Lending a hand to Thailand's people

Student in Free Enterprise (SIFE) is a global non-profit organisation supporting university students, teaching ethical entrepreneurship in local communities. SIFE is known in 48 countries and more than 2,000 educational institutes worldwide. The annual competition is not just to teach students about business planning and work experience; these SIFE students are challenged to develop communities.

SIFE students have to choose communities they want to help and present their projects to sponsors for financial support. Then they have to invite experts or professionals to suggest or teach communities how to solve problems.

SIFE was launched in Thailand in 2004 by the KPMG Phoomchai Group. There were four participating teams in the first year, rising to 19 teams last year. Now there are about 40 SIFE implemented projects in Thailand. As the number of projects increases, so does their impact.

In 2005, Chulalongkorn University won the Rookie of the Year Award with five projects teaching young children about cash flow and ways to save and spend money wisely. In 2006, Chulachomklao Royal Military Academy promoted hand-made wooden baskets produced in Theppathan village, a community next to the Nakhon Nayok Academy.

Three students, Wisanu Burarak, Sureewan Sangkham and Krichkanok Chaisawat from Chiang Mai's Far Eastern University won third place in the Opening Round League 1 and the Spirit of SIFE Award at the SIFE World Cup 2007, in New York.

They ran a project to build sustainable careers for HIV-affected families in On-Tai sub-district of Chiang Mai. The community produces Thai funeral wreaths and also balm oil, a popular funeral gift among Thai people. Before the SIFE project, their income was only about Bt50 per day.

The SIFE team found expanded the distribution channels and invited experts to train the families to create a brand and redesign the products and packages. Now, members of the community earn about Bt300 a day.

"I'm just a business-English student who never thought that I could help build a project that would have a big impact on people," said Sureewan Sangkham, president of the Far Eastern University SIFE club.

"We were discouraged and felt like giving up many times. But we slowly moved forward solving problems. If we had stepped back or quit, we might have regretted it and would not be proud as we are today," added Krichkanok Chaisawat, a fourth-year business-English student and vice president of FEU's SIFE club.

The next SIFE World Cup will be held in Singapore in October 2008.

Story: Suwicha Chanitnun

Photo: Anant Chantarasut

The Nation