CITATION

Jimmy Thai President and CEO of the Primer Group of Companies is the 2014 Agora Awardee for Entrepreneurship Large Scale Business . His vision and guidance led the company through from inception as a retailer of luxury brands, shaping it into a key player in the retail business.

Thai and four friends started Primer International Corporation in 1985.. Three years after establishing its retail operations, the Primer Group created another unique retail concept, a full-fledged travel store aptly called The Travel Club-. The store , a one-stop-shop for travelers carried all of Primer Group's luggage brands.

Following the success of Travel Club, the company introduced new concept stores such as Bratpack – a lifestyle store for the youth of today; R.O.X. – an outdoor adventure superstore; Res|Toe|Run – the first multi-brand, multi-category footwear shop in the country, LadyBag – a specialty bag shop created to satisfy the discerning taste of women in bags; Flight001 – an all inclusive retro-modern travel accessory shop; General – men's lifestyle and fashion shop; Grind – a non-stop action sports shop and most recently Sneakpeek—an exclusive sneaker shop for men.

The Primer Group also operates mono brand stores that carry a complete product line of one brand such as The North Face, Columbia, Native, Sanuk, Sledgers, Herschel, FitFlop, and Victorinox Delsey, World Traveller, DC, Quiksilver, Roxy, Volcom, G-Star, and TUMI among others. Moreover, the Primer Group oversees over 100 global retail brands in the region.

The Primer Group also ventured to establish large scale printing, air-con/HVAC services and sales companies to join the bandwagon of industrial players in the country. The Primer Group's strong cluster of industrial companies, through its air-conditioning and services company- Stellar and graphic design and printing services companies- Union Inks and Graphics, Inc. and Primer Printing Services, Inc. introduced state-of-the-art products and services to fill in the region's growing demand for industrial experts. The Primer Group's other industrial companies are: ANPI (Aircond.Network Philippines, Inc.), and Brushstroke Creatives.

Under Thai's leadership, Primer has garnered its own share of awards. The Travel Club was awarded as the Most Outstanding Filipino Retailer of the Year by the Philippine Retailer Association. The strings of awards were followed by other awards for the Primer Group such as Outstanding Filipino Retailers (Finalist) for Bratpack; Outstanding Travel Bag Store National Consumer Awards for Travel Club,Outstanding Back Pack Brand Parangal ng Bayan for JanSport, among others.

In 2004, Jimmy Thai was recognized as one of Entrepreneur Magazine Philippines' Ten Entrepreneurs. On the same year, he was nominated for the Ernst and Young's Entrepreneur of the Year Philippines.

With all of Jimmy Thai's success he gives back to his community through the Primer Group's very own advocacy arm—C.O.R.E or the Center for Outdoor Recreation and Expedition. C.O.R.E aims to awaken and convert the masses to embrace the immediate and longstanding need to support environmental conservation, ecotourism and community development- a cause very close to Thai's heart.

The Primer Group has since opened businesses in the Asian region with partners and companies in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, South Korea, Taiwan and Japan.

PRIMER RESOURCES CORP.
A Member of the Primer Group of Companies
Primer Star Center, 2282 Leon Guinto Street, Malate, Manila 1004 Philippines
Tel: +63(2) 567-0611; 303-1234M
www.primergrp.com

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