Helping Thai farmers to help themselves
For the third year running, Chivas Regal is setting out to reward the world’s most promising social entrepreneurs and its Thailand office is now encouraging members of the public to vote for local winner Siam Organic in the global campaign.
The contest is designed to find a business whose innovation and enterprise strives to make the world a better place under the concept of “Win the Right Way”. Following a tough selection process, Peetachai Dejkraisak, co-founder and chief executive of Siam Organic, a social enterprise that aims to solve the problem of farmers' poverty through innovative organic products, including specialty organic rice, Jasberry, was picked for the final round.
Siam Organic realises that although Thailand is the number one rice exporter in the world, Thai farmers are among the lowest income earners in the ASEAN region. Siam Organic has developed a line of “Jasberry” products with the aim of ending small-scale farmers’ poverty by giving farmers access to the global organic market. Jasberry rice is a purple variety of rice with three times the antioxidants of blueberries. By providing farmers with rice seeds, micro-financing and training them in organic farming methods, Siam Organic has already enabled farmers to earn 14 times more profit compared to the average Thai rice farmer. Currently, Siam Organic works with approximately 5,000 farmers in about 1,000 households. But it needs help if it is to grow its operations and reach 20,000 new farmer households over the next three years, assisting even more farmers grow their way out of poverty.
As part of the $1 million (Bt35 million) Chivas Venture fund, people around the world will have the chance to vote for their chosen social enterprise in a five-week online voting campaign that continues through June 12. The public’s vote will determine how the first $250,000 in funding is split among the 30 global finalists. Show your support for Siam Organic through a live vote at https://www.Chivas.com/th-th/the-venture/finalists/people/th-siam-organic.
The winner(s) of the remaining $750,000 in funding will be decided on July 13 at the Chivas Venture Final in Los Angeles, after a high-stakes pitch in front of the judges and a live audience.
