Morten Søegaard 

Apparently, his name doesn’t easily trip off the tongue of Thai speakers and that is why the majority of Thai customers and his many employees refer to Morten as Mr M. One of Morten’s superpowers is his ability to attract and retain staff, with an attrition rate of only four staff members over his entire time in Thailand. Morten has built staff loyalty through  genuine interpersonal relationships with his staff, fostered through regular Wednesday badminton sessions and a monthly staff diner where partners are welcome. For Morten, team work makes the dream work.

Morten was actually born in Greenland, an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark, moving to Denmark as an infant, though he has made many visits to his birthplace since. Although Morten is a proud Dane, there is something about the awe-inspiring beauty and ruggedness of Greenland that marks it still as Morten’s favourite place in the world. Among his most cherished possessions are a number of mementos from Greenland including a carved walrus tusk and the tooth of a narwhal, historic collector’s items as conservation is now legally enforced.

Morten grew up in his home as an indulged only-child and by all accounts had an idyllic childhood. He has very fond memories of camping with his parents around Denmark but also of spending many holidays in Spain with his paternal grandparents, whose wise investments allowed them to retire to Spain while still in their 40s. While Morten loved Spain as a holiday destination, he strenuously resisted the suggestion from his parents that in his teen years he spend a year or two residing with his grandparents and learning the language. His heart was so firmly in Denmark at that point that teenage Morten would never have imagined that he would spend so much of his adult life living abroad, nor how internationally well-travelled he would become. 

The only aspect of Morten’s childhood that he particularly disliked were the dance lessons which his parents chose for him. Morten learnt the full range of ballroom dancing styles, entered lots of competitions, achieving success which could have led to a successful professional dancing career. However, Morten detested the fact that attendance at a party would see him required to dance with all of the old ladies because of his skill and talent. The experience made Morten determined to support his own children in what they want to do in their lives, without expectation.

Morten’s first learnings about business came from his father, who held a high-level job within the Coca-Cola company, and then worked in the bottled gas industry. It is quite ironic that Morten’s father’s last job before his retirement was working for his son. One of Morten’s early business ventures was the ownership of a large wooden vessel which he hired out for social and corporate events. Morten employed his own dad to take care of the ship.

At school, young Morten was courteous, studious and self-disciplined so naturally well-regarded by the teachers. Despite this, Morten did not particularly enjoy school and had no desire to pursue tertiary education after graduating from high school. His life had changed at the age of 13 when his parents divorced and he lived with his mother who had a tough time dealing with the changed circumstances. Morten suffered too, and struggled with the feeling that he was expected to be the man of the house while still a child.

This tension saw Morten move out of home at just 15. He worked in a large greenhouse company which grew roses for the European market, taking shifts outside school hours on at least five days a week, around 30 hours a week, to support himself through the last two years of high school. Morten finished school quite young for his cohort as a change of school in junior high saw him skip 8th grade entirely. Working in the greenhouse was hard, the perfume of the roses lovely but this first taste of independence was intoxicating.

Morten showed himself to be a loyal employee by working in his second job for Jysk for 12 years. JYSK is an international home furnishing retailer with Scandinavian roots, opened in 1979, that makes it easy to furnish every room in any home and garden. With more than 3,700 stores and webshops in 49 countries, Jysk competes in a similar marketplace with IKEA. Morten started as a shop assistant, learning the business from the roots up as he rose within the company hierarchy. Applying himself with dedication, Morten was the company’s purchasing manager by the age of just 21. For his final three years with the company, he held the role of Concept Development Manager, tasked with opening 100 new shops a year. It is Jysk’s founder, Lars Larsen, who Morten most admires, and from whom Morten learnt many of the more advanced business skills which serve him so well, to the present day.

When Morten had learnt all he could, he left JYSK and started his own company in Denmark, importing store fit-out equipment from China. The company was successful and Morten sold it to a customer who then asked him to open similar companies on their behalf around the world; in Poland, the Ukraine, Russia and China. These years allowed Morten to indulge his love of international travel.

Morten has a close relationship with his first child, a daughter now 24, who was born during these busy years. She shares his passion for outdoor adventures, having travelled widely with her dad as a child. Morten was determined not to lose his daughter in losing his relationship and had it written into his first job contract in China that for one week in six he would be in Denmark and so close to his child.

