Page 314 - Social Enterprise A New Business Paradigm for Thailand

Lee grew up in a poor village where coffee farmers sold beans they had never even tasted, as the
beans were always sold before they were processed. Without knowledge of their product’s true
quality, they had no bargaining power. Lee’s father was a respected community leader and traditional
Akha healer, while his mother envisioned a broader future for her son beyond the village. These
influences shaped Lee into a young man marked by discipline, determination, and a strong
commitment to self-improvement. His early work with international NGOs introduced him to the
concept of social enterprise and exposed him to new ways of thinking about poverty. These
experiences ignited a deep conviction to one day return and uplift his community, economically and
socially, through meaningful, sustainable change.

Although Lee’s coffee is rooted in a compelling story, he believes the true driver of his business success
is the product itself, it must be high-quality and meet customer expectations. “What I sell is good
coffee,” he insists, “not sympathy.” Most of his customers are unaware that his cafés operate as a
social enterprise. In Lee’s view, those who wish to trade on sympathy should establish a foundation;
there is no need to run a social enterprise, which demands a far more difficult balance between
profitability and social impact. Unlike a foundation, a social enterprise must succeed on both fronts.

2) Forest Conservation: The MiVana Organic Forest Coffee Project and the Community Coffee

Sourcing (CCS) Project

MiVana Organic Forest Coffee Project
MiVana Co., Ltd. is a coffee business that operates in accordance with social enterprise
principles, although it is not formally registered with the Social Enterprise Promotion Office.
The company’s primary mission is to restore and conserve watershed forests and protect the
environment. It does so by supporting farmers in upland areas to cultivate Arabica coffee
through organic agroforestry systems, an approach that integrates coffee cultivation with
natural forest ecosystems. Under the MiVana Organic Forest Coffee Project, the company has

signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Department of National Parks,
Wildlife and Plant Conservation to promote the joint cultivation of Arabica coffee and large
trees in degraded forest areas designated for ecological restoration.

MiVana is recognized as the largest organic coffee producer in Thailand, with certifications from
leading international standards bodies such as the International Federation of Organic
Agriculture Movements (IFOAM), USDA Organic, and the Canada Organic Standards (COS). The
company’s primary goal is not profit generation, but rather to use revenue from coffee
operations to fund forest restoration and conservation in Thailand’s northern highlands. As of

now, the project works with more than 344 farming households across over 7,800 rai of land in
the Mae Lao, Mae Suai, and Mae Korn watershed forests of Chiang Rai Province.

According to in-depth interviews, MiVana was founded with a clear purpose: to protect and
restore watershed ecosystems while demonstrating a replicable model for sustainable Arabica
coffee cultivation that actively supports forest conservation. In this vision, coffee is not the end
goal but a mechanism for long-term environmental stewardship, anchored in organic
production methods. While conservation remains the project’s core mission, MiVana also aims
to ensure that its coffee business is financially self-sustaining by generating adequate income

and profit.
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