THIS IS Life
Ariya Banomyong, True Group deputy director for marketing mobile, talks about adjusting to life in Thailand
KANOKPORN CHANASONGKRAM
Ariya Banomyong: ``I would like to use my experience, what I've learned and observed from abroad, how to localise it, with the hope to make a contribution. I don't pretend to be any better than others, but I have the willingness to help.'' |
His sun-kissed skin reveals that he's an outdoor guy, one who loves diving to explore the beauty of the underwater world and kite-surfing to soar above the sea. Ariya Banomyong keenly took up these sensational sports when he returned to Thailand some seven years ago, after living in several European countries for 27 years.
The surname certainly rings a bell: the True Group deputy director for marketing mobile is the grandson of Pridi Banomyong, the "Father of Thai Democracy."
Born in France, he learned little about Thai history, even less about the history of his own family. Nonetheless his grandfather passed on his love of Thailand to the young Ariya from those early days.
After gaining a master's degree in mathematics and IT from the Universite de Marne-La-Valle in Paris and a master's of science in management from the London School of Economics (LSE), the adventurous Ariya chose to work for Orange in Romania and he's been in the telecommunications/mobile industry ever since.
What brought him back to his roots? Partly, because Orange was expanding its operations into Thailand and also destiny brought him to tie the knot with his Thai girlfriend.
Now settled in Thailand, the 34-year-old marketing executive cannot yet read or write Thai but that poses no difficulties in working with his colleagues at True Group. He admits, however, that he sometimes gets lost when driving since he can't understand the road signs.
How has living in France influenced your personality?
In France there isn't a strong Thai community as in the UK, USA and Australia and I grew up in a circle of French people. I consider myself French in terms of character, and I place a lot of importance on my independence and freedom.
I never asked for anything from my parents even if I could, and I'm grateful to my parents for having raised me that way. My condo, my car, everything, I have bought with the money I have earned myself, which makes me know the value of money.
I also like to dress up; it does not need to be expensive clothes, it's more about mix and match, or finding nice items at a good price, but I admit to having a weakness for Paul Smith, which is probably the influence of my time in London. The way I dress is one way I choose to reflect my individuality.
Were you close to your grandfather?
Khun Poo Pridi, after his exile in China, went to live in France, and I was only 10 years old when he passed away.
We were not living in the same house and visiting him over the weekends, I was surprised that people came to his house to pay respects but I didn't know why. But Khun Poo Pridi had an aura, something beyond words, and as a kid I could feel that. I look up to him as my hero and he's probably the one who passed on his love of Thailand to me and made me want to return to my roots, even though I had never lived in Thailand before then.
When I was in London, someone once said that Khun Poo Pridi's mistake was to underestimate how evil some people could be. The truth is that he most likely knew, but would never back down, because he wanted what was best for Thailand, even if it was at his own expense. And this is part of the reason why I love and admire him; it is a level of dedication and sacrifice I wish we could all make for the good of Thailand.
How did you land a job in Romania?
After graduating, I actually had two job offers: at L'Oreal in the UK and Orange in Romania. I was okay with both jobs but I chose the country. Anybody else would probably have chosen London but I took the challenge of going to Bucharest.
It turned out to be a great experience because when I started work, we were launching Orange in Romania. The company recruited a lot of employees but there were not a lot of people that it could rely on at that time. I was lucky enough to be one of the few to be given a lot of responsibilities, especially for my age.
I had the opportunity to work with directors and the CEO, I moved around and got to do a lot of things from engineering to customer relationship management. If my first job was in France or even London, I would never had been able to do and learn so much.
How was life there?
Because we didn't get to hear about the good side of Eastern Europe, it wasn't a country that I would go to if not for work. I went there some years after the end of the Ceausescu regime, and the country was developing, with all the Western commodities available at a low price. As foreigners, we had a good life and the cost of living was very cheap.
To my surprise, Romania turned out to be a really nice country with friendly people and I made many friends that I am still in contact with. Like Forrest Gump would say, "Life is like a box of chocolate, you never know what you're gonna get."
How did you initially find Thailand?
I thought that I could easily adapt to living in different countries because I'd lived in France, the UK and Romania. But Thailand was surprisingly the country I had the hardest time adapting myself to.
Just as you expect more from your own kids than from other people's kids, I had certain expectations about Thailand, my own country, whereas I had no expectations about Romania, for instance.
What's difficult about adapting to Thai culture?
The hardest part was probably at work because I had a farang working style. You can see in Western TV series how in the workplace, people straightforwardly deal with each other. Here you have to be diplomatic and you waste some time trying not to hurt other people's feelings, at the expense of efficiency.
In addition, there are still things that I cannot accept and never will. A typical example is traffic jams. A lot of people ask why I get so upset about Bangkok's traffic jams when I should let it go because that's the way it is.
The traffic jams in Bangkok are what I call stupid traffic jams, not real traffic jams. There are many ways to improve the situation but not much has been done about it. It is a challenge I would be willing to take on. I will let go only if I believe the best efforts have been thrown in to resolve an issue.
Do you see a certain trend among mobile users?
The trend in other countries is that mobiles are used less for making phone calls, with increasing use of multimedia and data services on mobiles. In Thailand, it's still more about making phone calls, which should be used more wisely, like not receiving a phone call at the cinema, or at least turning off the ring tone. When someone calls you on your mobile, the beauty of it is you have the choice not to pick up and to call back later.
With this different style of usage, we may be lagging behind. On the other hand, from the True Group perspective, we're quite advanced in offering convergence lifestyle services, which began in 2007. Before its launch, True's management visited many other countries - Singapore, Korea, Japan and the US as well as several European nations - to see what other telecom players were doing in terms of convergence, but we didn't find anything inspiring.
When there was no one to look up to, we decided to just do it. Since then, True has won the Most Thai Innovative Award for two consecutive years.
What are convergence lifestyle services really all about?
Convergence in Thai is ruam mitr. It's like mixing all products and services - mobile, broadband, wifi, cable TV - that we have under the True umbrella into a proposition or promotion for customers that fit with their lifestyle.
The more True services you use, the more benefits you get, that's basically the concept. It's a pretty new concept and it's our role to educate consumers. That's why I still have a job!
It's not necessary something hi-tech and it's getting less and less so. For example, everyone uses the Internet, even my mum. So convergence lifestyle is not about technology, but making it convenient to use technology.
Do you have any plans to follow in your grandfather's footsteps?
I try not to make long-term plans because with my move from Romania to France and Thailand, there's no such thing as a real career path anymore. I just do what makes me happy and right now I'm happy to be here. But I'm ready to seize opportunities when they come.
I would like to go into politics one day, directly or indirectly. Just like how we can't change Bangkok's traffic jams, Thai politics will remain as it is unless we have new blood entering the political arena.
I would like to use my experience, what I've learned and observed from abroad, how to localise it, with the hope to make a contribution. I don't pretend to be any better than others, but I have the willingness to help.
Prev
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
Next
