She said she decided to join the enterprise when she saw the opportunity to generate more income from growing herbs on about 2 rai (3,200 square metres) of land. She supplies the herbs for the production of personal-care products.
Earlier, Wanwinee opened a street food outlet in Nam Kien, while also growing herbs on her 2 rai to supply her restaurant. Her business generated average income of Bt200 a day.
Chusin Senrattana founded Chewavitee Community Enterprise in 2007 with 20 members. The community started to produce herbal shampoo for the members and also sell to locals.
The community enterprise now has 675 members from 224 families, and now makes 30 personal-care products including shampoo, soap and lotion. They are all made from herbs grown locally.
“I started to sell my household herbs to the community to increase my income by Bt2,000-Bt3,000 a month. This allows my family to have enough cash to improve their quality of life,” Wanwidee said.
Chusin set he established the enterprise when he saw the opportunity to increase incomes for the people in the community.
He said the idea was to help people in the community generate sustainable income from local resources, as Nan province has more than 30 herbs suitable for personal-care products. Locals buying the products were able to save about Bt500-Bt1,000 per month as they no longer needed to purchase them from outside producers.
Once local demand was outstripped by production, the enterprise began selling the products to other communities in 2010. As a result, members of the enterprise were able to earn Bt2,000-Bt3,000 in sales revenue.
Nine years after establishing Chewavitee Community Enterprise, it generates a average of Bt3 million a year in revenue, and annual net profit of Bt400,000-Bt600,000. The profit is spent on community needs such as hospital equipment and scholarships.
Meanwhile, the community also established Chewavitee Herb Co with registered capital of Bt1 million last year. Chusin said the company was consulting with the Commerce Ministry on how to begin exporting its products, which it hopes to start doing after two or three years.
“This will be our next step to help our community have sustainable growth for the long term,” he said.
Chewavitee Community Enterprise is one of 10 finalists in Government Savings Bank’s “Pink Pracha Rath Community Award” campaign.
When it launched the project, GSB invited community enterprises nationwide to send in their business models. A committee will select the winner of a Bt500,000 award.
GSB president Chatchai Payuhanaveechai said this was the first year of the campaign, and 432 community enterprises had sent in business models since early this year. A winner will be chosen from the 10 finalists at the end of this month.
He said the bank hoped the project would encourage other community enterprises, for which GSB would provide loans with special interest rates.
Meanwhile, the bank also provides “Pracha Rath Loans” for low-income people wanting to run businesses, so they do not need to turn to loan sharks.
Jiraporn Nuping, 48, who owns the a dress shop in Nan’s Muang district, said: “Only one week after applying for the loan from the bank, I was able to borrow Bt50,000 for cash flow to expand our business for this high season.”
She said the loan would help her double the number of products for sale during the tourist high season, which in Nan runs from October until the end of the year. In the first week of this month, sales revenue jumped from the weekly average of Bt15,000 to Bt20,000 as she had more products to offer.
Uraiwan Kamna, 40, who produces and distributes local souvenirs at her gift shop in Nan, said a Pracha Rath Loan from GSB helped her expand her product range to serve to serve the strong demand from tourists.
“Our sales increased by more than 20 per cent from normal thanks to the loan,” she said.