Page 283 - Social Enterprise A New Business Paradigm for Thailand

Promoting Social Enterprises and Startups by PTT Group
Apart from running their own social enterprise initiatives and related business group activities

through Sarn Palung Social Enterprise Company Limited, in 2023, companies within the PTT
Group, as well as Sarn Palung, expanded their role in supporting emerging social enterprises
offering new approaches to solving social challenges. This was reflected in the launch of the
“Sarn Palung x PTT Group Young Socialpreneur Hackathon,” 180 a project designed to “discover
outstanding innovative ideas that address social, community, and environmental issues through
the creativity of the younger generation and further develop these ideas into social enterprises
that can drive Thailand toward a sustainable society.” The initiative was driven by the belief that
“recognizing the importance of using innovation to address social problems, we joined forces
with PTT Group companies to organize the ‘Sarn Palung x PTT Group Young Socialpreneur

Hackathon’ to find and help shape leading sustainability innovations capable of addressing real
social problems by leveraging the strengths of the PTT Group.” The program focused on four
core challenge areas: (1) sustainable cities, (2) good health and wellbeing, (3) local economic
development, and (4) the environment and climate change.

The hackathon invited submissions from young people, students, the public, and startups that
had not yet registered as legal entities. Participants took part in workshops designed to develop
social innovations with real business potential. Expert mentors from the PTT Group and
national-level partner organizations, along with RISE (the corporate innovation accelerator),

provided close guidance throughout the program. The top four finalist teams received cash
prizes and seed funding to support a Proof of Concept (POC) process in collaboration with
companies in the PTT Group. This phase aimed to test and refine their ideas, enabling them to
reach the market and address social, community, and environmental challenges effectively.
Total funding exceeded 540,000 baht.

Project updates were shared on the official Facebook page of Sarn Palung Social Enterprise. Out
of 150 teams that applied, 25 advanced to the first round, and four teams reached the Demo
Day. On Demo Day, the finalists pitched their proposed social enterprise models to a panel of

executives from Sarn Palung and the PTT Group. The first prize went to “Black Queen” for their
organic beekeeping social enterprise. The runners-up included “Soilything” (mussel shell
compost), “Bingsu Mamung” (liquid meals for patients with dysphagia), and “URS” (a device for
detecting kidney stones). All four teams received intensive business development mentorship
from PTT Advisors throughout the program to support the launch and scaling of their impact-
driven ventures.

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