promote and improve Thailand's creative economy, driving a well-balanced and sustainable economic development. Creativity, technology, and innovation are keys to business and economic growth. Today's entrepreneurs should be aware of this fact and adapt accordingly by using our distinctive cultural assets and local wisdom to develop products that respond to market needs. This will help improve the quality of life for people in surrounding communities - local economies and tourism - while further nurturing Thailand's creative ecosystem.
We believe that the collaboration with Sea (Thailand) on the 'Women Made' program successfully enhanced new skills for all participants to use creativity, technology, and business innovation, leveling up quality and standards for international competition. This program is also a pilot project for women entrepreneurs looking for market expansion. The provided knowledge can be applied to businesses to achieve domestic and international growth for themselves and the country's creative industries."
Ajarn Rawat Chamnan, Project Consultant, Creative Specialist and Former Editor-in-Chief of Wallpaper Thai, further explained: "All brands have a great potential to deliver profitable and purposeful business. Therefore, we've designed the Women Made Master Class to focus on business development, and product and service value creation delivered by a wide range of experts. We also paired designers from 'Connect by CEA' with each brand to develop new ideas for the special collection launched on Shopee using provided seed funding."
The special collections from 10 Women Made brands are as follows:
- Kanz by Thaitor: the boutique apparel brand from Phrae province, well known for hand-and-heart-made fashion from batik fabric designed and produced by the owner and family in every step.
- Sliptosleep: the Braless Pajamas brand for women with thick three-layered pockets to ensure that women feel comfortable, secure, and confident even without a bra.
- Veraparisbag: the handbag brand that represents urban life and femininity. The designs, functional and aesthetic, are inspired by urban architecture.
- Sureeya: the bag and accessories brand has its origin in Thailand's three southern border provinces. With this, the brand proudly presents local charm through local batik cloth.
- Pick Me Please: traditional recipe crispy shredded pork roasted on an ancient charcoal stove until crispy and seasoned well until yummy, with no MSG or preservatives added.
- Khanom Tanjit: the family business, with over 40 years of making scrumptious snacks, delivers happiness you can eat in the form of "Tanjit Waffle Cut Taro Chips."
- Mediherbtea: the flower tea brand produces caffeine-free and sugar-free flower tea full of antioxidants. With aromatic and healthy qualities, the brand offers 3 different types of flower tea, including 1) Morning Bloom: red flower tea from hibiscus, roselle, and rose 2) Golden Noon: golden yellow flower tea from safflower, bael, and ylang-ylang, and 3) Starry Night: navy blue flower from butterfly pea, jasmine, and peppermint.
- Ales Thailand: the brand that aims to simplify skin-caring routines. Ales is the result of the dedication of three friends, including Ploy - a pharmacologist expert in plant extracts; Yok- an expert in cosmetics chemicals importing; Prae - an influencer interested in nature and health. The team aims to produce high-quality skincare produced by Thai women entrepreneurs.
- Happy Flows TH: the herbal and organic sanitary napkin brand is committed to helping women stay healthy and hygienic in their daily lives and desire to contribute society by helping out women who lack access to good sanitary products. They have released the "Happy Together" set, comprised of herbal sanitary pads consisting of 24 nighttime pads, a tampon case, and a period tracker. For every box purchased, the brand will give an extra box to women lacking access to hygienic sanitary pads. The brand will be another force bringing happiness and hygiene equality to every woman.
- Pethology+: a herbal products brand for pets, adapting an anti-lice shampoo for children into a herbal shampoo and herbal spray for dogs and cats. The product is lab-tested and made from Derris trifoliata leaves, a local plant found in mangrove forest areas.
"We are proud to empower women entrepreneurs, increasing their confidence and enabling them to achieve business growth and social sustainability. The Women Made program is one of Sea (Thailand)'s digital education initiatives which aims to better consumer life quality and improve MSMEs businesses. By developing the necessary digital skills and knowledge, we believe that they will be thriving in the digital economy. To cascade wider knowledge, Sea (Thailand) has selected 5-episode video series extracted from the Women Made Master Class featured on the SeaAcademy website. We sincerely hope that the Women Made program will inspire and ignite the strength as an entrepreneur for all Thai women, as we believe that women will become one of the greatest powerhouses for the Thai economy," Maneerat concluded.
The Women Made products showcase can now be experienced from 8-12 February 2023 at 10.00 - 16.00 hrs. at FLVR Creative Grocery, Songwad Road, Sampanthawong district.
Source: BOW