CP ALL launches 1.67bn baht push to develop future-ready talent

Technology is changing the world, but “people who are ready” are what will power the future. Today’s challenge is not simply keeping up with technology or deciding how to use it, but shaping the kind of people the future world will choose.

CP ALL Plc (CP ALL), operator of 7-Eleven and 7-Delivery, together with Panyapiwat Institute of Management (PIM), Panyapiwat Technological College (PAT), and Panyapiwat Institute of Management Demonstration School (SATIT PIM), hosted CP ALL Education Forum 2026 under the theme “Future-Ready People: people the future will choose”.

The forum is not only a venue for exchanging perspectives on education and future skills, but also a venue of “opportunity” through the provision of more than 40,200 scholarships worth 1.67 billion baht to Thai youth nationwide. 

Delivered through 12 collaboration networks, the initiative aims to expand educational opportunities widely and equitably. Young people who are interested can apply for scholarships at 7-Eleven stores nationwide.

The event also brought together education experts and leading figures from a wide range of fields to share perspectives and real-life experience, helping prepare the next generation.

Korsak Chairasmisak, Chairman of the Executive Committee of CP ALL, helped open the event by sharing perspectives on developing people through education in a special keynote address titled “Go for Growth: setting the education strategy to build people who keep pace with the future world”. 

He said that amid global economic challenges and rapid technological change, CP ALL has reaffirmed a policy stance it has pursued continuously for more than 30 years.

He stressed that “developing people through education” is a crucial foundation for national competitiveness and sustainability. At the heart of this approach is promoting Work-based Learning (WBL), which links classroom learning with real workplace experience. 

This allows learners to practise, face real situations, and develop skills that can be applied immediately after graduation, supported by collaboration networks and the establishment of educational institutions across multiple levels:

• Basic education: SATIT PIM applies a Finland-style teaching model, emphasising active learning so learners participate, think, analyse, experiment, and practise in real contexts, building essential future skills from an early age.
   
• Vocational education: PAT develops vocational talent at certificate and diploma levels, with skills aligned to business and industry needs, helping to narrow the gap between education and the labour market.
   
• Higher education: PIM provides pathways to bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees, aiming to develop graduates who “think, do, and genuinely grow”, grounded in knowledge, professional skills, and ethics.

CP ALL has continuously connected 12 collaboration networks across the public sector, private sector, and institutions since 1995, and has more than 20 Panyapiwat learning centres nationwide and over 50 network universities. 

The goal is to reduce location-based barriers and expand educational opportunities for young people in every region, with scholarships, income during study, and employment after graduation.

Young people interested in CP ALL scholarships can apply at 7-Eleven stores nationwide from March 16, 2026 onwards.

Korsak also underscored the importance of building strong foundations, drawing lessons from CP ALL’s management experience into core skills for the next generation:

• Thinking strategically (Strategic thinking): making decisions based on reason and data, considering long-term impacts, and not being swayed by short-term success or profits.
   
• Being adaptable (Agility): keeping people at the centre. Even as technology changes, learners need learning agility, ready to learn anew and let go of outdated knowledge (unlearn and relearn).
   
• Working with others (Collaboration): building success through trust and working across differences, because the future is not a solo competition but team-based growth.

He compared life and business to the game of Go, where there is no single “main piece” that is always strong. The skills that matter today may not fit tomorrow. People lose not because of a single mistake, but because they cannot read the board and refuse to adjust their plan. 

Accepting mistakes and sacrificing some moves to learn and preserve overall success is essential. If the board is too tense, the game ends quickly. Education must produce capable people who do not burn out and who see meaning in what they do.

“We must develop people who can plan their moves in life. No matter how fast the world changes, our people will not fall off the board, and they will grow with the world in a meaningful way,” Korsak said.

At “CP ALL Education Forum 2026”, CP ALL also awarded scholarships for the 2026 academic year through 12 collaboration networks, totalling more than 40,200 scholarships worth 1.67 billion baht, to expand educational opportunities for Thai youth.

The event also featured younger representatives from the education sector and thought leaders, led by Dr Sorraprapa Siripattharawich, principal of Sri Suriyothai School, Apichat “Ma Diao” Etiratana, CEO and influencer, and Jackrin “Jackie” Kungwankiatichai, CEO of OTH Ent, who joined a Go Inspire Talk panel titled “No Fixed Path: the people the future will choose do not all walk the same route”. 

Another highlight came from Dr Kraiyos Patrawart, Managing Director of the Equitable Education Fund (EEF), who invited participants to look at the bigger picture of the education system and the skills needed for the next generation through a Special Talk titled “Future-Ready People: people the future will choose”. 

More than 1,000 people, including education networks, teachers, and students, attended the forum.