By Tobias Jagd
To the soft tones of electronic music from Calle, a DJ famous in Sweden, the first night of networking and entertainment by Scandinavian Thai opened on Wednesday 22 April 2009.
The new business/event network held its first gathering at The Nest bar on Sukhumvit Soi 11. However, not many showed up. Only about 20 people, mostly younger Swedes, found their way to The Nest.
Thomas Brannelid, the Swedish Managing Director of Scandinavian Thai wasn’t disappointed with the turn up at this first event. He hopes that the Scandinavian Thai network will have between 500-1000 paying members within the first year.
Scandinavian Thai network is started by the three Swedish men involved in the import/export business Southeastport.com.
“We are not a competitor, but a supplement to the Scandinavian chambers of commerce,” Managing Director Thomas Brannelid explains.
“We want to offer a more relaxed, not so formal way of meeting other Scandinavians in Thailand.”
Asked if that is not exactly what the chambers of commerce are already doing, Thomas Brannelid says:
“The chambers are mostly interesting for the bigger companies, that are already established, who want to exchange business cards at the Sheraton. We want to make a network that makes it easier for everyone just arriving in Thailand to find what they need, with no prior knowledge about the country at all.”
Scandinavian Thai Network will offer two kinds of membership. One is free for people who just want to participate in social events, and the other, a business membership, will cost 5000 Thb. yearly. The business members gets banner commercials and extra details on the Scandinavian Thai website.
As the full name, Scandinavian Thai Business and Entertainment Network states, it is not only about business. The plan is to also have some kind of entertainment at the future meetings. For example Scandinavian authors, stand up comedians or the like, the managing director explains.
For more information see: http://scandinavianthai.southeastport.com/
