The same determination that Yuth Vorachattarn displayed as a child, when he peddled candy on Bangkok's streets to earn money to stay in school, is helping to keep Thailand's new stock market afloat. "I enjoy a challenge," he says. "And helping our SMEs [small and medium enterprises] with long-term capital needs certainly is a challenge."

More than 18 months after it was launched to attract high-growth exporters and high-tech firms, the Market for Alternative Investment, which Yuth runs, still has no listings. A former deputy director-general of the Government Savings Bank, Yuth blames the MAI's slow start on Thailand's weak economic recovery, rising oil prices and the lack of an equity culture among Thais. Another discouraging fact: South Korea's Kosdaq and Hong Kong's Growth Enterprise Market, two other markets designed to aid small companies, also are struggling.

But the enthusiastic Yuth, 53, expects the first-quarter listing of Team Precision Co., a family-owned manufacturer of printed circuit boards used in everything from remote controls to motion detectors, to break the ice. "Some 15 SMEs already have taken on financial advisers, and we expect at least 20 to 25 listings this year," he says. So far, Yuth and his intrepid team have visited nearly 200 companies, searching for listees.