Throughout 10 years of Banpu Champions for Change (BC4C) project, Banpu Public Company Limited and the ChangeFusion Institute have joined forces to leverage the potential of new generation of social entrepreneurs. Generation after generation, they, with great determination, have built their businesses while also creating positive social impact on various issues that they are interested in. The project also aims at building a strong social enterprise network with more than 100 SEs supported. With experience gained from the project combined with the strength and the opportunities they had, this allows them to expand their own business until they could achieve goals in various dimensions from making their business to be accessible to funding to developing marketing and building their brand to be well-known as well as creating new line of products and expanding their business scale, etc. At the same time, mistakes or lessons they have learned along the way are what the BC4C project has closely observed as case studies. These were like "invaluable treasures" that can generate the great power when experienced SEs shared them with newcomers whenever people in the BC4C family are gathered.
In 2021, the BC4C project continued to organize activities for the 10th batch of participating entrepreneurs through an online channel. By bringing in knowledge and experts to join, they have paved the way for social entrepreneurs to be ready to move forward under current situation. The project also added a special activity entitled "SE Online Meet-up" for the first time by inviting several alumni in the BC4C network to share their knowledge and experiences in terms of business operations and give advice to the social entrepreneurs of BC4C#10. The activity aimed at increasing capacity of SEs, building a strong network for social enterprise groups and supporting entrepreneurs to achieve sustainable goals, both in terms of generating profits and creating a positive social impact. This activity has provided an opportunity for young entrepreneurs to learn from the experienced one, allowing them to realize business opportunities and connect to SE network.
Mr. Rattapon Sukhunthee, Head of Corporate Communications, Banpu Public Company Limited, said "In the 10th year of the BC4C project, Banpu and ChangeFusion have continuously organized online social entrepreneurship incubation activities since May. Over the past decade that Banpu has done this project, the SE Online Meet-up activity allows us to realize the strength of SE network members who complement each other's skills and experiences. They have the same goal which is to make social enterprises that survive real world of business while also bringing a positive social impact. Seeing those who have participated in the project return home to share knowledge to new generation of social enterprises makes us believe that our intention to stimulate passion and build network to support young SEs can truly bring them the power of change and development. We hope to see tangible success from the implementation of the knowledge that these young generations of SEs have gained soon."
This year's SE Online Meet-up event was held three times, each with guest speakers who used to join the BC4C project before or those experienced founders of social enterprises who would come to share their useful perspectives. Subjects being discussed during the activity include: how to scale up from project to real enterprise that allows participants to see opportunities to scale up and develop from a business idea to real business in the beginning stage; from retail customers to corporate customers or from private to government to enable young participants to see the opportunity in reaching another group of customers, both public and private organizations, who have purchasing power and intend to support social enterprise business through the perspective of experienced SEs who have been in business dealing with large corporations before; and creating social impact from a small scale to large scale to help strengthen understanding of young SEs in terms of social impact goals, encouraging them to better understand the beneficiaries of their own ventures and better reach people in the communities that are groups of producers.
What do the social enterprises that participated in the 10th BC4C project and joined the SE Online Meet-up activity think, let's hear them!
Luckhana Sanbungko, a member of BC4C#10 and an entrepreneur who found Banana Land, which is a social enterprise that draws the strengths of the community and add value to it, said, "In the past, we developed Ban Nong Bua Community, Phu Ho Sub-district, Loei Province, to become a community-based tourist attraction that generates income for people in the community. But the spread of COVID-19 greatly affected tourism business. Joining the BC4C program was like we found a compass that helped us understand the business world and helped us to find solutions by adapting to the ever-changing global situation. Learning from experienced people in the project's network through SE Online Meet-up activity inspires and enables us to apply the knowledge we gained to our business. For example, when community-based tourism businesses had to be halted during this period, we have brought community products to market and distribute through online channels. Part of doing that was to earn some revenues but another benefit was how we showed the readiness of people in the community and build business confidence for customers while encouraging them to come back to our community when the tourism business is up and running again. The business knowledge gained from the project strengthens the foundation of our business and makes us ready to bring more stability and sustainability to the community in the future."
As for Trin Rujiravanich, a member of BC4C#10 and an entrepreneur who found Food Loss Food Waste which is a business that turns organic waste into value while preserving the environment, said, "The SE Online Meet-up activity allows me to learn from perspectives and experiences that have been filtered without having to make mistakes on my own. In the end, the benefits of this activity would be how we manage to make our work even more efficient, save more time, and getting to know the problems of other businesses which brings us an opportunity to help each other, share and expand business together between BC4C alumni and new comers. For example, as I received information about how to work with the government agencies from Khun Somsak of Local Alike and from Khun Surasek from Toolmorrow, I am so proud and delighted to be a part of the BC4C network in this tenth year, which has been a very challenging year. Doing a business is difficult enough but to do a business with aim to benefit society and the environment, is simply harder. Therefore, it is very important to join forces for a common goal."
Although this SE Online Meet-up activity had to be organized in an online format due to the limitations of the current situation, it can still bring great knowledge to the participants, build a good relationship between those who came before and the new members of the project, and build SE network in Thailand to grow even stronger.
Somsak Boonkam, an alumni from BC4C#2 and founder of Local Alike, a social enterprise in tourism that focuses on sustainable community development, said, "Reuniting and sharing experiences to the new members of the BC4C project is a very good one. I have seen the development and changes every year. This is not to mention that with different period of time comes different context of how they should do business and create social impact. To join the activity, I also learned how to do business in new ways from our brothers and sisters in the project as well. BC4C is committed to bring in the good to participants of the project from the beginning. The activities organized by the project help create connections in social enterprise network, and I, as an alumnus, am ready to collaborate with everyone to overcome any difficulties. I think supporting each other within the network of entrepreneurs is very helpful. This allows businesses to keep moving forward during times like these."
Banpu Champions for Change truly reflects the support of small businesses by large corporation as they look into the positives that will follow when these social enterprises have a solid foundation and will inevitably pay back to society as well as creating sustainability in various dimensions. After participating in this intensive social entrepreneur incubation activity, BC4C#10 participants will be able to apply their knowledge to develop their own business plans for better efficiency. And they would come back to present their business plan again for the opportunity to be selected as one of the five finalists of BC4C#10 who will receive additional funding for further business expansion. Those who are interested can share your support and follow good stories from these social enterprises in the Banpu Champions for Change. For more details, please visit www.facebook.com/banpuchampions.