FOUNDED in 2013 by a group of French, Swiss, Belgian, Indian and Thai entrepreneurs, eatigo makes a business of connecting empty stomachs to empty tables. Via their website, iPhone and Android applications, the eatigo guys serve up time-based discounts of up to 50% for all participating restaurants, every day at over 100 of the most popular dining places in Bangkok.

The discounts apply to every food item on the menu and can be booked at no cost whatsoever online with no need for any credit card information and no printing of coupons.

Aaron Grieser and Brian Bartusch 
Founders

TWO fates collided when home-brewers and beer fanatics Aaron Grieser and Brian Bartusch met at a food festival in Spring of 2012. Realizing their mutual love of all things craft beer, the two joined forces to create Thailand’s first craft beer importing company, Beervana (read our feature about the company here).

Sarah Huang
Co-founder

AFTER nine years in the corporate doghouse Australian expat Sarah Huang – a mother of one and a dog owner – broke free to venture out on her own. With help from business partner Harprem Doowa and Ardent Capital, a local venture capital fund led by veteran entrepreneur Adriyn Vanzyl, she launched Thailand’s first vertical e-commerce stores, Petloft.com and Venbi.com. 

Now with over 5,000 SKU’s, 20,000 customers and hundreds of direct relationships with major brands such as Royal Canine, Unicharm, Nestle, Betagrow and Nike, Venbi and Petloft have become leading e-commerce stores for baby and pet essentials.

Anthony McDonald
Founder and CEO

AN Australian national, Anthony founded X2 (CrossTo) Resorts group in 2008. He is a successful serial entrepreneur, who after years of experience in property investment and services industries embarked on an innovative strategy in forming X2 Resorts, a personal endeavour aimed at satisfying the needs of design-focused travellers looking for something different to the traditional tropical resort designs that, while well executed, proliferate the Asian region. 

“I love boutique and design hotels, and in my first resort I was involved in every detail,” says Anthony. “From finding the location, choosing the architect, securing bank funding, overseeing the construction, and heading the hotel management – I did it all.

Rusi Hancock
Founder

GEORGIA-born Rusi has built up a potentially lucrative business designing and manufacturing a range of beautiful hand-made leather bags and a collection of stunning jewellery and accessories. Her Thai-made products, which are marketed under her RusiDesigns brand, have appeared on the catwalks of fashion shows in the UK and Georgia. And today they’re sold in boutiques in Paris, London, Mexico, Singapore and other locations in the UK. To date, she has created two season’s collections of bags, with some available in up to 12 different colours. www.rusidesigns.com  

Carl Heaton
Managing Director

CARL is well known in Bangkok for his dry Northern English humor and ubiquitous social media presence, but above all else, it is his drive and vision in helping to put Bangkok firmly on the map as a venue for web and graphic design training that best reflects his entrepreneurial vision. 

Like a lot of expats in Thailand, Carl started out teaching English and IT. But it was while working as a project manager for a small web design company that his entrepreneurial spirit came to the fore. Frustrated by the lack of web design skills among local businesses in Bangkok, Carl combined his knowledge of IT and his teaching experience to set up Web Courses Bangkok (WCB). 

Conor Bracken
CEO

ORIGINALLY from Dublin, Ireland, Conor first came to Thailand in 1993 and fell in love with the country and became fluent in Thai. Like many newcomers, his first job was as an English teacher but when Internet and email came to Thailand he saw the opportunity to create a translation company using websites and email to connect clients and translators around the world while leveraging the lower costs of living here.

Lacking his own source of funding, he set up his first translation company as a minority shareholder in conjunction with the largest English language school at the time; and later joined forces with one of the largest “portals” during the dotcom heyday.

Daniel B. Fraser 
Adventurer-in-Chief

SMILING ALBINO is a luxury adventure and tour company in Thailand founded by Daniel Fraser, an entrepreneur and television host from shows like Long Krung (Thai PBS) and Farang Song Thai (Ch 5). Daniel’s Tourism Authority of Thailand video went viral and won a film award in Germany, and helped Daniel win MThai media’s “Most Talked about media personality” in 2014. Smiling Albino is a team of travel enthusiasts in Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar and Nepal. Adventures are built from continuous travel, innovation and refinement. “We host billionaires, celebrities and discerning travelers seeking an authentic, original experience,” says Daniel. “Through community-based tourism and industry-leading ethical touring

standards, Smiling Albino connects socially-conscious travelers with the real life of the peoples of SE Asia. We don’t just connect dots, we create them.”
www.smilingalbino.com

Laurent Couche
Owner

WITH a wide portfolio of Thai and European clients, Asia Media Studio’s services include naming development, logo design, brochure design, packaging design, stationery design, print production, and website design and development. All graphic design work is undertaken in-house in a modern well-appointed studio.

“We provide expert advice and creative solutions to help our clients revamp and improve all aspects of their visual communications,” says Laurent, “and our experienced team comprises dedicated professionals with expertise in a range of marketing and creative disciplines who share a common passion for high quality visual and creative work.”
www.asiamediastudio.com