To encourage overseas Taiwanese entrepreneurs to develop their own brands, the OCAC held the Taiwan Prime Awards for the first time in 2021 with the aim of driving the development of overseas Taiwanese entrepreneur brands and marketing Taiwan. After two stages of judging, the OCAC Ministry of Economic Affairs, Taiwan External Trade Development Council, representatives of overseas chambers of commerce and scholars and experts selected 13 winners of the Gold Award and Silver Award. ARCUS Aqueous latex of Thai Jaras Paints Co., Ltd. in Thailand won the Silver Award.
“My initial idea was just to let the kids grow up in an educational environment with international vision” said Guo Jiang-cheng, founder of Thai Jaras Paints Co., Ltd., when describing how he came to set up a company. “When taking the children to an international school in Thailand, seeing the colorful exteriors of the concrete buildings, I couldn’t help thinking of the likelihood that the city would see a development boom”. It was this thought that led him and his wife to embark on their unplanned entrepreneurial journey in Thailand.
Guo said that to begin with he had to learn about the market ecology in Thailand. To begin with, he focused on the local Taiwanese business market, then moved into the mainstream market, going up against big brands. At one time, due to lack of brand recognition, he was forced to extend the promissory note time to six months, and lost many customers as a result, the company also facing a cash flow problem at one point.” Luckily, what we Taiwanese don’t lack is a never-say-die attitude and we managed to get through a tough period” he said.
In 2019, Thai Jaras Paints developed a new product line, ARCUS aqueous latex, aiming to use their self-production and marketing and the zero pollution characteristics of ARCUS to provide products to satisfy the needs and expectations of new-generation consumers. “We are very confident about our products and winning this award is affirmation of this” said Guo with self-confidence. “We will continue to work hard to develop safer and better paints. After we achieve a firm footing in Thailand, we will move into neighboring Southeast Asian countries, letting the world see Taiwan and see Thai Jaras Paints”.
