Thai Massage
In May 2009, Thitapha Ekberg opened her massage parlor. Her schedule is always fully booked and she is very happy with the parlor. Despite her 30 years of experience with massage in Thailand, it has been a difficult and long road for her to get where she is today.
When Thitapha came to Sweden in 1999, just like all immigrants she began to learn the Swedish language. She joined SFI (Swedish for Immigrants) for two months until she was offered a job at a factory in Stockholm. In a few months she commuted between Stockholm and Katrineholm until the factory one day shut down. As an unemployed person, Thitapha felt that her time was just running away.
She was then recommended to enroll in a folk high school for adults. Thitapha was told to take nursing classes as there where jobs in that field. Despite her classes and finding many available vacancies, she was not able to get a permanent post. She got a substitute post where she only worked a few times a month.
Most of Thitapha´s time was spent at home waiting to get a phone call from work. She fell into depression and understood that the only way for her to earn an income is to start her own business. But without any real income or the networks, she didn´t know where to begin.
Thitapha had earlier mentioned her idea to her boss at the current internship she was holding. It was now for the first time she heard about NEEM and the MFI project. Her boss instructed her to contact NEEM because they might have more opportunities to help her.
The bank that Thitapha had turned to had already declined her, on the grounds that there were already too many massage parlors in Katrineholm. Thitapha had already done a market research and knew that she would be the first Thai massage parlor in the city.
MFI helped Thitapha to develop her business plan, and helped her with financial guidance. With the business plan she was able to successfully seek a start-up grant from the Employment office. And still today, Thitapha is taking advantage of the three year follow up plan. Thitapha mentions that one of the most important aspects that MFI was involved with was the motivation. She says that MFI always kept her motivated and believed in her, but nobody did.
Today, closer to a year after the business was started it has expanded significantly. At the beginning of the 2010, the nearby supermarket ICA Nara, decided to help the little massage parlor. They offered their customers a 30 minutes massage gift cards to those who bought product for more than SEK 500.
Thitapha’s customer network has grown since the start of her business and today her schedule is always fully booked. Business has been advertised in the local newspaper and TV, but the most important has been the word of mouth.
Thitapha is very proud of how her life has changed. She says that she feels very happy about her job and her life. She looks forward to start her days now.
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