Apart from theories and business simulations, the best way to learn is by doing, as reflected in the activities of students in the Chula SIFE club at the Faculty of Commerce and Accountancy or Chulalongkorn Business School (CBS). The group recently won the first prize for a business plan in the TSX Youth Award Program 2022 in Thailand Sustainability Expo 2022 with their development of a community product “healthy lotus tea” under the brand “Nalin” carried out with secondary school students at Bueng Boraped Wittaya School, Nakhon Sawan.
“When working on case studies or business simulations in the classroom, we don’t know if our plans will come to fruition. But when we get to work on developing a community business, we have to visit the site and witness actual challenges and business opportunities. We then get to execute our plans to determine whether or not what we imagined or planned would work. This experience is something we can’t get anywhere else,” said Miss Pattaraporn Puttipanpong, a CBS sophomore.
The other 3 students in the Chula SIFE team involved in the “Nalin” project included Miss Worakamol Tarnsuwanwong, Miss Jidapa Atipakkul, and Mr. Thee Pongponpraiwan. They added that “this project allows us to work on real situations where we get to learn every step of the business, from contacting different parties, bookkeeping, to marketing. It gave us a chance to see whether we really like business administration, where our strengths lie, and what skills we need to improve on.”
Chula SIFE Drives Community Business Forward
Chula SIFE, short for Students in Free Enterprise, is a club in Chulalongkorn Business School which offers a platform for students in every field of the faculty to practice being “business consultants” who can help society with the knowledge and skills learned in class. The club’s invitation for freshmen says “For whoever seeks field experience where you learn new things, as well as help develop communities.”
Chula SIFE was established in 2005 and welcomes new freshmen members every year. Over the past 18 years, SIFE has helped community businesses in over 10 projects nationwide. The community businesses that SIFE is currently participating in are such as the “Pa Khao Ma” project in Nakhon Ratchasima, the “Sawai Sor” project in Buriram, the “Khon Talay” project in Prachuap Khiri Khan, and the “Nalin” project in Nakhon Sawan.
These community brands have been sought out and proposed by the students themselves. The operations of Chula SIFE are supported by Chulalongkorn Business School, with professors giving advice, providing funding, and supervising students in the field.
“At first, we go to the community to collect data, especially on the pain points of the community business, to see how we can help them. Then we discuss among ourselves before bringing our suggestions back to the community,” explained Jidapa about the work process of Chula SIFE, which acts as a business enterprise giving free counsel on business planning and branding to the community.
Students in SIFE collaborate with the community as product developers, business consultants, knowledge sharers, and content creators.
“Our goal is for the community to be able to sustain their business once we leave,” emphasized Jidapa.
SIFE: Community Business Partner and “Nalin” Lotus Tea from Nakhon Sawan
When it comes to souvenirs from Nakhon Sawan, many tourists only think of “daifuku,” but the students in SIFE saw beyond that.
“Actually what Nakhon Sawan uniquely has in abundance is the “lotus.” So, we want to promote “lotus tea” as a souvenir option from the province,” said Jidapa of the expectations for the project.
As the Chula SIFE team members are acquainted with a teacher at Bueng Boraped Wittaya School and know that they have a recipe for lotus tea, the team offered to help develop the product and business plan, as well as strengthen the “Nalin” brand by emphasizing the health benefits.
“We took the inspiration for the brand from Nakhon Sawan’s unique feature and created a product to generate sustainable income for the community. This business is managed by the students of Bueng Boraped Wittaya School and the income will go towards buying school supplies,” said Thee. He also revealed that the sales of “Nalin” in the past year yielded profits for the community to continue the business.
The development of “Nalin” has been carried out the students in Chula SIFE for the 3rd consecutive year. Jidapa elaborated that “The seniors in the club have already devised a business model. In our year, we entered the stage of helping the students conduct actual sales.”
Human Development towards Sustainability
Although profits make up an important goal in business, what goes beyond that is sustainability. The SIFE students define “sustainability” as 2 aspects, namely sustainability in product creation and sustainability from human development.
“In terms of products, we aim to find a product that bears the community’s identity so that the students can recognize and continue the business by themselves. Since the lotus is a common plant in Nakhon Sawan, the Nalin lotus tea is a good product to build brand awareness,” remarked Thee.
“Sustainability from human development, on the other hand, refers to how the students at Bueng Boraped Wittaya School can carry on the business without any mentors. So far, they have been very cooperative and receptive of many skills, including sale, product shipping, orders, etc. They were able to apply what we taught them to this product, as well as others,” Thee added.
The project allowed learning and self-development not only for the students at Bueng Boraped Wittaya School, but also the Chula SIFE team.
“The students and we benefited so much together from this project. We got to learn and develop our ability to adjust to circumstances. For instance, despite our efforts, bookkeeping might be too hard for the students. So, we had to figure out how to make them understand the concepts,” said Pattaraporn.
Driving a Community Business towards Sustainability
The work of Chula SIFE has inspired the students at Bueng Boraped Wittaya School to extend the business in the future.
We let them come up with an objective so that they can feel ownership of the product. We asked them how they imagined the brand “Nalin” in the next 3-5 years. The answer was that they would like to see Nalin tea sold in OTOP stores, in department stores, especially in Bangkok,” Pattaraporn spoke with pride. The Chula SIFE team considered such a dream as an opportunity for the community business to grow sustainably.
“At Bueng Boraped Wittaya School, this project has become a club. There are club periods every week, and new members are recruited regularly. With an advisor overseeing the operations, this project will continue to thrive in the future,” added Worakamol.
“Although our project is coming to a close, our goal remains sustainability. Thus, we will continue to act as consultants to the students even afterwards,” Thee remarked.
Anyone who is interested in “Nalin” healthy lotus tea can find out more and order the products at Facebook: Nalin Lotus Tea. For more community projects from Chula SIFE, please follow Facebook: Chula SIFE.
