Bangkok Post – Sasin Impact Week: Shaping Sustainable Entrepreneurship
Lead: Sasin Impact Entrepreneurship Week 2024: Inspire, Connect, Transform for a better, smarter, sustainable world.
Sasin School of Management in Bangkok, Thailand, is gearing up to host the Sasin Impact Entrepreneurship Week 2024 (SasinIEW) from June 19-23, 2024. Focused on entrepreneurship, innovation, inclusiveness, impact, and sustainability, the event aims to foster collaboration among diverse stakeholders, including entrepreneurs, startups, investors, policymakers, business students, and the public.
The following three key components of SasinIEW will translate this mission into practice. For the first time outside North America and Europe, the GCEC meeting will make its Asia debut in the “New Frontier: Bangkok Summit 2024,” which echoes the theme of “Inclusive Entrepreneurship Driving Impact” to drive societal and business change. The landing of the Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers (GCEC) in Thailand was always bound to happen as Professor Ian Fenwick, Ph.D., Director of Sasin School of Management said, “Asia, of course, is home to the world’s best entrepreneurs and the world’s most successful entrepreneurs. They would inevitably come to Asia.” He further pointed out the vital position of Southeast Asia as an entrepreneurial hub: “Southeast Asia is one of the fastest growing regions of the world. It is where things happen and where things change. And I think entrepreneurship in Southeast Asia is very much the engine for growth.”
The Bangkok Business Challenge 2024 (BBC 2024), powered by SCG Chemicals (SCGC), is Sasin’s long-standing student startup competition and the longest-running of its kind in Asia. Starting as a local event in 2002, it expanded into a global arena in 2008. Recent winners from the United States, Sweden, and Singapore are proof of its international reach and acclaim. Corresponding to the positioning of Sasin, which is rooted in impact and transformation, sustainability and impact account for 20% of the evaluation criteria in this competition. “We need to transform the way we live. We need to transform the way we do business. We need to transform the way we think. If we continue our present track, there will be no world for our children and our children’s children. We need to transform, and we need to do it soon. Business and entrepreneurship don’t just need to make money. They also need to make positive impacts. They need to work towards this change that’s needed, this transformation,” said the director of Sasin.
The Family Enterprise Case Competition – Asia Pacific 2024 (FECC-AP 2024) is the third component. As the current global champion, Sasin will organise the first Asian leg of this contest to shine a spotlight on the student group demonstrating the most adept strategic analysis of a regional family business case who will advance to the final round scheduled next January in Vermont, USA.
Regarding the vision of SasinIEW, Mr. Lars Svensson, Chief Executive of Sasin Sustainability & Entrepreneurship Center, said that this impactful week would kindle multilateral discourse and dialogue through the three inclusive impact entrepreneurship events, BBC, FECC, and GCEC. “This is the first time we gather three interlinked events under one umbrella. With the strong interest and positive response we have had, we intend to build this into an annual event that, in an inclusive manner, brings together academia, the public and private sector, students, MNCs and
SMEs, government institutions, start-ups, and NGOs to ensure a broad representation of perspectives and ideas to elevate the discussion and lay the foundation for networking and new connections across the stakeholders and the events and allow the dialogue to continue beyond the Sasin Impact Entrepreneurship Week and our region.”
Apart from energising discussions, there are networking opportunities for participants and partners to seize. Associate Professor Piyachart Phiromswad, Ph.D., Deputy Director of Learning Solutions, Sasin School of Management, elaborates on this aspect that the week will “allow for broad, engaging discussions and thought leadership sharing but also plenty full of dialogue, discussions and making connections, not only within the event they are directly participating in, but also the possibility of visiting and participating in the other events and network across all events during breaks, common dinners and workshops. We expect new dynamic connections between parties and individuals, sowing the seeds for new partnerships and collaborations across individuals, organisations, sectors, and geographies.” And the cherry on top is that participants can immerse themselves in the charms of Thailand. “When in Bangkok and Thailand, the gateway to Southeast Asia, they will have a great experience not only from the people they will interact with, but an experience of true Thai hospitality, great food, and the pulse and energy from the most visited city in the world, Bangkok.”
To emphasise Bangkok and Sasin as a hub for entrepreneurship-driven sustainability, Mr. Dibyendu Bose, Deputy Director of Strategy, Innovation & Impact, Sasin School of Management, encouraged “all participants from Sasin Impact Entrepreneurship Week to participate in the Hult Prize Global Summit hosted at Chulalongkorn Campus and its Final pitch on Sunday 23 June, where students and sustainability entrepreneurs from around the world compete for a 1 million USD prize. The Hult Prize participants are invited to participate in the BBC pitch and GCEC events. This opens additional dimensions of discussions, networking, and meetings.”
After over four decades, Sasin has solidified its position as a leading business school in Thailand. The Impact Entrepreneurship Week aligns closely with its core beliefs that entrepreneurship should fundamentally reshape the approach to business, sustainability, and societal issues, working towards a thriving world. Mark your calendars for SasinIEW in June to “inspire, connect, transform for a better, smarter, sustainable world together.”
Professor Ian Fenwick, Ph.D., Director of Sasin School of Management concluded with an earnest invitation, “If you’re really interested in startups, come to the Bangkok Business Challenge. If you’re a case competition fiend, come to the Asian Family Enterprise Case Competition. And if you’re running an entrepreneurship centre or wish you were or want to participate in one, come to the GCEC. And we hope as many people as possible will attend all three.”
