From food and transportation to travel and entertainment, we now live in an era of on-demand, instant gratification thanks to the convenience of technology. With a tap of the screen, users can order their meals, rides, flights and watch movies instantly or within a matter of minutes.
With Thailand being a hub for start-up companies, and with on-demand services gaining traction in the country, you’d think that most industries would have been covered already — but there’s still much more to tap into. Two childhood friends, Dalad Tantiprasongchai and Supatra Bromilow, have developed a new on-demand service application distinct to Thailand and most of the Asian region. Recently winning dtac Accelerate, a Thai start-up accelerator programme last month, the app, called FABbrigade, looks to transform the beauty, health and lifestyle industry in the region — something that’s been mostly overlooked in the male-driven world of start-up companies.
Imagine this: tapping on your mobile screen and within a few hours, fitness instructors, massage therapists and professional hair, nail and make-up artists appear right at your doorstep. That’s what FABbrigade, essentially is — an Uber for health, beauty and wellness.
Dalad Tantiprasongchai and Supatra Bromilow.
The idea came to Dalad eight months ago when she was still in her corporate investment job, flying back and forth between Thailand and numerous countries. Allocating time between her family and getting stuck in traffic for her hair, nail and spa appointments, the light bulb moment came one day after being late to a nail salon appointment due to traffic and flipping through a magazine that featured beauty services on demand that had been trending in the United States.
“I thought it was a brilliant idea,” she said excitedly whilst sipping her iced tea at a hotel coffee shop one morning. She messaged the idea to her closest group of friends, and Supatra, at that time a freelance film production manager, decided to join the venture. Making their own personal investment in the company and quickly finding two angel investors, it was non-stop work from there.
“They say when you hit a light bulb moment, everything kind of comes together,” said Dalad. “We both started working together to formulate an idea, came up with a business plan, spoke to every start-up founder, reached out to a lot of mentors from Bain & Company, spoke to people I knew who left corporate jobs to start a business to understand their experiences and attended start-up conferences in Hong Kong. I wanted to make sure nobody else in the region was doing what FABbrigade is doing.”
Pre-launched in December 2015 at Wonderfruit with positive feedback and officially launched in February this year, FABbrigade targets the A+ to B income demographic level who are, like the founders, conscious about lifestyle, beauty and fitness, but are time-strapped due to their extremely demanding professional lives.
For now, customers should book up to four hours in advance, and prices for the services are based on market benchmarking. GLAMbrigade (make-up and hair) starts at 900 baht, and OMbrigade (yoga and Pilates) starts at 1,650 baht, a decent price. Their spa and nail services will launch later this year.
“There’s market inefficiency,” explained Dalad. “If you look at hair and make-up artists or yoga and Pilates teachers, they’re all freelancing. When customers have an event to go to, unless they are celebrities and have A-list make-up artists on call, it’s very difficult to both find the artists and book them last minute. People want personalised services but they don’t know where to search and discover them.”
Their customers though, aren’t just those who want the health and beauty services, but the ones providing them as well. FABbrigade now has around 300 registered professionals in their field – called “FabSquad” members, and they are looking to provide these artists and teachers with help and extra income.
On-demand beauty and wellness app FABbrigade.
“We interviewed a lot of make-up artists — I had a few numbers in my phone book. Supatra comes from film production so she brings in hair and make-up artists she used to work with. We had different focus groups where we needed to get into their heads and understand what they wanted,” Dalad explained.
“We wanted to understand how the professionals think and work, and how FABbrigade can help their profession and remove the barriers that they have today. That was our priority. It’s basically bridging two pools of people together to make their lives easier.”
With their flawless attire, panda-less eyes and healthy glow, it’s hard to imagine that the 32-year-old friends spend endless stressful hours in the office in order to develop and perfect the application. Dalad, with her corporate management consultant background, deals with investments, business strategics and the big picture. While Supatra, with her more creative background and management skills from film sets, deals with branding, marketing and overseeing day-to-day operations.
Having left what they both described as comfortable, high-paying jobs to take the risk to create their start-up, now, FABbrigade has taken over their lives, with every moment of the day involved with the app.
“I’m used to being in a very high-stress job,” said Dalad. “Even when I started at 23, I’m used to working at 4am, flying three or four times a week and living out of a suitcase. I had thought that was the toughest thing from a professional point of view. But when I started FABbrigade with Supatra, we now have a team of five to six people we manage, and I think it’s been the hardest thing that I’ve had to do professionally.”
They also saw positive changes in themselves.
“Coming on board was definitely the hardest decision, but also the best decision,” Supatra said. “FABbrigade is my baby. Every other job I did was someone else’s baby. I’d like to say that I gave it my all with those jobs, but I feel like when it’s your own baby, you see your full potential so much more. I never knew I had that much more drive or dedication to actually give to a job. It comes in at every moment in time where you think about it non-stop.”
Though only officially launched for two months, FABbrigade has been gaining more popularity, with more and more make-up artists and fitness teachers signing up with their company. Dalad and Supatra are still working to get the public to understand the service more, and they see a bright future, with failure not an option.
“Our joint vision is to take this regional,” said Dalad. “We want it to be the premier mobile-led answer to old beauty and wellness needs. That means that we have the potential to expand our services to areas like spa, nails, waxing, boxing, personal fitness, but also moving along that line to eventually partner with cosmetics brands to see our platform as the next generation of sales channels.
“That’s what’s next for FABbrigade. To be a regional player, and to also be a success story for Thailand. It shows what Thailand is capable of doing from a talent point of view.”
This source first appeared on Bangkok Post Lifestyle.