Morten knows his best friend would call him crazy, because he has lived a rollercoaster of a life, needing the ability to grow, change and adapt. It is in this willingness to embrace new challenges and opportunities that Morten sees his greatest achievement. The one downside is that Morten’s urge to create and innovate means he finds it difficult to slow the pace and turn off. Luckily though, Morten has learnt from past experiences, and so now ensures he prioritises his family; wife Yunita and their nine-year-old son Isak. Morten’s company in Hua Hin, Ferior Interior, constantly juggles 15 to 25 projects at the same times, yet he has only just officially opened his latest business venture, Padel Sozial, with two Danish business partners, so Morten had his hands completely full. Despite this, Sunday is family time, without fail. This could involve a picnic on the beach near their home in Sam Roi Yot, an easy 35-minute drive south of Hua Hin, or Morten’s favourite steak with a nice red wine. It’s very likely to include a few games of backgammon as well.

Morten and Yunita met and in Shanghai when they were working there, both a long way from their homelands. Their wedding took place in Yunita’s native Indonesia. The couple’s relationship with Hua Hin dates back to 2007 when they visited to attend a friend’s wedding. Even though both Morten and Yunita had good careers in China, they had already made some decisions about their life, going forward, and knew that they didn’t want to live out their eventual retirements in China. The couple’s path towards life in Hua Hin began with the purchase of a holiday home. Covid-19 had its input into the mix and the pair found themselves sitting out the pandemic in Thailand, their son just a toddler. The career skills of both Morten and Yunita were readily transferrable to Hua Hin, with Morten opening Ferior Interior, a one-stop custom design and refurbishing company which assists customers realise their dream homes. Yunita opened MY Honeypie, a café and quirky homewares store, within the same building on Phetkasem Road. The decision to base their lives in Hua Hin was deliberate. The couple wanted to raise their young son outside of either of their homelands, both experiencing the day-to-day struggle, as well as excitement, of expatriate living.

Morten believes he still needs to learn to say a firm “No”, but has difficulty in knowing when enough is enough. Morten can’t resist a good idea, and he still has lots of them. Despite having many projects on the go, Morten had to act on the Padel Sozial idea when it came to him. Padel is a ball sport, a cross between tennis and squash that was invented in Mexico in 1969 and then taken to Spain before spreading worldwide. In Hua Hin, both padel and pickleball have their own sets of adherents. Morten noticed that padel was of growing interest to the local community yet there were not sufficient courts to satisfy demand, so with two Danish business partners, he started planning to rectify that.

The 3rd October, 2026 saw the grand opening of Padel Sozial, just off Soi 94, as the premier padel destination in Hua Hin, with six courts, bathrooms, Subs Sandwich, a coffee shop/restaurant operated by Blush, and retail sales of equipment including padels and specialised shoes. People will go to Padel Sozial for the fun and exercise but stay for the food and the friendship. It has been a real coup for the Padel Sozial team to hire Khun Dao, Thailand’s no.1 female padel player and member of the National team to manage coaching and regular tournaments. Her input will be crucial to Padel Sozial’s ongoing success.

Morten is very content at exactly where his life is, right now. His businesses are at the point where his direct supervision is less frequently needed, allowing him a sense of freedom like never before. He and Yunita have agreed they would like more travel for pleasure, with a visit to Australia on Morten’s radar. Already planned is a week or so in Denmark for Christmas with family and a chance for Isak to experience his very first white Christmas. Another treat for the family would be more four day weekends like their recent snorkelling trip to Koh Tao.

In the future, Morten hopes to see Ferior Interior continue to prosper, perhaps even lead by Isak if that is his wish. Morten knows that the best way to make people happy is to accept and appreciate them for whoever they are, not for who you want them to be. And, of course, Morten wants to see both his children happy and settled within their own rewarding lives. As a parent, Morten has concerns about the future, especially in terms of war and the impact of artificial intelligence. He is already experiencing how difficult it is for Isak to tell the difference between reality and construct on social media.

Navigating the world with ease is becoming progressively more difficult for everyone. Morten knows that the Hua Hin area has already offered him a safe harbour both professionally and personally over that last six years and he can’t imagine a time when he would want to live anywhere else, because with Hua Hin, what you get is what you see, a great place to avoid the world’s turmoils.