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CHANGE MAGAZINE
editor’s note.
The Regional Social Enterprise Knowledge &
SOCIAL INNOVATION, REAL WORLD OPPORTUNITIES
Partnership Symposium: Social Enterprise for we would like to share everyone the
a Sustainable Future in Asia, held on the 15th insightful topics which were openly shared
and 16th of November has come to a and healthy debated at the Symposium, as
Ideas Thailand: 5 top-voted winners from Thailand first
spectacular close. I would like to give thanks well as the direction of social enterprise in policy crowd-sourcing initiative
to all co-organizing partners, namely the Thai Thailand and in other countries across Asia. 25 November 2010
Social Enterprise Office, the British Council, We hope that this issue of CHANGE
Ideas Thailand Project has formally come to a close on
K r u n g t h e p T u r a k i j n e w s p a p e r, a n d Magazine would inspire, and spread the 25th November 2010 with the winners of the project
ChangeFusion Institute. I believe that message of a sustainable future through having been announced. After undergoing through a
Symposium will generate the essential social enterprise from the Symposium to rigorous selection process, 3,000 ideas were shortlisted
into 20 ideas for people to vote for their favorite ideas.
momentum that will drive the growth of everyone, both within Asia and Thailand.
Selected based on the number of votes from an online
social enterprise sector in Asia, especially in poll and regular mail voting, 5 top-voted ideas have
Thailand. Apart from being a platform where now been provided with a research funding of 100,000
hundreds of social entrepreneurs and baht and various support from the Thai government to
implement these ideas. This has been the first time in
industry professionals convened to share the history of the Royal Thai Government where a
their ideas and experiences, the Symposium policy crowd-sourcing initiative has been launched,
is also a birthplace for Social Enterprise Thanapon Sreshthaputra giving the chance for any individual to submit their
ideal solutions and dream projects to the government,
Network Asia, which is a network that both online and offline.
positions itself to be the main driving force for
the growth of social enterprise and social For more information, please visit: http://pm.go.th/
ideasforthailand/
innovation in Asia.
21 TESTIMONIAL
4
Application to GSVC South East Asia Round for The First Finnish Social Enterprise Conference; 24-25th
2010-2011 is now open! November 2010
The Global Social Venture Competition (GSVC) is now The first Finnish social enterprise conference was held
opened for the South East Asian participants who have on 24-25th November 2010. With the aim to generating
a strong, innovative business idea for social and inspiration for participants start social enterprise by
environmental impact. GSVC is the first competition to showing the best practices and social innovation, the
promote graduate-student entrepreneurs, initiated by event-cum-exhibition showcased many special sessions
University of California, Berkeley in 1999. Since 2007, with the keynote speakers from the UK and Finland
Thammasat University has been the first university in such as Barry Roberts of Turning Point and Nigel Lowthro
South East Asia that has partnered in hosting the of Hill Holt Wood.
competition.
For more information, please visit:
www.socialbusinessint.com/
For more information, please visit: www.gsvc-sea.org/
index.html
CHANGE
EVENT Seventh Annual Conference on Social Entrepreneurship
AKI opened the new house.
Low-cost Housing
the data provided by the Office of the Third
Sector in the UK, there are 62,000 social
enterprises which produces 45 billion US dollars
Hideyuki Inoue in turnover; that amount is equal to 1 percent
Founder and President of the country’s GDP. These enterprises are not
Energy
Social Venture Partners Tokyo only creating immeasurable amounts of social
impacts for the country, they are in essence
becoming a significant contributor to the
economy.
