and what's it like uh running a business on ireland as a thai woman do you know what it's
like being a business owner it's be like a fireman you have to put out fire whatever happened you
have to sell it the problem have to be solved so let's talk about masterchef the tv show masterchef
they had an irish version and you were in it folks pete here from thairish times what's the story
how you doing i am sweating i got the sun beating down on me here anyway let's get into it right so
i was at the supermarket the other day i ran into a subscriber and we got chatting and a subscriber
asked me said pete what's your favorite kind of story and i was thinking about it for a while
and i said you know what i love a good story that kind of breaks a stereotype all too often you see
people and they put you into a box and they say this is what you are that's what you're doing
and we've got a story today that does break a stereotype we're going to meet a thai entrepreneur
in ireland who did not meet an irishman over here in thailand she went to ireland got herself a work
permit started her own job started working and then got married and then started a business
with her husband actually they have four businesses and they're doing very well
and she was also the finalist of the tv show masterchef if you can remember that one it's
they've done lots of different versions around the world she got to the final of the irish version so
she can cook she can run businesses she can speak english and she has a great irish accent so we're
going to meet nisha today so let's go and do it nisha saudi cubs thank you very much for doing
this this is going to be a really good interview yeah um all right so tell us where you're from i'm
originally from nakhon si tamarat it's a province down the south so 800 miles from bangkok is
and what was life like growing up for you life growing up and a family of six five sisters and
one brother and uh with shops grocery shops and we have to work in the shop every single one of us
because my dad died when when i was very young was 10 and we all have to help my mother work in the
shop and before we go to school and and then come back and work in the shop again in the evening
and yeah that's that's very uh typical life in thailand so you have a really interesting story of
how you actually made it ireland and what you did in ireland you did it a different way to most thai
women so i'd like to hear your story about that yeah it's actually it starts from when i graduate
from college and then i got a job in the hotel in phuket the banyan tree and i was working
there for a year and at the time there was a irish company the hotel owner come and looking for staff
in phuket just to bring over to work in ireland and i was like right okay i might give it a go and
and go and have a look-see a year just to learn and improve my english so i said okay so i uh
went to ireland in 2001 and working in the hotel in lisu inviter listen varna now if
anyone doesn't know listen varna is a um what would you say it's a small little town on the
tiny on the west coast of ireland with the atlantic breeze wind crashing through it's a
totally opposite from thailand what was it like there in lucille varna it's a culture
shock yeah it just whoa like you know when when from a girl from thailand right i think this way
you think of europe as a wow it's going to be a high rise it's going to be building
it's going to be like civilizations and all the bosom and you know all that type
of thing and then next thing you landed at china airport with nothing only cheap
but it's just like and a little town with a post office a pub few houses and restaurants and as
well it's it's quite a big shock so you were you were working in a small town list of arnold you're
in the working for in a hotel were you yeah i walk in the hotel but i wasn't there long just just
it's not what i came for so um me and my friends kind of we move away from from liz umana we go to
dublin and we start working in the thai restaurant and in malahide okay what was that like that was
lovely it it's a that that then we feel kind of a little bit more settled and we make friends and jo
the work is good get to know people there's more thai community there that that you can talk to
so it feels much better now let's talk about what you're doing now because you are a very successful
business woman in ireland right now so talk us through what you've done what are you doing in
ireland basically well in ireland um fast forward there now we until now we've two pubs in navin and
we uh soap with sandwich in lunches town shopping center well so two pubs in navin it's a very
big town about an hour outside dublin and then a subway in blanchardstown and that's funny because
that's actually uh near where i live where where my parents live small world small world
i was in that subway having my uh lunch when i was in school yeah that's i probably served
you at the time yeah so how did you end up owning subways well um the idea came about was my husband
traveled to thailand actually and he's a bit when he's in thailand he is he's quite fussy not
fussy but you know careful with what he eats and subway was one of the option that he really liked
and he said well we don't have this in ireland or maybe we want branch in ireland i said i'd love to
open this in ireland so we went back to ireland we just said we look into it i said right let's open
one in ireland and then we start looking and there you go we found a unit in blanchester shopping
center and and we side up the franchisee and do the cars and open up and what's it like running
a business in ireland as a thai woman as a typhoon and it was it was hard too for starting you know
because people don't really know who you are and the good thing about startup with franchise is
it's you do not really own a business you're kind of like working for them they teach you how to run
the business it is a good start for for someone who wants to start up a business because you you
learn so much they teach you how to run it the teaching in a business perspective like profit
and loss and all that sort of thing because at the time like it's i grow i grew up in a shop but it's
different you can't really you can't really compare so at the time i can say
with no experience but um franchise is kind of help us teach us a lot and what's it like
running two pubs then yeah we get we get a bit after that after subway a few years we get a
bit more confidence we have more experience and then just the time is right uh it was well 2708
and then recession came and this hope the silver tank which is a landmark
one of the landmark pub in in nav and
came up for sale and we said right we're gonna give it a go
i haven't got a clue how to run the pope but uh we said we'll give it a go
you know when you're young when you're young you have energy and you have you you have confidence
is that right we do it you know a kind of way so i said we just do it and it was it was tough
for for a thai woman and my husband been a very great support like um
we we work together very well we complement each other like he's will be working on the background
paperwork and stuff and then i'll be the front man doing the groundwork so i deal with staff and
