1.4.1 Local start-up assistance

Free Local Start-up Assistance for Sustainable Community Businesses

In 2025, Srinakharinwirot University (SWU) provided free assistance in local communities to support the start-up of financially and socially sustainable businesses. Through business mentoring, hands-on product development, training workshops and student-led community projects, SWU helped villagers, aspiring local entrepreneurs, young people and community enterprises turn local resources and wisdom into new community products and small creative businesses. Participants did not pay any fees. All costs, including trainers, learning materials and academic support, were covered by Thai government funding.

Activity 1 — Free Business Mentoring for Local Entrepreneurs in Uthai District

SWU runs the project “Social Development and Community Economic Promotion through the Creative Economy for Holistic Area-Based Development” as part of the national Programme for the Excellence of Higher Education Institutions and Advanced Workforce Development (Reinventing University). Sub-project 1, “Promoting Academic Knowledge in the Creative Economy to Raise Community Competitiveness through High-Level Workforce Development”, aims to give people in the local community the knowledge and skills they need to turn local resources and wisdom into competitive, sustainable livelihoods. In Uthai District, Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya Province, most households depend on farming, and the project helps them move beyond selling raw produce by supporting the start-up and growth of small community businesses.

On Tuesday, 19 August 2025, SWU faculty members and staff provided free business mentoring to villagers and aspiring entrepreneurs of the local community in Pho Sao Han Subdistrict, Uthai District. The mentoring took place alongside the project’s Academic Network Coordination on the Creative Economy activity, together with network partners from government: the Pho Sao Han Subdistrict Administrative Organisation, the Uthai District Community Development Office and the Community Development Department, which leads the national “Khok Nong Na Model” programme and can offer continued support after the activity.

SWU faculty members gave one-to-one advice on three topics chosen to help villagers start and grow small creative businesses based on their own farm produce. The first was community development through model households (Household Lab Model for Quality of Life, HLM), showing how households can become self-reliant and share their experience with neighbours. The second was improving the efficiency of agricultural production, so that yields and quality rise while production costs fall. The third was processing and preserving agricultural produce, turning fresh produce into products with a longer shelf life and higher value that can be sold as community products. By meeting government agencies at the same event, participants also gained direct links to public bodies that provide further training, funding schemes and market support for new community businesses.

Figure 1. SWU faculty and staff with the owner of the Khok Nong Na model household (HLM) learning centre, Ban Luang, Village No. 1, Pho Sao Han Subdistrict, Uthai District.

Figure 2. SWU faculty members advise villagers and local entrepreneurs at the learning centre on agricultural production efficiency and the processing and preservation of farm produce.

Figure 3. SWU staff mentor local entrepreneurs and villagers on developing community products.

Figure 4. The owner of the model household shares her experience of preparing duck eggs for processing.

Figure 5. Participants learn about the cultivation tanks at a model farm.

Figure 6. A local farmer explains the production system to SWU staff and villagers.

Figure 7. Learning about egg-laying hen production at the “Happy Hens” farm.

Figure 8. Poultry raised on the model household farm.

Additional Information: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/19gdKDUPr2/

Activity 2 — Hands-on Herbal Product Development with the Local Community

The mentoring was followed by hands-on product development. On 16–17 October 2025, SWU returned to Ban Chang and Pho Sao Han subdistricts, Uthai District, to work with residents and local agencies on community products, community-based tourism, public communication and sustainable area development. Residents visited a model Wolffia (watermeal) farm used as a learning site and attended a lecture on products made from black soldier fly (BSF) larvae.

In a follow-up workshop, villagers and SWU staff made Plai (Zingiber cassumunar) oil mixed with Kraduk-kai-dam (Justicia gendarussa) extract, a herbal product based on local plants, and filled and packed it in bottles together. The workshop turned the earlier advice on processing farm produce into a real community product, showing villagers how a small herbal-oil business could be started from plants grown in their own area. The activity was free of charge for all participants.

Figure 9. Villagers and SWU staff bottle Plai oil mixed with Kraduk-kai-dam extract, 16–17 October 2025.

Figure 10. Villagers and SWU staff at the herbal-oil workshop, Uthai District.

Additional Information: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1Hc7xLPvDe/

Activity 3 — Free Upskill/Reskill Workshop on Community Brand Identity and Marketing

On 11 November 2025, the Faculty of Business Administration for Society ran a free Upskill/Reskill training workshop called “Building Unique Identity and Marketing to Add Value to Community Brands” in Uthai District, Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya Province. The participants were secondary school students from Wat Nong Mai Sung School and Wat Phran Nok School.

The workshop taught participants about the creative economy, showed them how to identify what makes their community unique and turn it into a Brand Value Proposition, and introduced modern marketing strategies that make local products more valuable and help them last. The activity belongs to Sub-project 1 of the same Reinventing University project, which trains skilled young people who can start and run community businesses and strengthen the local economy.

Figure 11. Students from Wat Nong Mai Sung School and Wat Phran Nok School with SWU lecturers at the free workshop, 11 November 2025.

Figure 12. An SWU lecturer introduces sales channels for community products.

Figure 13. Students present their ideas for a community brand.

Figure 14. Participants learn from local community members at a community learning site in Uthai District.

Figure 15. An SWU lecturer guides students through brand identity and marketing activities.

Figure 16. Student teams with an SWU lecturer after presenting their community brand concepts.

Additional Information: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1M269qiKBd/

Activity 4 — Young Volunteers Project “San Thai”: Developing Products with the Community

SWU also supports local enterprises at no cost through the Young Volunteers Project, funded by the Office of the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation (MHESI), in fiscal year 2024. Under the Social Enterprise Division and the Faculty of Economics, SWU students used what they had learned in their own fields to work with the community. Together they developed products and services that keep the community’s identity and promote Thai Soft Power.

The project, “San Thai”, passed the first selection round. On 9 July 2025, the team presented it to the MHESI Best Practice selection committee at Baan Suan Thongmon, Pak Phli District, Nakhon Nayok Province. University staff, students and local residents attended.

Figure 17. SWU staff, students and local residents at the “San Thai” presentation, Baan Suan Thongmon, 9 July 2025.

Figure 18. The selection committee visits the community product exhibition.

Figure 19. An SWU student presents the “San Thai” project to the MHESI Best Practice selection committee.

Figure 20. Community products developed with SWU students, including herbal products and woven baskets.

Figure 21. Local residents present the woven bags made by the community.

Figure 22. Committee members and university staff follow the project presentation.

Additional Information: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1SFUDWrrjG/

How the Assistance Supports Sustainable Businesses

Processing and preservation add value to farm produce and reduce losses, while more efficient production lowers costs, so that community businesses can earn a steady income. Branding and marketing skills help local products stand out and sell for a fairer price. The HLM approach and community-based product development build household self-reliance, make use of local resources and wisdom, and keep the benefits of new businesses within the community. The network linking SWU, local government and the Community Development Department gives entrepreneurs ongoing access to advice and support beyond a single event.

These government-funded activities show that SWU shares its knowledge and resources with local communities free of charge to support the start-up of financially and socially sustainable businesses. Evidence of each activity is publicly available on the University’s official online channels.