A Huge Market
Source:
Harvard Business Review - September 2010
CHANGE MAGAZINE
SOCIAL INNOVATION, REAL WORLD
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7
As for Thailand, although the concept of Although the concept of Hybrid Value As the world has been severely
social enterprise has not yet become a Chains sounds very great on paper, the threatened by social and environmental
buzzword, it does not mean that social question that needs to be asked is, “How problems, new innovations in combination
enterprises does not exist in Thailand. One can HVCs be put into practice?” In order with entrepreneurial skills has already
of the most successful social enterprise in for the two sectors to work together been proven to address the world’s most
Thailand is perhaps Mae Fah Luang effectively, the focus must be on creating pressing social problems while creating
Foundation under Royal Patronage. The real economic value while simultaneously profitable enterprise. Thus, the social
foundation supports sustainable career creating social value. Let us take the sector has rapidly gain the interest of
path for people within the Mae Fah Luang housing industry as an example; presently, social investors. The rising profile of social
community. Through this promotion, locals one-sixth of the world’s population lives in enterprise is not happening only in the
hill-tribe villagers are prepared to become slums and cities. This means that there are western world, as many social ventures
self-reliant in terms of production planning billion of people who do not have access funds and social investing firms have now
and business management. In the end, to a formal housing market or do not been established in Asia. According to
after undergoing an extensive even have a proper place to stay. In term the information from Impact Investment
development process, the community of marketing, this implies that a low cost Exchange, a Singapore based company
was able to establish a brand of coffee, housing market potentially worth trillions of that provides a trading platform that acts
Doi Tung, that could equally compete on dollars exists out there that waiting for a as an intermediary between social
the same level with other international solution. In India, there are large numbers entrepreneurs and social investors, the
and domestic coffee brands. The key of consumers who have a steady source growth rate of social enterprise is
difference, however, lies in the fact that of income but lack proof of financial exponentially rising according to the
Doi Tung coffee help enhance the living stability; thus making them ineligible for forecast on the first quarter in 2011 in 4
quality of the people in the Mae Fah mortgage loans. Unfortunately, for a countries; Bangladesh, Malaysia,
Luang community, and the profits are business acting alone, penetrating into Indonesia, and Thailand. The company
reinvested back to forest conservation this incredibly large untapped market is expects to be able to raise capital for
programs within the area. no easy task, otherwise this housing more than $240,000 dollars. The amount is
market would not be left untapped until not a donation but rather a profitable
Apart from all the disruptive innovations recently. Nonetheless, with the help from investment that will give investors with
that have been created, another CSOs, the story for low-cost housing has double or triple-bottom line returns; on
astonishing business concept introduced totally changed. In this particular housing both financial, social and/or
by Ashoka, is the so called “Hybrid Value case, CSOs act as demand aggregators, environmental returns.
Chains” (HVCs). Conceptually, HVCs is a who bring groups of consumers to for-
paradigm shift in how businesses operate profit developers, or as full design and Unequivocally, socially conscious
as well as guide businesses to profitable investment partner. As a result, more than individual across the world have come to
niches that are highly uncontested, let 2,500 homes have been built, with 7,500 a realization that the the world is in peril;
alone explored. More importantly, HVCs more to come in the next 18 months, consequences of our collective action
represents the way by which private representing more than $100 million in that has compounded into the present
sector business and Citizen Sector sales. From the story, it is more than social and environmental crisis. Therefore,
Organizations (CSOs) could collaborate. apparent that people at the bottom of it should come as no surprise that social
On one hand, the collaborations could the pyramid, more than 50% of the world’s enterprises can and will be the main
help the businesses expand their reach population, should not be overlooked. It driving force to lead the fight against the
into an untapped market of 4 billion has already been proven that people at world’s impending crisis. As for Asia, while
people who are not yet part of the the bottom of the pyramid can be a the region’s awareness of social
world’s formal economy. On the other hidden fortune for any business. entrepreneurship and the
hand, firms that adopt HVCs may be able aforementioned concepts is still in its
to tackle large-scale problem that could infancy, it is undeniable that social
not have been solved by any group that enterprise is going to be the next
is working to solve the issue on their own. investment gold mine for Asia. Now, it is
just a matter of time before the social
enterprise sector reach critical mass and
flourish as the next hottest investment
opportunity that yields the triple bottom
line returns.
