In addition to MFIs, there are a range of government departments providing support, which include financial grants, credits and professional training to female-headed RMEs and especially CBEs. Information on government departments with whom micro-entrepreneurs have networks is now presented.
Department of Agricultural Extension (DOAE)
The DOAE and the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives provide support and promotion of agricultural activities, which include rural micro-enterprises and especially CBEs. DOAE has provincial offices, namely the Province Agricultural Extension Office (PAEO). The PAEO is responsible for planning and implementing the support and promotion of CBEs through several activities, for example, enterprise management consultations and professional training (MAP-6).
Services provided by the PAEO are both financial and non-financial. The financial services are either loans or grants, whereas the latter are referred to as non-required repayment money. For non-financial services, PAEOs provide the specialists, locally called in Thai, ‘Ca Ha Kit Kan Ka Set’, who have extensive experience in home education to assist CBEs, in particular, on professional issues like food processing techniques and hygiene, and colour dying of silk textiles, for example. These specialists also facilitate CBEs to network with counterparts, such as potential clients or niche markets. This can be done through the national DOAE networks including the Department of Internal Trade, the Ministry of Commerce and the Department of Export Promotion and the Ministry of Industry (MAP- 6).
Department of Community Development (DOCD)
The DOCD and the Ministry of the Interior are responsible for community development and poverty alleviation. The DOCD has provincial offices and its policies are disseminated and implemented within the community by these officers (designated as CDOs) and
traditionally called ‘Pat Ta Na Corn’ in Thai. The DOCD also provides support mainly to CBEs through financial capital (mostly grants) and marketing networks. In addition to CBEs, the DOCD also supports IEs, however, to a smaller extent compared to CBEs (MAP-7).
In accordance to policy o the government, CBEs are our targets. Although IEs are also taken into account, policy implementations and service packages are likely to be suitable for CBEs (MAP- 7)
Chapter 5: Descriptions of Female-headed RMEs and associated MFIs: Case studies in Khon Kaen, Thailand 119
There is one well-known DOCD supportive project for CBEs called the OTOP project, which is an abbreviation of One Tambon One Product (Tambon, in Thai, refers to the rural district). The OTOP project promotes each rural community in the development and marketing of its own local products, which can be uniquely created using local wisdom. The DOCD provides a range of services for the OTOP projects including financial grants and marketing events as well as networks. The DOCD is also responsible for granting OTOP quality endorsements to outstanding products; these endorsements are referred to as the ‘Star’ quality symbol (in Thai called ‘Dow’) and vary from one to five stars (with five being the highest quality level). Nowadays, the word OTOP and star levels have become the primary criteria for consumers purchasing products and services from rural
communities (MAP-7).
It is interesting to note that the star symbol has become essential for CBEs when they apply for loans offered by corporate banks or BAAC. In the present work, certain respondents informed the researcher that BAAC would grant credits for business development
according to their OTOP star quality: one star was equal to a 100,000 baht credit (whereas two stars equalled double credit amounts and so forth) (CBE-4 and MAP-7).
The DOCD also develops regular marketing exhibitions to promote OTOP products. The main venue where such exhibitions are held is called ‘Muang Tong Taa Ni’ exhibition centre and is in Bangkok, Thailand. This marketing promotion event is the goal of nearly all the CBEs interviewed as only top graded OTOP products (4-5 star quality levels) can be sold at this event. As a result of this grading, the Muang Tong Taa Ni marketing exhibition is a concrete quality reference CBEs use in the promotion of their products to customers (MAP-7).
Department of Industrial Promotion (DIP)
The DIP and the Ministry of Industry provide support for micro-enterprises through both financial assistance, such as the revolving fund, and non-financial assistance, such as professional training. The DIP has its regional offices, namely the Industrial Promotion
Centres (IPCs), where they provide support for entrepreneurs throughout the country. CBEs and IEs are both IPC clients.
One of the key outstanding programmes provided by IPCs is the New Entrepreneur
(Nascent) Promotion Programme practically encouraging people to start their own business (on micro-or small-business levels). The key targets of this programme are IEs who have recently graduated from universities or have been laid-off from companies. IPCs undertake industrial audits on potential clients (e.g. backgrounds on business experience and financial history) in order to develop a suitable package for a business start-up. These packages cover start-up capital (as loans with low interest rates and long term repayments); production/service guidelines; personnel management; financing; accounting; and
marketing strategies. The key micro-enterprise activities of IEs applied to this programme are, for example, food street vending, retailing shops, or home-based contracting work (MAP-5)
Sub-district Administration Organisation (SAO)
A SAO), under the Ministry of the Interior, is an authority on a sub-district level, which is part of the Government’s administration and decentralisation. SAO is locally called ‘Or Bor Tor’ because of its abbreviation in Thai. Unlike other government departments shown previously, SAO is a council elected by the people living in the local community and it is responsible for administering promotions for the rural community, in terms of economics, socialising and culture (MAP-8 and MAP-9).
SAO is directly involved with the development of female-headed RMEs, especially CBEs, and provides support like, for example, grants for business starts up for female community enterprises, loans for equipment purchase and field trips to industries or other community enterprises (MAP-8 and MAP-9).