All kinds of arts are like windows that open to give people in the community the opportunity to showcase products from the wisdom and abilities of people in the community. It is like sharing a channel for buying and selling various products of the community so that everyone can access and buy community products more easily.
In this episode, the admin will take everyone to get to know a very unique social enterprise that combines artistic arts with a desire to help society, resulting in a variety of arts that are like a showcase for everyone in the community. They also help develop bags that used to sell for a hundred or two hundred baht to become incredibly expensive bags worth ten thousand baht. Or some clothes on the page that sold out in less than an hour. Many people must be wondering how the owner of the page did it. Let’s get to know this company through an interview with Ms. Jum Orasa Tosawang, Managing Director of Sarapat Sappasin Co., Ltd.
beginning
Khun Jum told us that the story began in 2016. Khun Jum was an employee of Thai Beverage Co., Ltd. (which she is now) and volunteered to help the community. The community she went to was in Phuket, Khun Jum’s home province. She thought it was a good opportunity because she could return home. The help she gave at that time was to invite people in the community to set up booths to sell products because everyone in that community already had the ability to invent and produce interesting community products. What they lacked was a sales area.
“In difficult times, Thai people never abandon each other.”
When Khun Jum brought people in the community out to sell their products for 9 days, that was the time when products sold very well, like they were being given away for free. Especially when people saw that people in the community came out to sell by themselves, everyone helped buy even more. But when the 9 days were over, the villagers went back to sell in their own areas and couldn’t sell as well as before, so they looked for a long-term way to help the villagers, which would give them a place to sell their products all the time.
“Sling a stylish shoulder strap”
Khun Jum, who was aware of the social problems she encountered, thought back and considered how she should help people in the community. Until she got the idea of selling things online because in this era, everyone can create opportunities easily if you just have an online channel. Khun Jum tried to sell the villagers’ products on her own Facebook and it turned out to be effective. The product she was selling at that time was a bag, which Khun Jum named “Sapai Sai Naew”.
The origin of the name “Sarapatsansilp”
During COVID-19, your boss, Jum, saw that the shoulder strap could go further, so she suggested that she also sell other products that people in the community produced. She named it Sarapat Sappasin, which comes from Sarapat Sappasin plus art. Sarapat Sappasin itself is like a space for people in the community to have the opportunity to advertise their own products, without the company selling them. It just advertises interesting community products, such as bags, clothes, hats, shoes, or processed foods, on the page, and then has interested people contact the community themselves. Anyone interested in any product from the community can contact them to talk directly to people in the community.
The role of all arts
Khun Jum explained that the role that Sarapatsansap wants is to be an inspiration to people in the community. Khun Jum said that she personally would like her page or content on Facebook pages to be copied because the pages that Khun Jum created are all useful, with interesting stories written about the community and are a place to buy community products without ever receiving a single baht from people in the community. If there are more people doing the same thing as Khun Jum, it will be able to help the community even more.
“Whatever it does can survive on its own.”
The social enterprise of Sarapatsan Silp, the company has never received money from people in the community and the company itself has never spent money to buy advertisements on any social media channels. If you try to click into the page, you will see that there are very few people who like or share, about 10-20 people. But the sales volume of products is in the tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands without relying on advertising at all. In addition, all the team members, including Ms. Jum, already receive a salary from Thai Beverage Company Limited, so they do not need any wages for working here.
“Work that may not seem formal, but is done with all one’s heart.”
The team that came to work here was not a large number, but everyone who came to work did it with their hearts. The help given to each person in the community was individual help, so the work depended on who was being helped. Some people were about to commit suicide, couldn’t sell their products, couldn’t survive, or some people were just stressed out from spilling paint on a customer’s shirt. Therefore, the help was flexible and depended on the individual, and the team itself had to find flexible ways to work, find ways that were appropriate for each person in the community as well.
“Plug every leak in the work process”
The customer group of Sarapatsansapsilp is a mix of Thais, Europeans, and Chinese. But luckily, you, Jum, can speak English. So another role of you, Jum, is to be an interpreter. You, Jum, will receive questions from the customers, then write down a script of answers from the community, translate it into English, and then give it to the customers. So you, Jum, are like the person who plugs every leak in this work process.
“When customers contact us but the community can’t do it”
Khun Jum had previously brought her products to sell at events and it turned out that many Chinese people were interested in the community products that she had brought to sell. However, the quantity that the customer wanted was 100,000 pieces, which, with the villagers’ strength, they could not do. The villagers could only make 100 pieces in the time they had available. The Chinese customers themselves said that 100 pieces was not worth the shipping cost, and they wanted only 100,000 pieces, which made this deal fall through. Or in another case, a Japanese person contacted them and said they wanted a community product, but they wanted only one piece. However, that piece was very difficult, like having to give up their soul to make it. Therefore, no community could make it exactly as they wanted, which made it not worth the community’s effort.
The next step of all things art
Khun Jum said that she has now been an admin of the Sarapatsan Silp page for 5 years. She tries to teach other staff members in the company to try writing. The technique is to write in an interesting way, not in an elaborate way, but it must create a desire to buy the product when read. If everyone is interested in the community enough, they will be able to write content without having to make up any stories.
We are still open to all communities. Ms. Jum said that even though we have been doing this for 5 years, Sarapatsan Silp has never rejected any community. They just contact us and say they want help, whether it is in terms of product development, product advertising advice, or being a place to display products. However, there are some cases where we stop helping because the community is dishonest, such as copying other communities’ work or buying other people’s work to resell.
Conclusion
Teenagers these days who are interested in business, all have the ability, the heart, the energy, and are up-to-date with the world, whether it’s social trends or technology. But what kids don’t have is a ceiling for their dreams. When they dream and fly, everyone moves forward without stopping. This is the reason why startup businesses have a 95% failure rate. Everyone has a dream, but what everyone forgets to think about is that when they wake up to the real world, there are obstacles waiting for us as well.
It is similar to the case of all kinds of arts, where Khun Jum is the one who helps the Mon set by plugging the leaks, always giving advice on the blind spots that the children of today miss. Because now, Khun Jum herself also gives advice to the children who are trying to attract the communities to advertise their products through online channels as well.
“We can have dreams that we want to help society, but we must do it mindfully because when we wake up from our dreams, we will always find big obstacles waiting for us to test us.”
Handmade, Made with Heart | The Practical Sustainability “Friend” Enterprise Society
Or you can choose to listen to the program in Podcast format at:
Contact channels
Sarapatsansapsilp Company Limited, Tel: 062 998 8019, Email: phannapa.p@thaibev.com , Facebook: Sarapatsansapsilp – Jit Asa
Supported by the Office of Social Enterprise Promotion (OSEP)
Recommended articles :
Akha Ama Coffee, coffee from the mountaintop to world-famous coffee
