Page 35 - Forbes - Asia (July - August 2018)

FOUR WOMEN AND THEIR FERRIES

It was around 100 years ago that torboats. By the time she was inter-
the matriarch of the Supatra empire, viewed by the Bangkok Post in 1965,
Boonpan, started what is today the Supatra Motor Launch Co. employed
Supatra & Chao Phraya Express 300 people and had operations
Boat Group. The boats were the size building and repairing boats and
of sampans and were paddled by piers. The ferry business dropped
standing rowers with one leg slung 40% overnight when the first of ten
around an oar. cross-river bridges opened in 1971,
Born in Chiang Mai, Boonpan had but profits more than recovered
accompanied the famed northern after she introduced the up-and-
princess Dara Sami downriver in down-river express boats shortly
1886 on the way to becoming one afterward.
of the many wives of Siamese King A prominent advocate for the
Chulalongkorn (Rama V). Boon- legal right of married women to buy
pan married a Siamese oicial and and own property and to initiate
settled on the west bank of the river divorce, Supatra had unconventional
(where the family’s River House views of the roles of upper-class
restaurant is today). She sent her Thai women. She told the Post that
youngest daughter, Supatra Sing- she expected her two daughters to
holaka, at age 12 to live and serve in join the business after study over-
the palace of Rama VI. Supatra later seas: “I succeeded in business and
recalled six years in a gilded cage, Chiang Mai-born Boonpan, the original boat lady, so can they.” Her younger daughter,
continued to wear a northern hairstyle in Siam.
playing tennis, billiards and bridge Patravadi Mejudhon, instead became
with two queens. an actress and theater director.
She returned home in 1930, and soon afterward her mother After schooling in Switzerland and England, Supapan
died. Supatra must have somehow caught up on her studies, majored in French at American University in Washington, D.C.,
surmises her daughter, Supapan Pichaironarongsongkram, and briefly worked for the Tourist Organization of Thailand,
because she passed the examination to enroll in the inaugural but soon responded to the pull of duty. Since her mother’s
class at Thammasat University in 1934. Four years later she death in 1993, she has diversified by tailoring boat services
was among only four women in her graduating law class of for tourists and opening restaurants and hotels. “She did not
thousands, all the while managing the ferry operations. choose this job,” says her daughter, Pim, “but she said, ‘If you
Supatra gradually replaced the sampans with outboard mo- are given a responsibility, you have to do it well.’ ” —S.C.

waded in by managing its six charters for vate that quality. Since Supapan also allowed around the clock, “there are always prob-
hire. She added online booking via the likes her “to experience my own bad decisions,” lems” and thus text messages. She wants to
of TripAdvisor and tour agencies to the tra- Pim learned that quick decisions and direct- reach the point where, if she and her moth-
ditional booking channels at hotels and ness save time and worry in the long run. er are meeting potential partners in Europe
travel agencies. She wants to add excursions For her part, Supapan sees that Pim has or taking a vacation, as they did in Iran in
beyond Bangkok, perhaps to the seaside. some business skills she lacks: “I think she’s May, she doesn’t feel compelled to check her
“I’m making us more glamorous,” she says. quite smart. What I admire about her is that phone frequently.
She’s also persuaded her mother to switch she can negotiate. hat’s an art. Business Supapan jokes that if Pim doesn’t have
most managerial staf from a six-day to a is constant negotiation and compromise. children, “our line will be extinct.” But
ive-day workweek: “It had become too hard With me, I still ind fault. I still argue all the Pim, who lives with her mother, says she
to recruit.” time. She is calm, yet she has principles. She feels no pressure to marry. As for the next
In the irst few years of her working doesn’t say yes all the time.” succession, there’s no timetable, nor does
life, says Pim, the most valuable thing she To streamline the operation, Pim is striv- Pim see a need for one. “My mom’s still
learned from her mother was “to be very ing to outsource as much as possible— very quick. She gets things done much
straightforward. If something’s not working, whether it’s to cleaning crews or profession- faster than people my age. In meetings
I have to confront it.” In a culture that sets a al managers—and form a tight team she can she oten notices things before I do. She
premium on krengjai—deference, or reluc- rely on. With boat services starting at dawn, gets to the point. I think she gets her en-
tance to cause ofense—it’s not easy to culti- shops closing at 10 p.m. and hotels open ergy from working.” F

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