SHARING HAPPINESS
BUSINESSMAN ABOUT TOWN APICHAT “NAT” LEENUTAPHONG JUST KEEPS GOING FROM STRENGTH TO STRENGTH. AS parisa pichitmarn DISCOVERS, THIS THRIVING CEO AND HIS WIFE, M.L. PLOYNAPAT “KWAN” LEENUTAPHONG, ARE CURRENTLY CONQUERING NEW GROUND WITH THEIR LATEST SUPER SUPPLEMENT VENTURE, SHARISMA, WHILE HAPPILY RAISING THEIR NEWBORN SON
When it comes to the motor vehicle industry, Apichat “Nat” Leenutaphong is practically a guru. Best known as the third-generation scion of the family that first imported premium automobiles such as BMW to Thailand, Nat is also regarded as an accomplished businessman in his own right. He has gone on to found several of his own enterprises, successfully becoming the official Thai importer of super vehicle brands ranging from Ducati to Lamborghini and Koenigsegg.
Since last appearing on the cover of Prestige in October of 2019 – together with his wife, M.L. Ploynapat “Kwan” Leenutaphong – he has kept busy with supercars, but more recently he has also delved into the business of creating his own super supplement brand under the name Sharisma. It’s a noticeable divergence from his usual ventures, and amazingly this fledgling company has already accumulated a revenue of 400 million Baht within the first five months of its launch.
This mindful CEO is also a practicing Buddhist, who prays and meditates daily, and he and Kwan always run their businesses with the idea of “sharing” in mind. To illustrate this point, the name of their company, Sharich Holding, is a portmanteau of the words “share” and “rich”.
“Riches in this sense does not refer to money, but happiness,” the now 47-year-old explains. “What we’re passing forward is happiness. With Lamborghini, clients receive happiness from driving our cars, and with the gadgets we are offering, better health and convenience. My wife Kwan came up with the name Sharisma, for the line of health supplements, which further combines “Sharich” with “Ma”, which stands for mother. Sharisma is, therefore, like a mother who gives and focuses on the utmost details of everything, whether it is the people who join the business expansion as authorised holding, or the people who consume our supplements.”
Nat points out that his wife had always been keen on starting a venture relating to health and beauty, but he had steadfastly refused over the years, citing his lack of knowledge and understanding of the industry. Interestingly, it was a chance meeting with, and later getting to know, his Lamborghini client Pakanawat “Bank” Hematananan (also a previous Prestige cover personality) that set the stage for Nat’s latest health enterprise, with Bank helping Nat to set up the new business.
Nat and Bank’s wives, both coincidentally named Ploynapat, had also really hit it off upon meeting, and after a year of deliberating, Sharisma was finally born last July. Nat refers to the supplement as “Kwan’s daughter”, as she is the main force behind developing the product with Brother Global (Bank’s enterprise). And through authorised holdings, Sharisma has grown from a strong online presence.
With clinically proven ingredients such as Telos95 and Astaxanthin, among 17 other ingredients, Sharisma’s main selling point is how it works on a cellular level to achieve anti-ageing and cell repair. Extensive research proves that Telos95 reduces cell aging in humans by extending the length of the telomere. This research has been conducted by the Telomere Diagnostics Inc, which is co-founded by Elizabeth H. Blackburn, one of the Nobel Prize-winning researchers making breakthroughs in this field. This institution is accredited by the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) agency in the USA, which regulates human-samples diagnostic laboratory testing, and is approved by three agencies: the (US) FDA, CDC, and CMS. And while Nat was never one to consume powder supplements previously, he’s always taken Telos95 and Astaxanthin in tablet form, alongside many other vitamins.
“Kwan gets me to take five tablets in the morning and another eight before dinner,” he shares. “I am usually full before the meal even begins! Now that I’ve started taking two packs of Sharisma per day, I only take my morning vitamins.”
“UNDERSTAND THE WORLD AS IT IS, AND ADJUST YOUR ATTITUDE TOWARDS IT”
“IT’S OUR JOB TO HELP PEOPLE AND WE’VE CHOSEN TO MAKE THIS OUR JOB, SO THIS IS HOW TO FIND HAPPINESS DURING THE BAD DAYS”
He goes on to explain about his supplement, which provides repairing and anti-ageing nutrients all in one go. “Our ingredients work on a cellular level. If your cells are young, they will split normally so your skin is still nice, without freckles or sun spots. When you have more dead cells than new ones built, that is where skin starts to sag. There is also collagen dipeptide [from Japanese company Wellnex] which helps with skin and joints. My teenage son, Theetat, takes Sharisma and it helps with his pimples and rashes. Of course, senior people in their 80s and 90s aren’t going to look miraculously younger, but they will surely look and feel more fresh, with less dry skin and better joints.”
