“Marketing is quite easy if you can spend. The number of followers depends on your ad budget and sales will go up as a proportion of it. It’s important for people that run online businesses to be very skilled at advertising and know how to use ads smartly. This is the heart of the business. The first few months of Bag Indeed I reached sales of 30 bags a day only through friends and their networks. At that time Facebook didn’t limit the number of followers that could see my po...sts. But then I learned that by paying for ads I could expand my customer base so I started doing that and my business increased considerably. Now I know that if I don’t boost a post, I won’t sell much of that product. Every day I get a report on how much we spent on Facebook ads, how much we sold of those products, and what the payout is. This is how I control my business. My advice is to truly learn how to operate online ads and once you do, determine what level of sales you want to target and how much money you want to put in.” Anne Hansen of Bag Indeed Photo by Mike Rabonza

“My background is in marketing. I worked with Procter & Gamble for 5 years and managed the launch of SK-II in Thailand. Then I got some minor health issues and starting to ponder if that was the right career choice for me. I knew I would always have to work very long hours and finally decided that I didn’t want that for myself. I went on to take a Doctorate of Business Administration with the University of South Australia, thinking that I would eventually work as a lecturer o...r an independent consultant. Then I got involved into opening the first franchise of MK Suki in Vietnam, together with a friend. The business was going well but after a year I sold my shares and came back to Thailand. A friend of mine, who has a wholesale business that sells women’s handbags, asked me if I could help her out expand into exporting. Due to some internal issues, this got delayed so in the meanwhile I started selling her bags on Facebook. That’s how I created Bag Indeed in February 2011.” Anne Hansen of Bag Indeed Photo by Mike Rabonza

“I came back to Thailand to work as art director for Video Bangkok - BBDO Bangkok but in 2012 I quit to go freelance. I didn’t have much of a plan and only 2000 bath in my pocket but I seize opportunities when I see them. I have always posted my drawings online. People started asking me to draw for them – a portrait or an illustration for a book. I earned 1000 bath for my first drawing. Then at some point I had to hire an assistant because I was getting so many requests. And ...then I borrowed some money to buy a couple of computers and launched C’est Design. Now I have 3 employees and we have jobs booked 3 months in advance. I want C’est Design to become one of the top 5 agencies in Thailand. People come to me because they trust me. I am a designer that can communicate with non-designers. And I try to create something that sells. Not just something beautiful but also sellable – if they don’t sell, customers can’t pay me so I try to help. I am not stubborn about selling my ideas – I am flexible if I hear another idea that I think might fit better.” Ploy Lumthong of C'est Design Photo by Mike Rabonza

We started off by bootstrapping it and we have been going on a lot of social venture competitions, which helps because they provide financial support. We have an angel investor and we have also been pitching to a few investors but we are still considering options. I don’t think it’s hard to find an investor if you have a really good product – particularly in the tech sector because you can more easily see whether your model can scale. It’s a matter of putting yourself out the...re. Some people find investors through co-working spaces or at business competitions or through crowdfunding. We have also been doing a lot of volunteering work and ended up meeting some investors this way. We focus on social impact investors because both the business and social aspects are very important to us. Investments are not hard to find but finding a good match to your business is going to be time-consuming. (Aliza Napartivaumnuay of Socialgiver / Bangkok, Thailand) Photo by Mike Rabonza http://ow.ly/BPlq30hzsb1

“When I was 19, an old customer of ours – a lady from Laos that lives in France – asked me to go help her out at a summer festival in Avignone, in the South of France. At that time, I was going to start my second year at Chulalongkorn University but I quit to go to France. I didn’t know how that was going to turn out but I didn’t want to pass on that opportunity to go abroad. I loved everything about it and discovered passion. I saw artists that were doing things they loved a...nd didn’t care whether it would make money or not. I really wanted to stay longer so I first applied to study language at the Sorbonne in Paris and then got in a public university to study design. I was the only foreigner in the entire school and at first it was hard because I couldn’t speak the language. But I loved what I was learning. Here in Thailand, I used to always get Cs or Ds in drawing class because my professors wanted me to copy everything exactly, like a photo. But in France they teach you differently; you are allowed to be creative. So my grades went up and that’s how I made friends.” Ploy Lumthong of C'est Design Photo by Mike Rabonza http://ow.ly/Ng0W30hzsf5

“I am very transparent with my staff. I always take time to explain the real situation and I make sure that they understand the reason for anything they do. When they are involved and they see the whole picture, that’s when you see results. But if you don’t explain things to them and you just point fingers and say ‘do this’ ‘do that’, they won’t care much. I give them a lot of room. I tell them ‘Do however you want it and let me know if it works’. I know I have to take this ...kind of risks; otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to come this far. The first person I hired I told ‘I don’t have anything for you. I just have an idea. I don’t have a table, a high salary, an established brand, or a track record to show that I am capable of doing what I want to do. I just have this thing that I want to achieve and if you want to be a part of it, then we do it together and we’ll figure it out.’ “Is this person still around?” “Yes, he’s still around.” Sirithip (Praew) Sripaisal of DA+PP Photo by Mike Rabonza

My co-founder comes from a development background and I was in the corporate sector. We both did a lot of volunteering work before and it got us thinking. Whenever there is a natural disaster or an emergency, people go out and fundraise and work really hard to support a cause that they care about. But how about supporting other social projects on an on-going basis while making sure that the giving is used in an effective and transparent way and creates the social impact that ...is intended to? That’s how we got the idea of creating Socialgiver. Our platform connects businesses, social projects, and people in a way that benefits all parties. Everybody gives something but receives something much more valuable in return. That’s why this ecosystem of giving will be sustainable in the long-term. (Aliza Napartivaumnuay of Socialgiver / Bangkok, Thailand) Photo by Mike Rabonza