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After five years of working in real estate, Michael Kenny ’89 decided it was time to see the world before settling down with a family and career. Now, over 12 years later, he is still living and working in Thailand.
Kenny is CEO of Agoda Company, an independent online travel agency that specializes in securing the lowest discount hotel prices. Based in Singapore with operations in Bangkok and the Philippines, Agoda’s network includes 7,000 hotels in Asia and more than 33,000 worldwide.
“After I graduated from Lafayette, a few good friends of mine traveled around the world at various times, always sharing their experiences upon their return,” explains Kenny. “That certainly planted the seed. I prepared a two-year plan to first travel around the world for a year and then work one year in my favorite destination. After traveling through Europe, I was nearly out of funds, but decided that I still needed to experience Asia. I had enough money for a one-way ticket to Bangkok, and then almost immediately started looking for work.”
Kenny took a position as training manager at a five-star resort in Phuket, Thailand, and decided to pursue entrepreneurial ventures in tourism, which was booming in Phuket at the time.
Agoda is nearing its 11-year anniversary, and Kenny is proud to have steered the company through various changes from the start.
“The most challenging part for me has been dealing with the rapid growth of the business and the change required at each stage,” he says. “I have had to lead the company through each phase, from being a start-up in a garage in Phuket with just one employee to now having almost 200 employees in central Bangkok. Some business ideas didn’t work out, some managers and employees didn’t work out, some business partners didn’t work out, and we even had to pack up the entire operation and move to Bangkok in 2001, but I somehow had to keep myself and the business on track.
“It has not been easy, and the more problems and crises I deal with each day, the more resilient I believe I become. This gives me confidence going forward that any and all problems, no matter how large, can be dealt with in time.”
The economics and business graduate believes his undergraduate experience was the best preparation for his career as an entrepreneur.
“[My education] was broad enough to give me exposure to a number of different disciplines, and it kept me open-minded as far as my opportunities in the world,” he says. “When I left the U.S. in 1994, I really believed I could start almost any business in any country in the world. It was just a matter of finding the right opportunity.”
Kenny has put advice he received from Dale Falcinelli, former visiting assistant professor of economics and business, to good use throughout his career.
“I excelled in his courses and through his encouragement, I decided I was really cut out for business,” he says. “After one particularly horrendous presentation I gave before the class, I remember him giving me a one-hour pep talk afterwards, telling me that this ‘failure’ was actually the best thing that had ever happened to me, as you can only really learn from your failures. Those thoughts helped me in my early years as an entrepreneur, as I certainly had many failures along the way.”
Michael Kenny ’89