Pooling her resources, 'Pui' bolsters S.Napa

Pooling her resources, 'Pui' bolsters S.Napa

Mrs Katevalee is chairwoman of the three companies under SN Group and chief executive of S.Napa Thailand Co.
Mrs Katevalee is chairwoman of the three companies under SN Group and chief executive of S.Napa Thailand Co.

Katevalee "Pui" Napasab, representing the second generation of family business S.Napa Thailand Co, aims to create sustainable growth before transferring all responsibilities to the third generation of the Napasab family.

Her father, Sanan Napasab, founded S.Napa in 1959. That year, the company was merely a distributor of water treatment products and services from US-based Culligan International.

S.Napa now provides water leisure products and services such as swimming pools, water fountains and recreational facilities, including system design, installation and maintenance. It also has two sister companies, Global Utilities Services Co (Gusco) and Gem Environmental Management Co.

Mrs Katevalee, 64, is chairwoman of the three companies and chief executive of S.Napa.

"I brought the three companies together under one brand, SN Group, the business brand that I want to be a well-known specialist in water management and wastewater re-treatment and recycling for all groups of customers in Thailand," she says. "SN Group will expand its business presence in overseas countries in the near future, starting from my generation."

Father to daughter

Mrs Katevalee is the first daughter of Sanan and the big sister to four other siblings.

After she graduated with a master's degree in business administration 40 years ago, she decided to work as a trainee in the US with Culligan, S.Napa's business partner, for a few years before moving back to Thailand.

"I joined a finance and securities company in the credit analysis division until my father told me to quit the job and carry out his work in 1981," Mrs Katevalee says.

She had yet to be appointed as the top executive of S.Napa at that time.

"I had to gain experience and learn more at the administrative level, such as accounting, purchasing, stock managing and production, before I was appointed as chief executive a couple of years later," Mrs Katevalee says. "But I had limited background in water treatment products and services, just from my basic jobs, helping my father when I was a teenager, so this position was the tough one for me."

Even so, she was keen to learn more about water treatment in Thailand. At the same time, S.Napa spotted a business opportunity with the Eastern Seaboard development programme launched in 1982.

The government scheme focused on laying a foundation for the industrial landscape and upgrading Thailand from agricultural dependency to a manufacturing powerhouse.

"I would call it the Industrial Revolution era for Thailand because many foreign direct investment flows entered the country for the establishment of industrial operations," Mrs Katevalee says.

She did her research on water management for factories and industrial estates and reached out to many academic lecturers to gain engineering and water-related knowledge.

"That was why S.Napa formed a joint venture with the state-run Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand (IEAT) in April 2000 to handle and provide water management and re-treatment at industrial estates across the country," she says.

Gusco was founded in order to take responsibility for all water services at factories.

"S.Napa was studying to provide water solutions for industrial operators," Mrs Katevalee says. "Each type of factory needs different water management and re-treatment, which Gusco has to design using our tailor-made solutions for them."

Gusco has pitched many contracts to provide services and solutions at various industrial estates of the IEAT, including Map Ta Phut, Laem Chabang and Bang Chan. Gusco now services more than 3,000 factories nationwide.

S.Napa set up another company, Gem Environmental Management, to offer client-based solutions in water and wastewater treatment and recycling for clients under long-term contracts.

"We have secured many long-term contracts, providing water management and re-treatment solutions for Airports of Thailand at Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang airports," Mrs Katevalee says.

Although her education background is unrelated to the family business, she acknowledges learning a lot over the past 40 years.

"Moreover, I have such an expert team at each company, and SN Group can pitch many megaprojects for water management in this country," she says.

Two younger siblings still work at S.Napa. Sasina Napasab is in charge of fountain and pool business, while Kitipat Napasab handles services involving high-quality water for haemodialysis.

Ready to fly high

With all three companies, Mrs Katevalee says SN Group is now a one-stop service for water and wastewater treatment for all clients.

"This group brand is easy to remember in the market because we want to be more well-known not only at home but also abroad," she says. "The new business that SN Group is very keen on is solar power generation, thanks to the government's support programme for property owners to install rooftop panels.

"We also made a partnership with B.Grimm Power Plc to establish a new joint venture company, B.Grimm S.Napa Solar Power, with plans to be a provider and developer of solar power generation for government agencies and private enterprises."

The pilot solar project is at Iconsiam, the riverside mixed-use complex. Mrs Katevalee serves as one of Iconsiam's executives.

"So we believe in the potential of solar rooftops to be one of SN Group's businesses as renewable energy develops," she says.

SN Group hopes to make its first foreign strides in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam to provide products and services for water and wastewater treatment.

"Those four countries are demanding our water solutions to support overall economic and business expansion," Mrs Katevalee says. "But their political situations remain too unstable for SN Group to make a decision."

She says Myanmar and Laos will be the pilot countries because the two governments are speeding up many megaprojects to strengthen their economic fundamentals and attract foreign direct investment.

With its strong competitiveness, SN Group expects 2019 revenue growth of 10% to 3.5 billion baht.

The two core competencies of fountains/pools and industrial water management still account for most of the group's revenue.

"But I aim for leapfrog growth in 3-5 years when the group should generate revenue of over 5.5 billion baht from many future plans," Mrs Katevalee says. "Moreover, SN Group aims to grow in line with the government's Eastern Economic Corridor scheme and plans to join in the development of the 12-billion-baht Smart Park, a project of the IEAT."

EYE ON ENVIRONMENT

She says the group is aware of the adoption of environmental technology in water-related issues, and she has committed to promoting research and development for innovation and technology.

"SN Group is also trying to encourage the educational institutions to produce graduates for this sector, which is valuable enough to promote continuously and produce water and environmental engineers for the country's industrial sector," Mrs Katevalee says.

From her standpoint, the mission at SN Group always comes back to sustainable growth, with three letters -- I-C-A -- informing her work mindset.

The I stands for innovation, meaning following new trends and adopting them for the business.

The C means continuous improvement -- that SN Group will never stop boosting the efficiency of its manpower.

The A is for advancement, upgrading all business pillars and infrastructure to keep the family business humming into the third generation.

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