Jirapan Boonnoon
When he was young, Vorkon Patra-yanan fancied himself as a nuclear
physicist. He liked physics and maths and topped both his class and
the school in both subjects.
However, it was merely a first step on a winding path that has led
Vorkon to become the first managing director in Indochina for the
US company Cisco Systems and a prominent figure in Thailand's IT
business.
"When I was younger I liked physics and maths because I believed
they involved logical thinking. I not only decided to be a nuclear
physicist, but I also began studies in the science faculty at King
Mongkut's University of Technology in Thon Buri," Vorkon says.
It wasn't long before he had second thoughts. After studying for
about one year, he changed his mind and decided to become a marketing
specialist. So he joined the business faculty at Assumption University.
"My family didn't know that I had changed my mind and wanted to
be a businessman. I tried to find work to pay my study fees, and
when my parents and friends found out that I was studying marketing
and business they resisted," Vorkon says.
His early university years were a tough time for the young Vorkon.
As well as studying hard, he had to make enough money to pay his fees
at the private university, so he became a salesman "on the side",
selling air-conditioners, tape cassettes and life insurance. He never
left home without his product catalogues nestled among his study texts.
"When I had free time, I was always looking for customers among my
friends and teachers to buy my products," he recalls.
And far from being simply a student and a salesman, Vorkon was president
of the university's photography group and led the university's basketball
team. He and a friend also set up a home-video shop to provide video
cassettes for hire.
"I had many activities when I was studying at university. I was very
interested in photography. I was even a model for advertising products
such as milk and gum, and I wanted to reach for the camera and take the
pictures," he says.
Finally he graduated from Assumption University with a bachelor's
degree in business administration and was soon working for an international
company with a salary of around Bt20,000 per month. Then his life
changed again.
He applied to work at IBM Thailand and learned that he was one of three
final candidates for two positions. "Finally the firm chose the other
two guys because they'd graduated in an overseas country. This convinced
me to return to my studies, but in the US," Vorkon says.
He finally achieved a master's degree in business administration
from Texas University.
On returning to Thailand he applied to become a senior salesman at
Sahaviriya Data Systems. His new philosophy was one of becoming "a
professional employee".
He explains that working as a professional employee leads him to
believe that the company belongs to him. In this way, he works
hard and performs every task as if he owned the business, and this
helps both the company and its customers.
"When I work as an employee I feel that I have my own company, which
has its own investors. I have trust, sincerity, transparency, diligence
and patience for the business and its customers. I do business as
I play sport: I give it everything," he says.
He became general manager of Sahaviriya Data Systems and later
managing director of Central Advanced Systems and country manager
of Data General Systems (Thailand).
Vorkon is now regional managing director in Indochina for the
California-based IT giant Cisco Systems, in charge of Cisco's
operations in Cambodia, Laos, Burma, Thailand and Vietnam. He
established Cisco's first office in Bangkok in 2002 to build a
sales and marketing team, as well as a network of channel partners.
"I am a man who prompts change for the better. I am a long-term
thinker. Every day, when I step out of my home, I feel like I'm
going to school: I must learn from other people and understand
everything around me, so that I can then adopt it," Vorkon says
