The Electronic Transactions Development Agency (ETDA) aims to attract 1 million teenagers to join the e-commerce workforce and 200,000 micro-SMEs to go online this year to boost the online economy.
By 2023, ETDA wants to have 8 million workers and 1.6 million micro small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs), with local merchants selling products in China in collaboration with Dongguan China Council for the Promotion of International Trade.
"We see potential growth for e-commerce business if Thais act now and build a digitally skilled workforce that serves the industry trends," said Surangkana Wayuparp, president of ETDA.
The agency earlier predicted Thailand's total e-commerce market value at around 3 trillion baht in 2018, growing from 1.8 trillion in 2017.
The official figure will be announced at Thailand's E-commerce week 2019 to be held from Jan 31 to Feb 2.
Inspired by the Dongguan model, which is the No.1 e-commerce district in China boasting 2,000 e-commerce parks, ETDA is setting up the first e-commerce park in collaboration with Srinakharinwirot University to be a centre of education, training and cooperation, with overseas agencies working to create a smooth channel for Thai entrepreneurs exporting their products to the global market.
The park is scheduled to host a "Young Talent Platform", an online community, by gathering startups and experts to create a centre for the e-commerce ecosystem.
It will provide a variety of services such as consulting, help with jobs and funds, business matching, e-learning and online media, an e-marketplace and business registration.
"ETDA has also set a priority for developing and supporting manpower in cooperation with leading educational institutes to support new graduates or students who are seeking jobs by joining the e-commerce park," Mrs Surangkana said.
"This should enable the young generation to develop their products and assist SMEs in using e-commerce tools securely and correctly."
