Banpu Public Company Limited, an international versatile energy provider, in collaboration with ChangeFusion, revealed the list of 6 selected social enterprises who pass to the Acceleration Program of the 11^th Banpu Champions for Change program (BC4C#11). All 6 finalists have shown great potential in terms of building sustainable growth and creating an outstanding social impact that brings positive change to the society.

Mr. Rattapon Sukhunthee, Head of Corporate Communications, Banpu Public Company Limited, said “We have received great feedback from the BC4C#11’s Acceleration Program organized for the first time this year. Many SEs still need support in a number of ways to further their growth, particularly from a cooperation in the SE network, knowledge sharing from experts in their fields as well as technical assistance and experience sharing in a way that is specific and suitable for each business. This is not to mention the opportunities for SEs to meet with organizations or groups of investors who will continue to support them. We believe that if we enable social enterprises to grow stronger, the positive impact on society through what they do will also be expanded and that benefits everyone.”

For the selected 6 finalists that will go further to create positive change in our society in various dimensions, they are:

moreloop

A business that strives to create circular economy by adding value to good quality fabrics that are surplus from production processes in the textile and garment industry. It is a platform for consigning excess fabrics from factories to be upcycled into new products that help solve environmental problems in the long run.

a-chieve

A social entrepreneur that develops an ecosystem of Thai education guidance to help Thai youngsters to choose the right education and career path for themselves. They have developed a platform that allows those youngsters to design their own life paths and take good mental care of themselves. In addition, there is a platform that supports Thai guidance teachers to have a teaching process and tools to develop teaching in schools.

YoungHappy

An enterprise that reinforces the concept of lifelong learning and social participation for well-being among retirees through a happy community and activities that make the elderly feel fun and realize their self-worth and self-reliance.

Buddy Homecare

An enterprise that aims to solve 2 social problems at the same time by developing the potential of underprivileged tribal youth through granting scholarships for training courses on caring for the elderly and employing those youths as professional elderly care workers at an accessible price for elderly people who suffer from lack of caregivers.

Noburo

A fintech startup that creates a platform for employee debt relief. It will work with employers to improve the quality of life for workers with debt problems through the principle of “knowledge & capital”. By using technology and gamification in learning design, it will help employees to gain knowledge to be able to manage their finances while also accessing to fair credit until they can clear their debts both in the system and outside the system and have long-term savings.

Ooca

A pioneering venture in mental health in Southeast Asia, this is a platform that provides mental health counseling services via video calls with professional psychologists through application available on iOS and Android.

Mr. Sunit Shrestha, Managing Director of ChangeFusion, said “Over the past 10 years that we have been working on the BC4C program with Banpu, it is clear that the SE ecosystem in Thailand is gradually strongly growing year by year. To come up with this Acceleration Program is like filling the missing gap to allow SEs to be able to grow further. Of course, for some SEs, they can grow on their own but our support through this activity will further enhance and accelerate their work to bring positive impact to the society even faster and more continuously.”

The 6 finalists will work with a team of experts in analyzing the operations and developing their business profile, as well as receiving advice on how to improve the operations necessary for the development of their organization before meeting with investors or sponsors that are relevant to each SE. This is to provide fundraising opportunities as well as finding partners and further cooperation.

You can follow the progress and development of these 6 finalists from the 11^th Banpu Champions for Change (BC4C#11) at www.facebook.com/banpuchampions.

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About Banpu

Banpu Public Company Limited is an international versatile energy provider with 3 core groups of businesses: energy resources, energy generation and energy technology in 10 countries — Thailand, Indonesia, China, Australia, Lao PDR, Mongolia, Singapore, Japan, the United States of America and Vietnam.

“Learning is the power of change and development”

Banpu believes that “learning” is an important foundation for the development of “people”, which will drive communities and society towards sustainable development in long term. Banpu’s CSR programs in all countries, therefore, focus on supporting and promoting continuous learning among young generations and communities in various forms, allowing them to learn from real experiences as much as from their daily lives inside and outside classrooms. They are encouraged to practice and develop their potential as well as life skills while always being curious to research, learn and discover knowledge on their own as much as with others.