Boonsithi Chokwatana is the Chairman of Saha Group, Thailand's leading consumer products conglomerate. This is part 23 of a 30-part series .

On July 2, 1997, the Thai government abruptly announced that it would abandon the baht's peg to the U.S. dollar and shift to a managed float system.

The announcement sent the baht tumbling. Within a short period of time, it cost almost 50 baht to buy a dollar, up from 25 before the announcement. Uncertainty regarding the availability of credit spread to neighboring countries like an infectious disease.

It was the beginning of the Asian currency crisis, also known as "The Tom Yum Kung Crisis," after Thailand's famous hot-and-sour soup.

The Thai economy was booming in the 1990s. Excessive short-term money -- which had flown into Thailand due to high expectations -- began flowing out of the country once economic indicators started to stagnate. The Bank of Thailand, the country's central bank, tried to prop up the currency but lacking foreign reserves, the bank found it impossible to maintain its dollar peg, according to the textbook explanation.

The government kept saying there was nothing to worry about, and the Thai people believed the pronouncements. Many people were appalled by the government's sudden reversal, but I knew it was coming.

To nurture the country's newly established offshore market, the Thai government encouraged businesses to raise capital from overseas. Banks lent collected funds to domestic companies, and companies that had overseas Chinese roots -- which preferred debt-based business expansion over capital -- became involved in aggressive investments in real estate and stocks.

As I had witnessed the collapse of Japan's bubble economy in the early 1990s, I didn't think that such an overheated economy would last.

With the baht losing half its value, the country's dollar-denominated debts doubled. Unable to make repayments, numerous Thai banks and companies went bankrupt. The Thai economy registered negative growth for two years in a row, dealing a heavy blow to Saha, which mainly deals in consumer goods.

Since I was cautious about borrowing on the advice of my Japanese friends, I suffered relatively little damage. But my two elder brothers, Boon-Ek and Boonpakorn, were hit by the falling baht. They had borrowed money to increase investments and were pressed to repay debts after the currency crisis.

When I became the chairman of Saha Group, my brothers were heads of Saha Pathanapibul and Saha Pathana Inter-Holding. I asked my brothers to step down, and I became the representative of the two companies. I was worried it might damage the companies' credit standing if my brothers remained in their posts.

I didn't want the posts, but my taking control of the two core companies was beneficial in a way in selecting and consolidating unprofitable businesses. I decided to stop borrowing money and use my own capital for business as much as possible. That was the biggest lesson I learned from the currency crisis.

A sharp drop in the baht is bad for imports but good for exports. We decided to hold an export fair to expand new sales channels. We invited buyers from overseas and pitched our products at a hotel near our company.

The fair received a great response from our clients, and we have held the Saha Group Fair at the Bangkok International Trade and Exhibition Center every year since 1998.

It is also an exhibition and sales meeting for domestic vendors and consumers. The fair has become the biggest event involving all group companies, and we usually hold it around June 29, the anniversary of my father's death.

BNK48, the Thai affiliate of Japan's popular AKB48 idol group, participated in the fair in 2018, and Kumamon, the popular black bear mascot of Kumamoto Prefecture, was a guest in 2019.

Due to the spread of COVID-19, the fair was held online last year and this year. The two leading actors in the globally popular Thai drama "2gether: The Series," took part in those fairs, drawing many Japanese fans to the livestream.

This column is part of The Nikkei's "My Personal History" ("Watashi no Rirekisho") series of autobiographies. The series first appeared in The Nikkei in 1956. Since then, a wide variety of world-changing individuals have written or dictated their life stories for publication.