1.4.2 Local start-up financial assistance

In 2025, Srinakharinwirot University (SWU) supported the local community in the start-up of financially and socially sustainable businesses. Led by the Faculty of Business Administration for Society, the university opened its expertise in social enterprise to aspiring and early-stage entrepreneurs at no cost. Participants joined professional training free of charge and took home a complete set of learning materials to guide the next steps of their business. This financial assistance in kind lifted the cost of learning from new entrepreneurs, allowing them to invest their own resources in building a sustainable business that generates stable income, delivers a positive social impact and creates real opportunities for the community.

SWU SE TRAINING: preparing new social entrepreneurs at no cost

From 26 to 28 March 2025, the Faculty of Business Administration for Society, SWU, partnered with the Office of Social Enterprise Promotion (OSEP) to deliver SWU SE TRAINING, a three-day workshop at the Rembrandt Hotel, Sukhumvit Soi 18, Bangkok. The programme welcomed entrepreneurs who wished to transform their business into a social enterprise (SE), as well as SE owners seeking deeper knowledge to grow an existing venture. Each business could send one or two representatives, who committed to the full three days of training.

The entire programme was offered free of charge, and every participant received a full set of training materials as a practical toolkit for their business. Through this financial assistance, new entrepreneurs from the local community were able to access expert-led training on the start-up of a social enterprise without any financial barrier.

The curriculum took participants from the foundations of social enterprise to the tools needed to launch one. Sessions covered the core concepts of SE, inspiration for becoming a social entrepreneur, communication and marketing, social impact measurement, bookkeeping for new business owners and the SE Business Model Canvas. Together, these sessions equipped participants to design financially and socially sustainable businesses that remain viable in the long term and bring a lasting positive social impact to the communities they serve. The call for applications was published by SE Thailand on 6 March 2025.

Figure 1: Application poster for SWU SE TRAINING, 26–28 March 2025, announcing free training for new and existing social entrepreneurs

Source: https://www.sethailand.org/มศว-เปิดรับสมัครโครงการ/

Community product branding workshop in Uthai District, Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya

On 29 August 2025, the Faculty of Business Administration for Society brought its knowledge of community branding to Wat Nong Mai Sung School, Uthai District, Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya Province. The workshop formed part of the project Social Development and Community Economic Empowerment through Creative Economy, which aims to strengthen local entrepreneurial skills, raise the competitiveness of community products and promote sustainable sources of income.

Participants, many of them students of the school, worked in four groups alongside academic experts from SWU, Rajamangala University of Technology Phra Nakhon and the Provincial Administrative Organization Association of Thailand. Through hands-on practice, they learned to shape a distinctive local product identity, build a community brand and apply marketing strategies that add value to local products. The workshop laid the groundwork for the start-up of small, community-based businesses in the local community that can generate income and open real opportunities for the community.

Figure 2: Participants and the SWU team at Wat Nong Mai Sung School, 29 August 2025

Figure 3: Group work and presentations on local product identity and community branding

Figure 4: The SWU team at a local learning centre in Uthai District

Source: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1Jr7gj2KQ4/