Building a Better Society Through Social Entrepreneurship in Thailand
สวัสดี (Sà-wàt-dee) is probably the first word I heard when I arrived in Thailand. And the first one I learned.
The Thai language is one of the most melodic and charming in the world, and สวัสดี (Sà-wàt-dee), which means simple “Hi” or “Hello,” was the perfect introduction for the warm and beautiful welcome I received from social organizations and SAP colleagues upon arrival in Thailand.
I landed in Bangkok a week ago to start my four-week-long Social Sabbatical. This global pro-bono consulting program enables SAP employees to share their knowledge, skills, and expertise with non-profits and social enterprises all around the world.
My assignment for these four weeks is to help SE Thailand, an association founded in 2019 that empowers social businesses to grow, thrive, and scale their social impact through public-private-people partnerships. With my colleague @Geraldine Bornefeld, we’ll support the organization in designing a member acquisition strategy and a new membership benefits framework to fit the real needs of social enterprises.
We’ll be working with the SE Thailand team, understanding their challenges, programs, and initiatives, and meeting with business leaders, entrepreneurs, and other agents who work as intermediaries stimulating social enterprise startups and growth.
I’m sharing this experience with ten other SAP colleagues who form our Social Sabbatical cohort. They come from Germany, Brazil, the Czech Republic, the UK, and other countries. They’re working on projects in social enterprises like Moreloop, which sells surplus fabrics and upcycles them into new products, or NGOs like Kenan Foundation, which empowers individuals with the knowledge, technology, and skills necessary for a better future.
This Social Sabbatical cohort is a highly diverse team. Different expertise and experiences, diverse cultural backgrounds, generational differences, and distinctive personalities enrich our conversations, allow us to find new and creative solutions, and make this experience much more fun.
And without any doubt, above all the differences, there’s something that we share among all, the will to turn SAP’s vision of “helping the world run better and improve people’s lives” into action.
Impact Economy in Thailand*
Social enterprises (SE) are businesses whose primary purpose is addressing a social or environmental challenge rather than creating profit for owners or shareholders. They bring together the entrepreneurial skills of the private sector and the values of public service.
They aren’t new to Thailand. One of the first Thai social enterprises was a successful restaurant established in Bangkok in 1974, Cabbages and Condoms. It uses its proceeds to fund a sexual health education and provision program. Another interesting example is DoiTung, a project launched in 1989 to create jobs and community development in Doi Tung (Northern Thailand), an area affected by extreme poverty, opium cultivation, and trafficking of arms and people.
Below are some interesting facts about social enterprises in Thailand that I´ve found while researching the topic:
· As SEs take a range of forms and don’t all register as such, the exact number of SEs operating in Thailand is unknown. The estimated number goes between 100k to 120k SEs.
· SEs are most likely to be based in Bangkok.
· They operate within diverse industries. The top three are 1) agriculture, fisheries, and livestock; 2) health; and 3) education.
· Major challenges for SEs in Thailand are access to finance and awareness of social enterprises.
· SEs are more often led by women than general businesses are.
· To stimulate SEs, in 2010, the Thai government established the Thai Social Enterprise Office and developed a Social Enterprise Promotion Act, offering tax relief for corporations setting-up social enterprises and tax incentives for social investment.
*Source: Global Social Enterprise, THE STATE OF SOCIAL ENTERPRISE IN THAILAND by the British Council.