10
SE in Asia landscape
CASE
unique potential. Keita Suzuki, founder of Kaien,
strongly believes in harnessing the uniqueness
strengths that people with ASD have which can
contribute to society, such as ability to recognize
irregularities, acute sense of details, their Job Training with
adeptness for repetitive works, great confidence Opportunities Kaien
on rational thought and great fit with high-tech
equipment, these people are given training,
assisted with job placement and continuously
Investment Promotion Policy for Sustainable Development with counseling, these individuals are given the Kaien
rare opportunity to become contributing
SE Cases (1st pitch) members of society. This is quite significant
because such opportunities have alluded the
ASD community for so long especially in Japan, Job
where up to 85% or 150,000 people have been Placement
excluded in the opportunity to integrate with
highly homogeneous society. Built on a financial
sound business model that capitalizes on the
affirmative action policy of the Japanese Govt
government and placement fees that Corporates
corporations pay to Kaien, the venture aims to
generate $5 USD in annual revenue by 2020.
PEA
CHANGE MAGAZINE
SOCIAL INNOVATION, REAL WORLD
OPPORTUNITIES
13 Q: For corporation such as SCG Group, do you 14
think that the concept of social enterprise is still in
the niche market?
ChangeInsight
projects that aims to address social and
“ A good intention
environment issues?
”
through a good business model which will create silver lining and if you can find opportunity from the story of the product and how we capitalize on
the emotionality of buyers.
financial sustainability as well as generate the
desired social environmental impact. With this
any challenges, then anything is possible. We
need to have a positive mindset. We need a anything is possible.
concept in mind, students will encouraged to stay balance between social impact and financial What we learned from this one-hour interview is
true to their ambitions and eventually start their returns as it will promote the growth and that social issues are gaining increasingly
own social enterprise. sustainability of the business. prevalent in our society, both in Thailand and the
world. Time and time again, business gurus,
Q: What are the most important factors in being a experts and industry leaders say that we should
good entrepreneur? seek opportunity from crisis. However, in some
cases, opportunities can spring out of creativity,
A: Money is of course an important factor. innovation and the passion to make things better.
However, knowledge is more important. Usually
we do not provide grant-based support to most
projects. This is because we do not want them to
take it for granted. Let’s look at our check-dam
construction project as an example. We did not
give those who propose the project with cash,
instead we hired them to manage the project.
This helps them learn about management and
efficient resource allocation. As for this case,
because there is only five pick-up trucks within
that village, villagers had to learn how to delegate
work so that everyone within the community can
contribute to the project and earn the living
equally. By doing so, they will become a good
entrepreneurs.
CHANGE MAGAZINE
SOCIAL INNOVATION, REAL WORLD
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In Thailand there is also a group people
17 who share the same passion in helping
disadvantaged group of people in the
society as well as cleaning the community.
Driven by their passion to help society,
Brittany Fox, a volunteer from the US, and
Panida Ponkampin (Tukta), student at
Ramhkamhaeng University, have decided
to take action in an entrepreneurial initiative
that does not only help to recycle waste in
Bangkok, but also empowering an
impoverished group of ladies in the
community. In order to achieve their goals,
in 2009 they start an enterprise called Thai
Song Fairtrade that would serve to
supplement the women’s group income for
these women, the venture acting as a sales
and marketing organization for green
products—products which are crafted from
plastic bags. Currently, while Thai Song is
still in a start-up stage and has only worked
with one community, Thai Song plans to
expand and work with more communities
in the near future to help more
underprivileged women who are being
neglected in Thai society. (For more
information, please visit: http://
thaisongfairtrade.org/)
The overwhelming amounts of waste has Invisible Sisters is a social enterprise based Although these two venture are just groups
long been one of the world’s most in Philippines, which has been supported of ordinary individuals living in big, urban
pressing issues, especially in big cities. by Asian Social Enterprise Incubator cities, both of social enterprise shares the
Fortunately, there are still several different (ASEI). With the goals of reducing plastic same passion and goals in making society
groups of people who are concerned waste and providing income opportunity a better place. They have shown us that no
about this ticking timebomb, especially for poor urban woman, Invisible Sisters matter who you are, as long as you possess
social entrepreneurs. Although living in have come up with an simple idea of the inner calling to make a difference as
different countries and had never come collecting plastic waste in the community well as are willing to act upon your ideals,
across each other, with the passion in and turn them into chic designed purses. there will be a viable business opportunity
making their society a better place, many Currently, with the cooperation from the even in the most destitute areas using
social entrepreneurs have taken an local recycling industry, Invisible Sisters has materials which other people consider as
initiative in collecting wastes found established over 30 collection points and garbage.
