Foundation of the group: Saha Group chairman’s story (5)

Boonsithi Chokwatana is the Chairman of Saha Group, Thailand’s leading consumer products conglomerate. This is part 5 of a 30-part series.

In 1942, in the middle of the war, my father became independent from my grandfather and established his own general store. This was the beginning of what is now the Saha Group.

In those days, trading companies from Europe and Japan, such as Mitsui and Mitsubishi, had branches in Bangkok. My father frequently went to these companies and formed connections.

When the goods came in on the boat, they were divvied up and sold on Samphen Road in Bangkok’s wholesale district. Goods were scarce then, so shoes, belts, shirts and similar items all sold quickly.

Japanese ships importing rice and other commodities from Thailand would load up with various other products to make use of their empty cargo space on their journeys to Thailand. The most popular was…