Life stories of Indian and South East Asian business leaders

Dr. Chaijudh Karnasuta (1921-2004), founder of Italian-Thai Development Public Company, Thailand, https://www.itd.co.th/

Season 1 Episode 22

Dr Chaijudh's life is an illustration of how traditional Asian values, including respect for one's parents, can often lead to children following a career path chosen by one's parents, rather than what the child wants to do.  Dr Chaiyudh wanted to be inolved in agriculture as a career but instead became a medical doctor following his father's preference.  However, once his father had passed away, he chose business over medicine and, through a combination of luck in meeting Dr. Giorgio Berlingieri, an Italian and an instinct of the opportunities offered by the construction sector, the two them founded Italian-Thai Development Public Company which became a giant in the Thai construction sector.  But, what is also fascinating for me, is that having resigned from day to day running of the construction business, he was able to return to his first love of agriculture. 

This interview appears as a chapter in my 1999 book, Added Value - The Life Stories of Leading South East Asian Business People.

Please note that these interviews took place some time ago - over 25 years ago in the case of the South East Asian life story book and around 10 to 15 years ago in the case of the two Indian life story books. However, their stories are correct to the time of the interviews and the objective is to demonstrate the entrepreneurial skills they exhibited at the time of the interviews in building their businesses.