Thaksin
Shinawatra Although born rich, the family’s business suffered a slump and the young Thaksin helped his father run a coffee shop and cinema while pursuing his studies. In 1973, he joined the police force and tried his hand on couple of business ventures such as running a silk shop and a movie theater. When both businesses failed, he moved on to try other fields. In 1981, he started a business leasing IBM computers. For a time, Thaksin was able to close some profitable deals but eventually it also floundered. In 1986, he founded Advanced Info Service, which started off as a computer rental business. This eventually became the largest mobile operator in Thailand. In 1987, he won his first telecommunications concession. He resigned from the police, joined Pacific Telesis to operate and market the PacLink pager service. He put up the Shinawatra Computer and Communications Group which included Thailand’s largest mobile operator, AIS and IBC, a cable television company. In 1989, he founded Shinawatra DataCom, today known as Advanced Data Network. In 1990, Thaksin founded Shinawatra Satellite. In 1999, the Shinawatra family established Shinawatra University. In 2000, Thaksin acquired iTV television. Many of Thaksin’s businesses were later consolidated under Shin Corp. http://www.shincorp.com/index_en.asp While his businesses get bigger, Thaksin entered politics. He was appointed Foreign Minister in 1994-1995. In 1998, he formed the Thai Rak Thai (Thais love Thais) party. He served as Thailand’s Prime Minister from 2001-2006. Sources: Posted on Sept. 20, 2006. Agence France- Presse retrieved
on September 4, 2009 from http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,20444413-2,00.html Photo credits: http://blog.nationmultimedia.com/yurivelasquez/page26  |
Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was born with a silver
spoon in his mouth. He was born on July 26, 1949 to one of the prominent
families then in Northern Chiang Mai province. His family inherited
a fortune from his great-grandfather, an immigrant from Meizhou,
Guangdong, who settled in Chiang Mai in 1908 and who was a private
gambling tax collector.