PRESS RELEASE: Connecting Founders Co., Ltd. wins UN WEPs Thailand award for the second year in a row.

Date: November 7th, 2022

BANGKOK, Thailand—We are honored and humbled to receive the top award for the UN WEPs Thailand’s Award (SME Champions) for the second year in a row. This year we have been recognized for our Covid-recovery and resilience work led by Michael Rabonza with the Kinnest Group, a woman-owned and led F&B and lifestyle mid-size company in Thailand, owner of known brands such as theCommons, Roast, Roots, Little Pea.

In dealing with the economic impact of the pandemic, Connecting Founders has prioritized strategies that revolve around capital structuring, CFO services, and leveraging technology to lower distribution costs and reach a larger market. The group developed and implemented a successful recovery and post-pandemic financial and resiliency plan focused on capital planning and leveraging strategic partnerships for a mid-size F&B and lifestyle group with a large supply chain of small businesses in Bangkok, many owned by women.  This has allowed the company to scale its operation through strategic partnerships with large domestic business groups and secure new capital commitments while maintaining its independence.

ABOUT Connecting Founders

Connecting Founders is an advisory services firm that works with businesses to help them scale efficiently and integrate gender and diversity in their business models. For more information, visit https://connectingfounders.com/

About WeEmpowerAsia

WeEmpowerAsia is a UN Women programme funded by and in partnership with the European Union that seeks to increase the number of women who lead and participate in business in China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam. For more information, visit http://weempowerasia.org.

PRESS RELEASE: Connecting Founders Co., Ltd. wins UN Women Award for Advancing a Gender-Responsive Marketplace

Date: November 1^st, 2021

BANGKOK, Thailand— Connecting Founders Co., Ltd. was recognized in the first ever stand-alone UN Women 2021 Thailand WEPs Awards, winning the top prize in the Gender-Responsive Marketplace Category during a virtual ceremony held on October 21.

“The crux of our work at Connecting Founders is advancing and integrating gender diversity and inclusion in the business sector. Our services are all about supporting companies and providing tangible tools for businesses to achieve that as they scale.”

Women’s economic empowerment is at the very core of our organization. Our mission is to create a business sector that is more responsive to different needs and more inclusive in resource allocation. Whether we are supporting women to scale up their businesses, advance in their careers, or become first time investors – giving women more voice and decision-making power is critical to building healthy businesses and sustainable economies.

The WEPs Awards are an annual series of events by WeEmpowerAsia, a programme funded by and in partnership with the European Union (EU). UN Women organized the Thailand WEPs Awards in collaboration with the SEC, the Office of Small and Medium Enterprises Promotion (OSMEP), the ASEAN Women Entrepreneurs Network (AWEN), and key supporters, including the Thailand Management Association (TMA), the Global Compact Network Thailand (GCNT), and the Kenan Foundation Asia. The Awards were promoted in collaboration with the European Association for Business and Commerce (EABC) and the Franco-Thai Chamber of Commerce (FTCC).

The Awards recognized outstanding efforts to promote gender equality in the private sector under six  categories: Leadership Commitment, Gender-Inclusive Workplace, Gender-Responsive Marketplace, Community Engagement and Partnerships, Transparency and Reporting, and Youth Leadership. This year, three SME Awards were also given to small and medium-sized enterprises.

The Gender-Responsive Marketplace category recognized companies that embrace gender inclusivity and gender responsiveness across their value chains from sourcing materials and services to supporting women entrepreneurs through capacity-building and market access opportunities. Firms selected for this award promote supplier diversity, gender-inclusive distribution and sale, and gender-responsive marketing and advertising.

As a winner of the Gender- Responsive Marketplace Category, our company has also been nominated to progress to the Regional Asia-Pacific WEPs Awards set to be held on November 18 along with laureates from other countries.

The Awards place a spotlight on companies and leaders behind initiatives and practices that advance gender inclusivity and women’s empowerment in the business sector through the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs). Today, over 5,600 companies from around the world have signed up to show their commitment to foster business practices that promote gender equality and women’s empowerment through the WEPs , including more than 1,500 from Asia-Pacific. Connecting Founders Co., Ltd. is now a WEPs signatory too.

For more information, please see the official press release from the UN Women 2021 Thailand Women’s Empowerment Principles Awards ceremony:

https://asiapacific.unwomen.org/en/news-and-events/stories/2021/10/seven-thai-firms-win-award-for-gender-inclusivity-from-un-women-and-eu

ABOUT Connecting Founders

Connecting Founders is an advisory services firm that works with businesses to help them scale efficiently and integrate gender and diversity in their business models. For more information, visit https://connectingfounders.com/

About WeEmpowerAsia

WeEmpowerAsia is a UN Women programme funded by and in partnership with the European Union that seeks to increase the number of women who lead and participate in business in China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam. For more information, visit http://weempowerasia.org.

written by

EVIE CHOMCHUEN

Within the Asia-Pacific, Thailand’s food and beverage industry has historically been one of the strongest and most competitive in the region. The country is currently ranked 9th largest globally, and with its annual growth of 5%, it is expected to claim 6th by 2026. Renowned as the ‘Kitchen of the World”, Thailand’s F&B has helped drive economic development through the value it adds to the agricultural and industrial supply chain, generating about 6% of the country’s GDP.  

