By Yunus Center
22 May 2023 – Yunus Thailand and the Yunus Center AIT (YCA) were delighted to welcome delegates from the National Institute for Development Administration, representing several key offices promoting social business in Thailand.
The team consisted of Assoc. Prof. Dr. Chandra-nuj Mahakanjana, Assistant to the President for Student and Alumni Relations, accompanied by Asst. Prof. Dr. Patthareeya Lakpetch, Director of the Research Bureau; Assoc. Prof. Dr. Anukal Chiralaksanakul, Director of the University Business Incubator at NIDA Business School; Asst. Prof. Dr. Thitat Chavisschindha, Director of the Law for Development Center at the Graduate School of Law; and Dr. Atchara Yomsin, Researcher at the Sustainable Development and Sufficiency Economy Studies Center. Eight additional participants joined from the Research Bureau.
The afternoon program featured two main sessions.
The first session was an engaging knowledge-sharing moderated by Dr. Faiz Shah, Executive Director of Yunus Center AIT, and Mr. Callum Mackenzie, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Yunus Thailand.
Dr. Faiz shared valuable insights from his over ten years of experience at the helm of YCA, including the establishment of the foundation, Yunus Thailand. He emphasized the importance of collaboration to achieve shared success, highlighting that all activities organized by the Yunus affiliates are centered on Prof. Muhammad Yunus’ challenge to society’s vision of addressing societal challenges, aiming to eradicate poverty by creating a new civilization through a 3Zero World of zero global warming, zero wealth concentration and zero unemployment.
Mr. Callum shared how the team successfully developed and implemented several critical social business projects that established Yunus Thailand as a trustworthy organization in under two years.
Dr. Faiz and Mr. Callum bridged their experiences and facilitated the second session, a SWOT workshop focused on designing the Yunus Social Business Center at the National Institute for Development Administration. The participants were divided into two groups: the advisory group and the operations group. The outcomes from both groups were extensive and practical, leading to ripe discourses on defining several Institute-level strategies.
The program concluded positively, with specific subsequent actions and steps outlined for moving forward. The workshop was also supported by Dr. Soontorn Koonchaimang, Co-Founder and Chair, of Academics and Research at Yunus Thailand; Dr. Pradeep Dash, Senior Specialist at YCA; and Dr. Tanawan Samleerat Carraway, Senior Specialist and Health Lead at YCA.