around their own communities and have recycled more than 800,000 plastic
finding way to transform them into bags, which in turn has providing extra
valuable products. Although most of the income to as many as100 families.
venture’s activities have to do with turning Although, nowadays Invisible Sisters is still
waste into products, many of their under the support of ASEI, the venture is
activities are not only limit to the expected to spin-off and become a
environmental impact as what each sustainable social enterprise by 2011. ASEI
venture is doing are also bringing about are also expecting that in the near future,
significant social impacts. In this second the work of Invisible Sisters would
issue, CHANGE Magazine will delve into generate a sustained impact for a better
the profiles of these recycled-products environment as well as put more smiles on
entrepreneur, shedding light into the inner the most destitute Filipinos. (For more
workings of their business and their information, please visit: http://
motivations that drives them what to invisiblesisters.org/whatwedo.php)
make their society a better place.
Photo by:
Shreyans Bhansali
change people
CHANGE MAGAZINE
SOCIAL INNOVATION, REAL WORLD
OPPORTUNITIES
19 20
Hideyuki Inoue
Founder and President, Social Venture Partners Tokyo
Associate Professor, Keio University, Graduate School of Policy and Media Zulfiqar Ahmed
Director of Programmes and Development
Inoue is a founder and president of Social Venture Partners Tokyo and Associate Professor at Keio UnLtd UK
University, Graduate School of Policy and Media. In 2001, Inoue has joined Entrepreneurial Training
for Innovative Communities (ETIC), a non-profit organization which fosters entrepreneurship among Zulfiqar Ahmed is Director of Programmes and Development. Joining UnLtd UK since 2002, he is
people in their 20s. He also established a fund called Social Venture Partners Tokyo to which responsible for business development and the delivery of awards and support programmes in the
individual partners contribute their time, knowledge and funding in order to nurture social North of England, Midlands and Northern Ireland. He has worked as a systems analyst for a major
entrepreneurship. bank; on agriculture and infrastructure programmes in Pakistan before establishing Equal Consulting,
! a boutique consulting firm specialising in IT solutions supporting voluntary organizations through
Vishnu Swaminathan change, and helping public bodies to improve the impact of their work with minority ethnic
Senior Change Leader (Director)
!
communities.
Ashoka
M.L. Dispanadda Diskul
Vishnu Swaminathan is currently the Senior Change Leader (Director) of the Housing For All Chief Development Officer, Doi Tung Development Project
programme under the Full Economic Citizenship initiative of India. The Full Economic Citizenship Mae Fah Luang Foundation under Royal Patronage
initiative aims to end economic exclusion for two thirds of the world's population by market-based
solutions to provide basic needs. Vishnu was also Director of a leadership school in Pune, India, and M.L. Dispanadda Diskul is a Chief Development Officer for the Doi Tung Development Project, Mae
founded the Centre for Social Development and Governance. He has been an honorary advisor to Fah Luang Foundation, a development foundation founded by Her Royal Highness Princess
! many educational institutions in the area of international student relations, entrepreneurship and Srinagarindra, the late mother of His Majesty the King of Thailand. Dispanadda was one of the key
social venture. figures in setting direction and realizing the Foundation’s involvement as a rural development player
internationally. Prior to that, he worked as Director and Marketing Manager at Doi Tung Food
! Department. Dispanadda graduated from Brandeis University (Massachusetts, USA) with a BA in
Joan Yao
Investment Manager Southeast Asia Economics, and earned his MBA from SASIN Graduate Institute of Business Administration,
LGT Venture Philanthropy Chulalongkorn University in 2005.