With consumers globally becoming more health conscious and focusing on nutritional foods, Thailand is seeing a boom of plant-based meat.  The alternative meat market is currently growing at 2-10 percent per year with growth projected to reach 10-35 percent per year, and the sector’s value reaching U.S. $1.5 billion in 2024. 

The increasing demand has prompted an exciting opportunity for food innovation and new players to enter the industry ranging from startups to major manufacturers. As the competition is growing fierce, small and medium-sized businesses are finding ways to boost product uptake and enhance their chances in the market.  

To better understand how women entrepreneurs navigate the highly competitive industry and access capital, Connecting Founders discussed with Kanwra Tanachotevorapong (Minnie) who shared her journey raising capital. 

“Know Your Business and Bring Confidence”  — Kanwra (Minnie) Tanachotevorapong, Founder and CEO, More Meat  

Most people who know Minnie, Kanwra Tanachotevorapong, would tell you about her bright and bubbly personality. But in the business world, Minnie is a goal-driven and confident first-time founder and CEO of More Meat.  

More Meat is a plant-based startup in Thailand specializing in creating functional plant-based proteins using innovative protein modification technology and bioactive ingredients such as plants and fungi. The company is committed to all ingredients being environmentally friendly and a zero-waste production process.  

Off the runway 

From her time as a flight attendant, Minnie noticed her health worsening and realized that diet was the main problem. She started exploring healthier alternatives and discovered an array of plant-based food available in supermarkets in several countries she visited. The positive changes on her health have sparked her interest in the plant-based industry.  

At first, Minnie looked into importing and distributing plant-based meat, but her research showed that western-style plant-based meat was already widely available in the Thai market. Instead, she shifted to producing her own plant-based products to better serve local customers. 

Minnie spent 2019 on research and development with the support of the National Innovation Agency, under the Thai government, who helped develop the More Meat prototype and granted initial funding.  

 “Deciding to go with Thai researchers instead of going abroad has been one of the best decisions”, Minnie said. Using locally farmed splitgill mushroom from Songkhla province as the main ingredient not only suits the local taste, but also helps the local farmers place their products at a fair price.  

Where she met her investor 

More Meat launched in 2020 as a B2B enterprise serving restaurants and hotels. As the sector was hit hard by the pandemic, Minnie decided to join a pre-seed incubator program ‘Space F’ — founded and supported by some of the biggest names in the Southeast Asian food industry — to learn how to build a new business and raise capital. Minnie received mentoring, pitch training, and finance sessions. But most importantly, she met her now investor who helped push More Meat into retail.  

“We met on Demo Day and really hit it off because we share the same values and our visions are aligned”, Minnie explained. From then on, an attendee at Demo Day became Minnie’s exclusive distributor, strategic partner, and now an investor.  

Demo days are a great opportunity for small teams that are tight on time to pitch to many investors at the same time, instead of individually, and to connect with like-minded entrepreneurs and forge potential partnership. 

On to the next runway  

More Meat is among the 15 early-stage startups selected by Big Idea Venture, a US-based accelerator program, to join its New Protein Fund dedicated to early-stage investments in alternative protein products, ingredients, and technologies. Here Minnie has an opportunity to meet with international investors, reach out to potential partners in the food business, and hopefully raise capital.  

In early 2022, Minnie launched a USD 1 million fundraising to add more products, build a larger team, and expand to the international market.   Minnie explained that she prefers working with investors who understand her missions and give her more freedom in running the business. “VCs are really focused on getting profit returns in a short period of time, which is impossible for the food industry that is normally asset heavy”, said Minnie, “that’s why we focus more on investors who don’t need fast return and are able to help us connect with more networks”. 

Watch: Minnie’s pitch at Space-F Accelerator Demo Day

As a Female Founder

As the youngest among her co-founders – who are both her brothers, it often comes as a surprise to others that Minnie is the CEO while her brothers look after marketing and operations. She admits that as a first-time entrepreneur, she was initially quite shy to pitch to investors. But lots of practice and successfully securing investment has boosted her confidence in running a business. 

Being young and new to the highly competitive industry can be challenging as big-name corporates dominate the market and can overshadow small businesses, such as More Meat, Minnie reflected. But instead of trying to compete against the big companies, Minnie tries to see them as potential partners or allies rather than competitors since they have different goals, visions, and products: “Don’t let big players bring you down because you have your own uniqueness that makes you stronger and sets you apart.”