Wandee Khunchornyakong doesn't fit the usual stereotype of a start-up founder.
At 60 years old, she's much older than your typical budding entrepreneur.
Yet in her home country of Thailand she was the first person willing to take a chance on an industry still in its infancy - solar power.
In fact, she was so convinced of the sector's potential that she came out of retirement to set up her own company.
Thailand, forced to shift away from once-plentiful natural gas reserves, was for the first time ever offering to buy back solar power from private firms.
With enough free time to look into the numbers, and having previously had some experience in the use of solar energy in rural areas, Ms Khunchornyakong felt instinctively that the sector offered a compelling opportunity.
Ultimatum
Yet when she started trying to fund her first solar project, not a single bank was willing to lend her the money, as none of them believed it could be a profitable business.
In frustration she issued an ultimatum to a Thai bank that sported a green logo to indicate support of environmental projects. She insisted that if the bank was not willing to lend her the money it would have to change the colour of its logo.
"He really didn't want to change the colour of the bank so he agreed to start talking. That's the way I can convince the management to at least listen."
Eventually the bank gave her a loan for 60% of the start-up costs, leaving her to find the other 40%.