www.laosmile.com - A Thai businessman has invested about 8.5 billion kip (US$1 million) in a computer distributing company in Laos, saying that although the current market for IT products is small, the potential is huge. Mr Somkiat Chukiatchaturaporn and his Thai business colleagues on Friday officially opened the Imart Computer (Laos) Co Ltd in Phonsinuan village, Sisatthanak district, Vientiane. It will be the first company in Laos to distribute the Acer and Lenovo brands. He decided to set up the business because there was no computer distributor in Laos and he believed his company was the first to provide such a service. Since his company was the only provider of this service in Laos, he would face no competition, he said. Laos is the first country in which he has set up the business outside Thailand. He said there were about 40 computer dealerships in Laos but they ordered computers and hardware from distributors in Thailand and other countries, which was complicated and involved communication problems. He said Imart would offer better service and would have an edge over Lao dealerships that encountered problems with computer guarantees because the distributor was in another country. “When a computer needs maintenance, a dealer in Laos has to send the computer to Thailand for repair, which is a lengthy procedure,” he said. “We can offer this service on the spot and dealers can bring computers to us because we have the equipment and technicians to service them.” The company has sent Lao staff for training in Thailand so they can provide good service to Lao customers. Mr Somkiat said although Laos had a smaller population than the neighbouring countries of Cambodia and Vietnam, it was full of business potential. He said there were many large development projects in Laos which needed computers and new technology for effective management of their business and he believed he would be able to provide good service to these customers. It was easy for Thai people to do business in Laos, he said, because the Lao and Thai culture and language were similar, and he could communicate with Lao people without needing an interpreter. Mr Somkiat said he was impressed with the kindness of Lao people towards foreigners. He came to Laos a year ago to play golf and thought then of expanding his business in Thailand to Laos. He believes it will take six months to train Lao personnel at Imart, when he hopes to transfer management of the business to local staff. He is confident his Lao staff can run the business in the future. Mr Somkiat hopes to set up a computer maintenance service in Luang Prabang and Savannakhet provinces in the next two years so that more Lao people have access to the service.
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source from www. Laosmile.com