Starting a business, a company, or an organization is not an easy thing to do. It requires hard work, persistence, and precision in making sure that everything works out in order to ensure that no effort is gone to waste.
Yes, challenging at most, but every successful and thriving business we see in today’s market came from being a startup—came from a business entrepreneur’s simple dream to become a successful venture.
In the Land of Smiles—Thailand, starting a business is no different than any other country. Just like in every territory, a lot of factors may need to be considered, such as location, ownership restrictions, work permits, and most importantly, budget.
Thai customers, though not necessarily “hard” customers, can also pose a challenge. Thai customers do have a strong brand loyalty, a strong preference for established and renowned brands, and an immense interest in or drawing into cultural aspects of things.
All of these things can become a challenge to interested entrepreneurs to start a business in Thailand, which is why a good support would be very beneficial, helpful, and highly needed. Luckily, government grants and incentives are highly available to interested entrepreneurs to build startups in Thailand. There are an array of choices that come with different qualifications and eligibility as well as their focus on different areas of business.
Let us discuss some of these grants and incentive opportunities for startups in Thailand!
A new way of smart: The Thailand Smart Visa
In an effort to attract more entrepreneurs, create more opportunities, reach a new economic peak, and open its doors to new innovations and business-related experiences to its locals, the Thailand government created a new type of visa called Smart Visa targeted for highly-skilled professionals and investors in various fields of technology, such as; automotive and electronics industry, tourism, biotechnology, robotics, digital, medical, aviation, human resource, defense, and economic industries. Obtaining the smart visa grants you a longer stay—four years, compared to regular visas with shorter durations. The most wonderful part? Being a holder of Thailand’s smart visa allows you to work in Thailand without work permits. Aside from this, you can bring family members easily if you hold a smart visa.
Being a holder of the smart visa also grants you access to highly targeted aforementioned industries guided by the Thai government. This could greatly help in mastering your skills and building connections for upskilling. Application for the visa is accessible online via the Thailand smart visa’s official website.
Tax incentives for you: The Thailand BOI (Board of Investments)
The Thailand Board of Investments (BOI) has been a long established government body that supports local and international business startups in Thailand. Founded under the Office of the Prime Minister during the 1960s, the Thailand BOI is committed to serve local and foreign investments, all for the development of Thailand’s economy. If you are granted a BOI, you are entitled to tax incentives. These tax incentives include reduction of import expenses for materials, a 50 percent reduction of the corporate income tax, twice deduction for transportation, water supply, and electricity costs, among other wide array of benefits.
Moreover, the BOI gives you non-tax incentives which include getting the permission to own a property or a land, and employ foreign individuals who are skilled and experts in the field. The Thailand Board of Investments supports all of the possible new ventures that would bring success and economic growth to Thailand, they encourage new ideas and unique ventures that will be helpful in securing Thailand’s competitiveness in the market not only among neighboring Asian countries but to the entire world. Some of these ventures that the BOI highlights include startups focused on technology, manufacturing, and even agriculture-related startups.
To enjoy these amazing benefits also comes a rigorous process, a detailed business plan needs to be submitted first and foremost, after which the Board of Investments will review the business proposal whether it fits the agency’s goals. Projects that seem to help in boosting Thailand’s economic growth are prioritized and given the chance for a presentation.
The entire application process is also available online at the official Thailand Board of Investments website.
On the way to innovation: The Global Innovation Fund
Innovation is the main highlight of startup businesses. New, fresh, and innovative ideas, projects and services are the main highlights of a startup business.
With the Global Innovation Fund, these fresh ideas are supported. The Global Innovation Fund is a worldwide funding service headquartered in London. They invest and give funding to developments and scaling-up of different products and services that will be helpful in helping communities—with their focus being of service to deep-rooted communities in different countries that are far from the cities.
They have different grants that give various types of fundings in order for you to have a successful venture in your field. Aside from this, they are supported by various global established agencies and organizations that support new ideas for the betterment of communities. The latest investment and project that they have funded in Thailand was a digital transportation service that truly became remarkable and helpful to the emerging cities in Thailand to provide more opportunities, access, and efficient transportation to the poorer people. These became a trailblazer in securing tourism for these cities to constantly emerge for their own development.
If you have a heart for advocacy and you want to incorporate this service into an idea, a project, or an innovation that will be helpful to the communities in Thailand, the Global Innovation Fund is here for you to try.
Thailand as a land of opportunities
Venturing out into new territory may be hard and challenging. Picking which territory or country to do it even becomes harder. In Thailand, the government loves economic growth—and they do it by supporting startup organizations and groups in order to become catalysts for change not only in the market industries but also in socio-civic happenings.
Planning to create a startup and secure funding? Choose Thailand! Where government fundings, incentives, and grants are ready to help.
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