Business matching is considered a way to help SMEs expand trade and investment, as well as business networks.

The activity should also offer opportunities for them to exploit the potential of integrating into a supply chain, so that they gain a competitive edge in both domestic and international markets.

The event, supported by the Office of Small and Medium Enterprises Promotion (Osmep), is aimed at SMEs in industries targeted by the government for promotion, such as leather, shoes, textiles and garments, jewellery and ornaments.

Osmep in cooperation with the FTI will assist SMEs in four areas: marketing activities, both domestic and international, and distribution-channel development; vendors meeting with customers; markets for raw materials and parts; and global sourcing for materials.

Kajchai Chamkhajornkait, secretary of a garment trade association, said enterprises in the industry exported garments worth Bt120 billion a year and gave employment to 1 million workers. Therefore, business matching is important for them at both the horizontal and the vertical levels of the industry's supply chain.

Apart from bringing together suppliers and producers, business matching could introduce producers to designers, producers to brand owners and producers to retailers.

"Most SMEs in the garment industry are specialised, so they have limitations in taking sizeable orders. That makes it hard for them to compete with others, especially lower-priced products from China and Vietnam," Kajchai said. Likewise, the leather and leather-products industry, with exports surpassing Bt60 billion year, agreed with business matching. To create value-added products, producers should be paired up with designers.

Watcharapong Thongrung

The Nation