YAANA Ventures (ex Khiri Group)

Placement organization

Name of organization: YAANA Ventures (ex Khiri Group)
Town/city: Bangkok
Country: Thailand
Website: http://yaana-ventures.com

Student

Name of student: Francisco Agustìn Cirigliano

Specialist area: ITMC
Placement period: 2015-2016

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Parent of Multiple Travel & Hospitality Companies
Organization’s activities: YAANA Ventures is a group of companies whose aim is to deliver authentic travel experiences to travelers throughout Soth-East Asia. This is possible thanks to the various ventures that make up the group: Anurak Community Lodge, Banteay Chhmar Tents, Grasshopper Adventures, GROUND, and the well-established Destination Management Company, Khiri Travel.
Target group of the organization: Other Tourism & Hospitality Businesses, Travelers in South-East Asia
Company culture: The working environment is very relaxed and informal, but also very professional. Most of the management, including the company’s founder are European or American, therefore the working environment is very familiar and easy to get used to.
Number of employees: In this office 40+
Dress code: casual
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? Yes

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working? Marketing Department
Brief description of your daily activities: Because I’m part of the head office marketing team, my daily tasks involve both general marketing and promotional activities related to the whole YAANA Ventures environment, or more specific tasks related to each of the five companies that make up the group.

Some of the activities are just short projects that need to be carried out once, and can concern the launch or update of a website, revision of old data and bringing it up to the current standards, creation of content related to the companies, and more. Other daily activities involve the creation of website content for customers, Search Engine Optimisation, maintenance of online database (including company materials, photos, etc), and other smaller tasks which may vary daily or weekly.

Also, the management of all five companies’ social media outlets, although it’s not strictly my responsibility right now, is pretty important and I occasionally have to help. This includes the creation of content and its scheduling and publication, the maintenance of the profiles and the research for suitable content to post.

Brief description of your company assignment: My company assignment involved the creation of a brochure and a marketing strategy, which will be used for direct marketing purposes for the newly created GROUND venture. This involved several phases, and also required collaboration with the company’s Brand Marketing Manager in charge of all the branding standards and requirements, as well as an outsourced graphic designer which was in charge of the editing and final details of the actual product.
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: When it comes to my supervision I couldn’t be happier. Everyone at the office is extremely friendly, relaxed, and helpful, even though there is always a lot to do and of course as an intern I have to deliver good work and carry out my tasks well.

My supervisor’s desk is right next to mine, but I am left all the freedom in the world, and he trusts me to carry out my work however I like, with almost no interfering. However he is always more than available to help me if I need it, to answer questions, explain, or repeat anything. It doesn’t get any better than this.

The rest of the marketing colleagues are just the same, extremely friendly and open minded, ready to help, and they will even ask for my advice or help if they think it’s necessary.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? Independent, Team Player, Sociable, Reliable
Additional company requirements for this placement? Mac OS, Writing Skills, Creative Skills, WordPress, SEO,
English: Advanced
Spanish:
French:
German:
Italian:
Other languages:

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: Airplane

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? Provided by the company
How did you go to work every day? Car / Cab / Bus and a short walk is also possible

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? ED Visa
Do you need a work permit? No
How did you arrange the necessary documents: Consulate in the Netherlands / Immigration Office Bangkok
How much time did it take to arrange the necessary documents? 30 days
Did you need certain vaccinations? Yes
How long in advance?

Language course

Did you take a language course before you started your placement? No
Would you recommend to have a language course prior to this placement? Not necessary, however it is interesting to try to learn some basic Thail while living here

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € 700+
Accommodation (monthly): € 0
Local transport (monthly): € 50
General costs of living (monthly): € 250+
Costs of visa: € 30
Costs of work permit: €
What did the company pay for/to you? I could choose between a monthly salary ($250) or an apartment nearby the office apartment. I had the apartment, which is located in a condo more or less 10 minutes (drive) from the office, nearby a medium-big shopping mall and several other small businesses. Very comfortable and perfect for a student for those 5-6 months.

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
Not much preparation is needed. Just an open mind towards new experiences, new people, and different habits. It will (should) come naturally to learn about the culture and the people as you live here and to get used to everything that may seem “weird” at first.
Did the culture of the country influence your performance during the placement in any way? No

Future students on placement

Future students are free to contact me for further information: Yes
My e-mail address: f.a.cirigliano@gmail.com

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: Be well prepared before you arrive here, the visa procedures or anything else that involves bureaucracy is incredibly complicated and unclear in Thailand, even just obtaining exact information from the Thai consulate or embassy in the Netherlands is a challenge.

Be ready to spend ages stuck in traffic, and always make your cab driver switch the meter on! Also learning some basic Thai (counting, directions and other simple things) will help you avoid getting ripped off by cab drivers and street vendors.

The possibilities for western food exist but they are not that common in this area. If you’re hoping to live in Bangkok and only eat frites and bitterballen you might want to reconsider!
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: The office is not located right in Bangkok, but in the north of the city. The area (Nonthaburi) has everything one may need: shopping malls, cinema, restaurants, local places to eat, even bars, but it’s not downtown Bangkok. Going downtown is easy and there are many transport options, in a perfect world it would take 20 minutes, but the traffic here makes it a one-hour (or longer) trip.

The Chatuchak Market is pretty close to the area, really huge market where you can find anything, and around there there’s also a big park, shopping malls, cinema, restaurants, and more. And then there’s downtown Bangkok of course, which has anything you could possibly hope for. Also you HAVE TO go to a karaoke restaurant wth your colleagues.

You can travel for really cheap to places nearby Bangkok (Ayutthaya, Pattaya, etc.) with the mini vans that depart from several places in the city. The one-hour trip to Ayutthaya costs 60b (1.5€).

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link