Nat mentioned about his wife’s motto of “we do only the best” but there is truth in that catchphrase, as the married couple both use Sharisma themselves. “This partly started from the fact that we wanted to take quality supplements at an accessible price point ourselves. And we wanted our loved ones and the general public to be able to consume good things, too. You get 20 different ingredients of potent quantities in one pack for a very affordable price. Some may say it’s expensive, but I don’t think anything is inherently expensive or cheap. It’s simply about whether you get your money’s worth or not.”
As a person who only gets an average of five hours of sleep per night these days – due to his beloved newborn son, Tan, who is now one year old – Nat admits to feeling muddled and blurry throughout the day because ideally he needs at least six hours of slumber. Since Sharisma, however, he’s still feeling fresh regardless of how much sleep he manages to get. He’s also noticed that the supplement has given Kwan noticeable spurts of hair growth; a much-welcomed rejuvenation after her hair loss from giving birth.
“Kwan is also making an immense sacrifice in order to breastfeed,” Nat says with obvious admiration. “She follows a strict diet of only chicken, pork, and freshwater fish in order to not pass on allergens to the baby. She’s extremely selective and doesn’t eat any chili, pepper, or sugar and dairy products. Being a new mom means she doesn’t get much sleep, but our supplement has been helping her function and is also safe for breastfeeding.”
Since the birth of his second son last year, this doting father has been spending even more time with family outside of work hours. He is grateful for the pockets of time during the work-from-home periods where he can quickly play with or take Tan on walks, and it’s here where it becomes apparent that both his personal and professional success comes from a positive outlook.
“I BELIEVE IT IS HAVING THE ENTHUSIASM TO REACH OUR GOALS – TO NEVER DO ANYTHING BAD AND TO HAVE THE PATIENCE AND ENDURANCE TO WAIT FOR WHAT YOU HAVE GROWN TO FLOURISH – THAT IS THE KEY TO OUR SUCCESS”
“We all have 86,400 seconds in a day,” he remarks. “The reason why some people are happier or more successful than others is because they choose to use time differently. You have to do the things you must and should do, and what you want to do should come last. I notice that on days when I cannot think clearly, it’s because I’ve been complaining a lot – fixating on things like ‘Why did my son have to get up so early? Now I can’t exercise like I intended to’. You can waste a lot of time thinking and complaining about it, so your quality time decreases.
“It’s important to learn how to find happiness in bad situations, because everything that happens will inevitably have a silver lining. That’s not to say you cannot be sad, angry or discouraged, but to make that as short as possible, and to complain as little as you can, is best. If you spend 50,000 seconds lamenting, your life will be filled with sorrow. If you cap it to just 1,000 seconds, then when you aren’t feeling sad you can only feel otherwise. Understand the world as it is, and adjust your attitude towards it.”
An example he recounts is his daily chore to feed and put the family’s hamsters and Gatsby rats, as well as the dogs, to bed before his own bedtime and family time. He refuses to see it as a burden though, instead looking at it as a moment to check on the wellbeing of his sources of joy. This tweak in mindset and attitude is also what Nat believes has enabled Lamborghini to provide the most top-notch services amongst luxury auto brands in Thailand.
“We are able to achieve that because all our staff have the right mindset for it and that’s why they’re happy with their work too,” he adds. “Service providers may complain about customers calling at 11pm in their personal time, but Kwan and I remind the team that they don’t call us because they want to, but because they have to. We aren’t just getting money from servicing their car, we are helping them out of their grief. Just change your mindset a bit, and your outlook on life totally changes. It’s our job to help people and we’ve chosen to make this our job, so this is how to find happiness during the bad days.”
His drive to give and be of service, alongside an unshakeable belief in his own vision, is what makes these businesses of his succeed. “It begins with what you believe, long before you can even see it really. When my family first
“IT’S IMPORTANT TO LEARN HOW TO FIND HAPPINESS IN BAD SITUATIONS, BECAUSE EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENS WILL INEVITABLY HAVE A SILVER LINING”
got me to start selling BMW motorcycles, in the early 2000s, we were pioneers. Who would buy a motorbike that was the same price as a car? Yet, I believed it and did it. Then I ventured on to import Ducati on my own and I started out selling 12 bikes per year, but I believed that it could go on, and it did. Skeptics doubted if I would be able to work with Lamborghini, but we started out selling 40 cars per year. Now, as we reach our third anniversary, numbers have gone up to 75 cars per year.
“People also find it odd that my partner Kiki (Sak Nana) and I are willing to spend the profits renovating the garage and the second floor of the showroom, but we are really giving back and reinvesting for the future. In my two decades of doing business, I believe it is having the enthusiasm to reach our goals – to never do anything bad and to have the patience and endurance to wait for what you have grown to flourish – that is the key to our success.”
For a man who constantly focuses on sharing, it shouldn’t come as a huge surprise that he and Kwan’s ultimate life goal is to be able to donate a particular sum of money to charities. It is a startling amount, that he’d rather not mention, but if his previous achievements are any indication there is no doubt that his patience will definitely be rewarded.