Banpu presents four winners from 4th Banpu Champions for Change Inspiring young generation to become the “Power of Change and Development”
Banpu Public Company Limited officially introduced the final four social enterprises of “Banpu Champions for Change #4 or BC4C #4”. Each winning team received a 200,000 Baht grant along with various ongoing support programs via workshops and mentorships to help the finalists further build their successful and sustainable social enterprises. Through BC4C#4 program, these young social entrepreneurs have developed their SEs and now have created some positive impacts to the society. The four winning teams are HIVE, Ma:D, WinPhysics and Wyn.
‘HIVE’ is an authentic travel and social development agency that provides fun and exciting activities. It provides travelers unique, fun travel activities whilst mitigating the negative footprints of tourism on their way of life, culture and environment. These activities are shown in HIVE website and application for travelers to select.. HIVE aims to help local communities generate extra income from tourism while raising social impact and promoting Thai culture to foreigners. The company takes a part of its profits to help new social entrepreneurs who would like to pursue the same path.
‘Ma:D’ is a collaborative community for anyone who is interested in social enterprise. Ma:D creates co-working spaces, organizes events and workshops that are related to social issues. This community is expected to be a hub for sharing and exchanging knowledge to grow sustainable social enterprise networks.
‘WinPhysics’ is a Physics tutoring website,WinPhysics.com, which offers various teaching methods such as videos and online games. The website aims to provide equal opportunity for Thai students with international standard curriculums. WinPhysics.com keeps track records of each student who signed up that would help teachers to develop their teaching techniques to fit students’ needs.
‘Wyn’ is a digital agency for social good that provides graphic design, mobile application and website development. Wyn serves as a digital career hub supplying work to young generation such as high school and college students as well as people with disabilities. Wyn aims to give them opportunity to learn, develop skills, generate income, and gain experiences which will lead them to good career path in digital field.
According to Mrs. Udomlux Olarn, Head of Corporate Affairs, Banpu Public Company Limited “Banpu Champions for Change program aims to inspire and support young social entrepreneurs to operate their SE sustainably, with profitable growth and having positive social impact on Thai society. The winning programs are supported by Banpu through financial means, business guidance, and networking.
“From the total proposed projects, 10 projects were selected to receive initial funding of up to THB 50,000 each. Following this, four outstanding projects with significant performance results and a high potential to be further developed as promising social enterprises, are shortlisted to receive additional funding of up to THB 200,000 per project for the second-phase implementation,” she said.
This year, Banpu has continued to partner with the Change Fusion Institute, a non-profit institute under the Thai Rural Reconstruction Movement Foundation under the Royal Patronage, to organize workshops that aim to equip the young entrepreneurs with essential business skills such as business model development, financial planning, and social and environmental impact assessment. Banpu has also invited experts from various industries such as professor from renowned university of Thailand, owner of co-working space, well known writer and marketer to be mentors for 10 winning teams so they can connect and further expand their networks.
“We believe that knowledge and networking is far more important asset than financial support to grow a business because these relationships never perish and continue to reap benefits for everyone,” Mrs. Udomlux Olarn added.
Preekamol (Gift) Chantaranijakorn, co-founderof Ma:D, said that BC4C helps fulfill their dream in building social enterprise that creates a collaborative working space and community.
“We really appreciate and thank Banpu for its support that does not focus solely on financial means. We have gained so many good advice and guidance and made great connections and networks from mentors that Banpu introduced us to. The knowledge from management and accounting workshop were also practical to the real business world.”
“Banpu is very proud to inspire and mentor these young entrepreneurs to be successful like other previous participants such as Local Alike, a community-based tourism platform connecting travelers around the world with meaningful experiences in Thailand. Local Alike has helped society and increase income to community. It has gained recognition from domestic and international tourists and received many awards such as DBS-NUS Social Venture Challenge Asia from National University of Singapore and Srinakharinwirot University Social Enterprise Contest. Another successful BC4C winner is New Heaven, a diving school that dedicate to upholding eco-tourism with coral conservation in Koh Tao. Making artificial coral is an example of its conservative activity. New Heaven strives to promote sustainable business practices that will preserve the tropical island paradise. It has been wonderful to see these social enterprises grow and prosper while make a good impact to Thai society,” Mrs. Udomlux Olarn added.
“Banpu is committed to continue the BC4Cprogram that has inspired many young entrepreneurs who do not yet know how to start and operate sustainable business because we believe that “Learning is a Power of Change and Development.” Mrs. Udomlux Olarn concluded.
