Solve villagers’ problems with villagers’ innovations with Villagers’ Innovation Co., Ltd., which provides comprehensive organic farming services for small-scale farmers in rural areas and is a consultant for villagers in creating villagers’ innovations, truly created by villagers for villagers.
Village Innovation Co., Ltd. aims to provide villagers with skills in agriculture and business to enable local communities to develop their businesses in a quality and sustainable manner. The company focuses on development that encourages villagers to find new ways of organic farming, ways that solve more problems but use less resources, while not forgetting that the most important thing is that everyone in the community must be able to live happily.
Now, I will introduce you to the first generation of community enterprises. The company is like a pioneering social enterprise that sees social problems and always tries to provide sustainable assistance to society. They are a social enterprise that tries to create a social business. Let’s get to know more about village innovation from the interview with Mr. Jack Nawi Nakwatchara, Managing Director of Village Innovation Company Limited.
beginning
The company’s inception began in 2009, when no organization supported social enterprise. It was just an idea from foreign countries like India or England that was developed without anyone truly understanding it. Normally, Thailand only sets up foundations to request donations to help society. Once they receive money, they use it to help society. They then have to open up for new donations, and it goes in a loop.
inspiration
In the past, Ms. Nawi worked on rural development that required funding from both inside and outside the country. When she wanted to expand her work, she needed to find more funding. She wondered why, if her business was doing well and she wanted to expand, she needed to find more funding, when her business should have reduced costs if it was doing well. Then she came across the concept of social enterprise from abroad.
“The hardest thing is to change our own way of life.”
Originally, social assistance in Thailand was limited to foundations, plus you yourself, Navee, were not skilled in business. However, you had to change yourself to become an entrepreneur who was doing business to earn income to help solve social problems, which was considered a challenging task and required time to pioneer many things in Thailand at that time.
The role of local innovation
Village innovation is like a complete organic agricultural service for small farmers in rural areas, or we can say that it is an innovation leading development. In the past, our development was from generation to generation by passing on the same old actions. But real development is doing new things to solve more problems and use less resources.
“Made by the community, by the community, for the community”
The company’s goal is to provide organic farming services because the company looks at the development of people in the community. It wants to teach the community to have innovations that are truly created by people in the community for people in the community. Organic farming is a way of life for villagers in the countryside. As we all know, most villagers are farmers. Therefore, development in this area helps villagers reduce costs, find recipes, and produce results that villagers can clearly see.
Innovation Fund for Poverty Alleviation
The company puts part of its profits into a fund. This fund acts as a cash flow center because most farmers have problems buying and selling agricultural equipment such as fertilizer, seeds, and soil. If farmers go to a general store to ask for these items, they can get them first, but when they pay, they have to pay interest. Therefore, this company has a fund to pay for these equipment first without charging additional interest.
Company income
The majority of the company’s income comes from the sale of agricultural products, which comes from the difference in purchasing products from farmers. In addition, the company itself has a processing plant that can process various agricultural products to add value to those agricultural products. The company can process and sell them to various markets and target groups to generate income for the company and then use the money to help society.
Because the ultimate goal is to develop innovation. Although it started with organic farming, Village Innovation got this name because the company tried to develop innovations that help improve the way of life of villagers in every aspect. Not just organic farming, but also agricultural products and the creation of various products to meet the needs of the market and target groups.
The Story of Obstacles
The obvious obstacle is the area. Some farmers want to do a lot, some want to do a little. But we have to make sure that the innovation or development is effective. If the results are good, then we can start doing it in a larger area. For example, when we have a suitable organic fertilizer formula and a neighboring village is interested, we will have a model of the original village for those who are interested to come and see, learn, and do it to get the same results. Then we can continue or develop it further.
Another obstacle is the operation, learning, and process development. In the beginning, we learned from abroad. There was no support from within the country at all. We had to pioneer everything ourselves. Until there were many social enterprises in the country. Fortunately, there was cooperation from many organizations to overcome the obstacles and pioneer the processes of social enterprises in Thailand.
Success indicators
In the past, the company used indicators that were used abroad to measure the success of social enterprises. But now, the indicators that the company uses are the rate of income that participating farmers receive and the amount of debt that they reduce each year, better health due to reduced use of chemicals, the environment in the community has more biodiversity, making the food sources in the community more abundant, and another important indicator is the satisfaction of the people in the community living in the countryside, which will tell you whether they are happy with what they are doing or not.
“I want people in the countryside to be able to live well and be happy.”
Ms. Nawi said that if looking at the success now, Ms. Nawi thinks that what is being done has been successfully achieved according to the set goals because the company’s goal is to make people in the countryside be able to live on their own sustainably and happily. The number of farmers that increases each year is already an indicator of success. In addition, the growth of businesses in the community has also caused the next generation of farmers to turn back to be more interested in the agricultural business of their families. In particular, the new generation of children are capable of using technology which can take the family business to the next level and help the community.
Conclusion
The first thing we need to think about is what social problem we are interested in solving. Then the next thing is to find the answer, find a solution, or find a business method that can help society in that area. Once we have the answer, we must try to practice entrepreneurial skills and practice skills in creating good interactions with society or the target groups that we want to help. When you were a child, you yourself saw it as a difficult life. When you grew up, you saw it from a different perspective when you started working. Agriculture is still something you are familiar with, but what has increased is the desire to change the process, the products, and farmers can have an option to live in the countryside and live a happier life.
Solving People’s Problems with People’s Innovation | The Practical Sustainability “Friend” Enterprise of Society
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Contact channels
Village Innovation Co., Ltd. Tel. 044-193-505, 087-683-7325, Email info@grassrootinnovation.net
Supported by the Office of Social Enterprise Promotion (OSEP)
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