customer and all that sort of thing and mistake along the way every day you learn new things
every day is a different you happy with your life in ireland
i'm content yeah i'm content like it i'm not i'm not saying oh it's perfect or anything like that
it's not perfect no life perfect some days my good day some day is problem that need to be
do you know what it's like being a business owner it's be like a fireman you have to put out fire
whatever happened you have to solve it the problem have to be solved and then improve and it's always
constant on the lookout and looking for new ideas improve how to run your business make it better
yeah because we we kind of start that business from the ground like we take
that from from nothing and then build it up and that's give us a chance to to get another one
going as well which is uh the seven arches we opened that 2018 just right before the corvette
and it's as you can imagine yeah we have to close and uh the great thing is in ireland the support
from the government is it's very it's phenomenal they supported you when when you're oh yeah
yeah yeah oh yeah it's phenomenal like without that support you just close your door okay yeah
and let's talk about your husband yeah great irish man i met him last night we had a pint of guinness
well i had a pint again i see it heineken did he yeah because yeah
so where'd you meet him um it's actually we met an island believe it or not
yeah and i was walking at the time in dublin and he was originally by trade he's a bricklayer and
yeah he walk on the side in mala height at the beach and we met we met actually true friend
because i was only joking with my friend my friends going out with his friend at the time
and i was like oh have you any single friend that i can meet like just messing and he showed
me the picture and the first impression and i see his face i said this man look like my dad
so i said like yeah i like to meet him so and the rest is the history we get on really well
yeah i can see that he sees get on very well i can see when you compliment each other as well
he's he's he's he's an entrepreneur as well your entrepreneur his and he's very
entrepreneur yeah he is very clever he's very good yeah so if i ask you how would you compare
irish culture and thai culture it's very er what are the differences what's the difference is jesus
it's not much of a different like thai and irish the irish people are great crack
they're very nice people they're very easy to get on with yeah and what i like about island is
you can say what you want to say and you know the the equal and islands it's very good
they give you chance whatever you want to be you want to be a mother at home
you can do that if you want to be a business woman you can do that you know it's always
support and always opportunity like we run our three businesses and we have three kids like
it i don't know if i'm thinking if i'm in thailand can i do that it's hard to know
do you think the government support is good in ireland to thailand it is it's very good
yeah so let's talk about masterchef right the tv show master chef they had an irish version
yeah and uh you were in it and it was about how many years ago 10 years ago years ago 2012. tell
us about that yeah so um i was i love cooking and always kind of but i'm a self-taught i never go to
college or anything like that just basically at home after i have my first child stay at home um
what do you do you know you watch a bit of tv and the only channel i watch is bbc food just
and then i try it and cope with different things darryl will come home from work and maybe like
a dinner like a restaurant type thing with a few dots here and there you know
and uh they're just looking for the program just looking for candidates so i asked iris
should i go into it it's like i just like to know what what's my level of cooking you know so that
was it yeah go on why not you know i said look i just only want to go in for an april i just
want to get an apron so um yeah i went in from about 2000 applications and then it's down to
50s for the audition and i was get all the way through the final wow which is great experience
it's tough it's it's i can see it's one of the toughest thing that i've done yeah it's very
it's pressure like the filming is is constant it's intense nearly three months for like um
you have to be there from seven in the morning and some nights you might not get home until midnight
yeah it was long probably happy you did it though i never regret it like yeah
well in the in between i nearly throw the towel just so much yes and people get
you know when when you see when you don't see behind a scene what's going on you don't
really know what's involved but like for for people who knew it's really hard work
and it's it's it's all on the spot you know like oh this is what you're gonna cook here
you are your ingredient and like [ __ ] what am i gonna do with that like yeah
oh it's great fun though like and until now we still keep in contact with the with the
different with all the people still keep in touch so what's the what are your future plans right you
you're like are you going to retire in thailand in the years to come could you see yourself setting
up for business in thailand are you going to keep it going in ireland uh we at the minute
it's it's not uncertain just because with the kids and stuff like that obviously we still
keep going what we have in ireland and try to give the kids a good education like they start in
college now so see how they are and you never say never like i love thailand like thailand now is
my home you know like my family is here and um but island's also my second home so i love
boats i'm lucky that way like i have the best of both worlds i like to interview you
10 years how how do you like thailand i love it here you love it like do you prefer to live
here or yes i i you know it's it's hard to say do i prefer to live here would i prefer
to live in ireland i sometimes i think i'd like to give ireland a shot because i came here when
i was uh quite young you know and um but i love i love the people here i love the weather here i
love the food here thailand's been very good to me you know it's always going to be in my heart
yeah yeah thailand is a special place it is yeah like it's always impression and and you kind of
you never really be able to to go away and never come back yeah it's it's it's our way you're gonna
have to come back to thailand that's it you know every time i leave thailand even back in ireland
i'm always thinking about thailand like you know what's it like what are they doing over there
yeah it's it's i think other people can relate to it as well yeah yeah well anyway it's been a
pleasure to interview you sorry captain thank you very much great to talk to you thanks very much
what i liked about it um is you know i like to hear different perspectives and it was great to
hear a thai lady's perspective yeah fantastic i hope you enjoyed that folks if you did
like share subscribe get us to 25k come on 25 000 subscribers let's do it what you think we'll
get there we'll get there we will get there we will get there yeah cheers see on the next one