Imagine you are walking in Bangkok's Chatuchak Weekend Market with the temperature above 40 degrees Celsius and humidity soaring. It would be bliss to have fans blowing cool air onto your sweat-soaked back as you check out the stalls.
That was what went through the mind of Noppachai Veeraman, 52. If he could make open areas cooler, he would have a money-churning business in no time. He imagined the outcome if he could develop a device that would be as effective as an air conditioner in an enclosed space such as a house. But how could he do that?
Mr Noppachai found the answer at an exhibition as he was blasted by cool air as he passed a fog blower, a device that emits cooling dense vapour.
He worked out it is a rule of nature that when millions of tiny water vapour particles evaporate, they produce a fall in temperature.
Together with three friends, Mr Noppachai raised 200,000 baht to develop a fan that could blow out evaporated steam that would cool down open areas in hot weather.
"But on the marketing front I completely failed, as the prototype fans cost up to 80,000 baht each. No one would want to buy such an expensive fan, especially as it still could not produce coolness like an air conditioner," he says.
The major problem was he needed to use a high-pressure machine that compressed water vapour into a very small nozzle in order to make millions of tiny evaporated particles to decrease the temperature. All the equipment was imported.
A range of MasterKool electrical appliances feature Mr Noppachai's innovative cooling system.
However, an optimistic side of his mind kept saying: "I have invented a product that could grab a huge market share from those who need more than what a fan can do but cannot afford an air conditioner."
He vowed not to quit and tried to find the right customers for his product, which he named MasterKool.
First, he just tried to sell all four prototypes to get some money back. He got his first two customers -- a restaurant owner and an event organiser -- who told him his expensive product would be worth the money if it was a solution for them.
Mr Noppachai thought about other clients who would need the same solution to cool open areas. He approached big factories that might need his product while trying to scale down the size of his innovation to cut production costs.
In 2002, he established his own company, MasterKool Co, which turned a profit from revenue of 7-8 million baht in its first year of operation.
But things did not go smoothly. When competitors emerged, Mr Noppachai realised he should have patented his innovation.
This vegetable washer also uses ozone technology.
"It was too late for me, as Thai law does not allow an innovation that has been commercialised to be patented. I needed to take on the competition," he says.
Although other companies had huge budgets for TV commercials to promote their products, Mr Noppachai bucked the trend by taking his innovation to outdoor events to show people how it worked.
"It's hard to understand how my product works from just a short and expensive TV ad, so I think the right way is to experience it directly," he says.
He also decided to make smaller fans suitable for residences rather than focusing only on large factories and restaurants.
He finally made portable cold stream fans costing from 2,900 to 6,000 baht, allowing more customers to afford his products.
"There are still many people who cannot afford an air conditioner or the expensive power bills if they do have one," he says.
Mr Noppachai claims his product consumes only 50 satang of power an hour compared with six baht for an air conditioner.
Another of Mr Noppachai's inventions is this shoe odour remover using ozone.
After launching smaller products to penetrate the household market, his sales revenue jumped to 300 million and 460 million in 2013 and 2014, respectively.
With rising demand and business growth of about 40% per year, Mr Noppachai planned to expand his business through exports.
He went to the Middle East, where the weather would suit his cooling products.
While there, he met a few potential partners who were interested in his products and became local distributors.
Mr Noppachai then went to Asean members, focusing on Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam, which have similar weather to Thailand and economies that are expected to grow substantially.
"We targeted these countries because their purchasing power is growing but not by enough for many people to afford air conditioners. Their power systems are still not sustainable for air conditioners. That is our market," he says.
MasterKool International Plc was listed on the Market for Alternative Investment last month after an initial public offering raised 216 million baht.
The funds will be used to build warehouses, improve logistics and create more market channels to reach more clients at home and abroad.