It’s never easy being an entrepreneur, and it is especially more difficult when you start from the scratch, with no knowledge of how to run a business. And that was the exact situation that Sithong Sokphonexai found himself in when he decided to start his own business in Luang Prabang.
There were a number of obstacles though. Firstly, local entrepreneurs were extremely rare in Luang Prabang. As Sokphonexai pointed out, “Most of the businesses in Luang Prabang are run by entrepreneurs from Europe and China,” and because of this, his friends were quite sceptical of his idea.
Nevertheless, Sokphonexai did not give up on his dream. He had a vision and more importantly the determination to carry it out. And just as a prophet is often unrecognised in his own home, the young Laotian man received encouragement from the outside. In his case, it was from the foreigners and tourists who patronised the restaurant where he was waiting on tables.
“They told me not to listen to my friends but to believe in myself,” he revealed. And so, Sokphonexai started designing t-shirts in his free time and selling them at the night market, all the while supporting himself with the income from his day job.
It is one thing to believe in yourself, and it is also another to have people encouraging you. But businesses need capital to survive. Fortunately for Sokphonexai, his designs so impressed two American women who decided to become angel investors and help fund the business.
Eight months after he first started selling t-shirts in the local night market, Sithong Sokphonexai managed to rent his own shop space. And today, Lala Laos sells Buddhist jewellery, paintings, bags, and scarves, as well as t-shirts (still designed by Sokphonexai) to customers in Luang Prabang.
Changing Lives by Giving Back
In Buddhism, giving is an important tenet of the faith. And for Sokphonexai (who, like the vast majority of Laotian boys, was educated in a Buddhist monastery), the success of Lala Laos inspired him to give back to the community.
And that is how he started on his quest to help provide education to young girls. Whereas boys would usually go to a monastery for schooling after completing primary education in the Laos, the same option was not available for girls. And to make things worse, it is expensive, particularly for people living in villages, to send their daughters to schools in the cities.
So, Sokphonexai decided to channel 50 percent of the profits from Lala Laos to rent a dormitory for girls from the villages to stay as well as to fund their education. As of time of writing, there are five girls living in the dormitory where, aside from going to school, they also learn skills such as handcrafting and entrepreneurship.
Having made a mark on lives and business in Luang Prabang, Sokphonexai is setting his eyes on doing the same for the rest of the country. His vision is to open a similar shop and dormitory in the capital city Vientiane.
Because, for Sithong Sokphonexai – the young ex-waiter turned social entrepreneur – giving back and helping his beloved Laos is what truly matters.
