Japan Lending a Hand in Boosting Startups in Thailand

Japan is doing everything to get the local startups in Thailand connected to the big businesses. Very recently, the Japanese Embassy in Thailand conducted an event at the Ambassador’s place in the central Bangkok. This high pitching event is to boost encourage more Japanese start business in Thailand.

The event witnessed the presence of eight startups, from an insurance claim app developer to an online payment platform provider. Each of these companies gave a brief presentation to the people, who are expectedly executives from big Thai and Japanese companies.

Well, Thailand seeking the participation of Japan in their business ecosystem is quite obvious. You might be wondering why Japan is equally so interested. There is every reason of that. Thailand is offering a whole lot of business opportunities to the foreigners. In fact, one can own 100% ownership of the company, if registered under the Thai Board of Investment. Besides, there are some amazing benefits to provide. Foreigners can enjoy deduction in taxes and a lot of incentives time to time.

The gathering that I was just talking about was actually a networking event. The presenters were showered with questions that led to more conversations. Business cards were exchanged and people spoke more about funding. Since Thailand is all set-up to boost their IT sector while shifting from labor-intensive and commodity-based industry, which have been a mainstay of the country’s economy for long.

The Science and Technology Minister were of the view that the start-ups are going to be main ‘drivers of innovations’.  Presently, Thailand has about 1,200 startups, which is relatively lesser than Singapore and Indonesia. To ensure more startup investments, the Thai government has come up with tax-break programs. And Japan is encouraging the country as always.

According to Shiro Sadoshima, the Japanese Ambassador, startups find it difficult to come in contact with big companies that are likely to be their potential partners or investors. And this is the reason why they have planned to arrange this networking event to bring them together.

Another very important objective of this get-together was to encourage more Japanese entrepreneurs to open company in Thailand. One of the Japanese trading houses even promised to invest in one the start-ups as they were really impressed by the presentation. Considering the contributions these kinds of events make to a country’s economy, it is likely that more of them will be seen in the near future. So, if you have been looking for an investor this can be your chance.