OSMEP expects 100,000 participants in Go Online

The Office of SME Promotion (Osmep) and business partners including Google, Kasikornbank, the Thai eCommerce Association and DotArai have created the Thai Business Go Online project to encourage small and medium-sized enterprises to run their businesses online, expecting about 100,000 SMEs to take part by the end of the year.

Yuthasak Supasorn, director-general of Osmep, said the project started last June and had helped 50,000 businesses go online last year. About 40,000 SMEs created their own websites to conduct business and transactions online.

"There are now about 2.9 million SMEs in Thailand creating about 37 per cent of export revenue, and in the next five years we expect this to rise to 40 per cent," Yuthasak said.

Currently only 10 per cent of SMEs nationwide have their own websites, he said.

Besides backing SMEs going online, the office plans to help the One Tambon One Product scheme promote products online. It expects to help communities offer about 800 Otop products via websites and expand their markets and draw in more customers.

Pornthip Kongchun, head of marketing of Google (Thailand), said Thai Business Go Online was a pilot project that the firm had created with Thai business partners. Google has backed similar programmes in such markets as Malaysia, India, Europe, Japan and Indonesia.

She said Google had conducted a survey of participants in the programme, and 65 per cent said it had helped them boost revenue, 68 per cent said it helped them reduce investment costs, and 61 per cent reported that it had helped them communicate more closely with their customers.

"I think Thai Business Go Online will enable businesses to have sustainable growth and help them reduce the costs of management and expand customers both nationwide and internationally," Pornthip said.

DotArai, the Thai domain-name registrar, is a partner in the project, which will help businesses register their names in Thai and open their websites in the Thai language. KBank also provides K-SME Start-up solutions to support participating businesses. Moreover, the Thai eCommerce Association has worked with 55 universities nationwide to provide e-commerce training to businesses in 44 provinces.

Rattanawut Churasamee, the leader of a group of entrepreneurs who run a business under the project at www.artist-thailand.in.th, said he and his friends has gathered a team to provide online such items as handmade art and silkscreen T-shirts. For the latter product, the website receives about 400-500 orders a week.

"I think this project is very important for businesses and new entrepreneurs to expand their base and open businesses online," Rattanawut said.