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34 Panel 2undertakings. I stayed and closely related with somefamilies.One interesting finding was how a married coupleworked to develop a garment and weaving enterprisewhose outputs were exported to Malaysia, anddistributed to other areas in Thailand. When theenterprise belonged to the wife’s parents, it producedlimited amounts of woven garments, for which thevillage was famous, and distributed their productsaround north Thailand only. When the parents passedaway, the wife took over the business. She was thenspending most of her time tending to the family’sfarmland and raising their children, while the husbandworked in another place far from Lhampun. After theplanting season was over, the wife would stay at homeand weave, while the husband came back to workelsewhere. During the harvest season, both of themtended their crops and sold their produce to their loyalcustomers. Then she would go back to her routine, andso would her husband.Until one day, they decided to focus on their weavingof garments and developed it into a business. Theyboth took control of the management of the businessand recruited some more people to help them in theirworkshop. They worked on household matters andraised their children together. They made this decisionin order to fulfill their dream to send their children toa better school so that they would have better lives.These days, the wife is actively involved, once a week,in economic empowerment activities in her village.These activities are held either in the center of thevillage or in the temple. The couple has also been activein village meetings and temple rituals. In the templeactivity, the wife would join other women of the villagein preparing for the worship rituals and othertraditions. There have been times when she would bein the temple only to prepare for the worship ritual.During the wife’s busy time with her social and ritualactivities, her husband would take over the business, aswell as the household chores. Their workshop andshop are located in the same yard as their house, so ithas proved easier to oversee their business from home.Photo 1: Married couple engaged in entrepreneurship following thefootsteps of their parents. In Lhampun, Northern ThailandI also found different backgrounds and motivations insome couples and singles during my research inYamazoe, Nara Prefecture, Japan, whereentrepreneurship and agriculture have been the mainlivelihoods in the village, passed from generation togeneration. One of my respondents, Mrs. W has owncafe was actually not a local villager, but she becameone of the locals when she married a local man who is apolitician. Both were raised by entrepreneur families soit was almost natural that the wife could see anopportunity to create a business in the village.However, when asked why she started theentrepreneurial?, she said it was merely a hobby thather husband also supported.Mrs. W-café owner explained her business motivation:“I like cooking and making new recipes, just likewhat my mother did. She used to cook forcustomers in her restaurant”.“I wanted to make a bigger cafe where I candisplay my homemade cookies. My husbanddoes not object to my activities, he even helpedme find a location for this cafe. This cafe wasactually an empty place. We rented this placebecause of its location: it is not far from myhouse and family”.The Work of the 2010/2011 API Fellows