The Thai Billionaire

This is again one of those interesting moments when I discover amusingly surprising things. See, I was browsing through random movie titles from 2011 when this movie called "Top Secret" caught my attention. I noticed that it was a Thai film and since I got a little curious, I did a quick research about it.

When I read the synopsis and found out that it was based on a true story, I immediately knew what it was about.

Very much like our own Filipino billionaire Henry Sy, Top Ittipat also struggled in life and sought ways to make things better for him and his family. At a young age, he ventured into small businesses selling snack foods. At age 19, he obtained his financial success by selling seaweed snacks which became a top-seller in Thailand. Now, Top is a 26-year-old billionaire.

Going back to my surprised self, coincidentally, my all-time favorite snack is the very seaweed snack that this young Thai businessman created.

When I encountered this junk food in some supermarket in some mall in Manila, I thought it was Japanese-made since Kanji were written all over it and it was made of seaweed which Japanese people are so fond of including in just about anything. You get the logic.

But then I thought, "Tao Kae Noi" doesn't sound Japanese at all. Then when I read the text at the back, Product of Thailand. I was like, "Oh heeey. Western Digital external hard drives are yours and now this? Oh heeey."

I bought one to try thinking it'll be good since I myself have always loved seaweeds in Japanese rice rolls, ramen, among other things. Alas, I was not mistaken. From then on, if I had the chance to, I always bought as many as my poor wallet allowed. My friends know this. It's not cheap at all, by the way.