Entitled “SCG Sharing the Dream”, the programme is entering its fifth year and has been held in six countries in Asean – the Philippines, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Indonesia. It underlines its regional goal in investing in new generation leaders and instilling a green mindset in them.
“We believe developing students in early age can shape them in the future. The green mindset should be instilled from childhood. These students are future leaders for their country,” said Nantapong Chatrakul, SCG Indonesia country director.
Starting modestly with 200 scholarships and 350 applicants, the programme in Indonesia kept growing, and this year there were over 1,500 applying for the 350 grants available. Each student gets IDR2 million (Bt8,000) and school supplies.
One of the scholarship students, Fania Solsabilla Mahatma Putri was in tears as she spoke to the audience at the scholarship handover ceremony. The 17-year-old said she felt really grateful for the financial assistance which allowed her to reach her goal of getting into medical school.
She told the press during an interview that she spent the grant on books on extra curriculum. “These books are not cheap and I wouldn’t be able to buy them without help,” she said.
Fania received the SCG scholarship for a second consecutive year and she expects to spend money on her medical studies. “Mostly I will have to buy books,” she said.
She said she has set her goal on becoming either a gynaecologist or a paediatrician. “I think our country needs more specialists in both fields [for treating women and children].”
Muhammad Fatahudin, an alumni of SCG Sharing the Dream in 2015, told the audience the programme helped him realise his full potential. A boy from Sukabumi, he is now a first year student in a top Indonesian university, studying civil engineering.
“This programme has not just blessed my life, it has aided my mindset in seeing my true potential and drives me to achieve my dream. I hope this programme expands to university level as well,” he said.
Manufacturing firm SCG has performed best practice on green manufacturing, starting with developing a green mindset among its employees. Of 17,000 staff overseas, 7,000 are in Indonesia. Total asset of SCG in Asean countries is worth US$3.5 billion (Bt121 million)
The company believes education and green awareness will help shape the future of each country.
SCG Sharing the Dream was held in partnership with the Ancora Foundation. Three-hundred-and fifty students from 26 senior high schools, spread throughout Jakarta, Bogor, Cileungsi, Karawang, South Tangerang, Sukabumi and Bayah, were carefully selected and assessed to be scholarship recipients.
The scholarships were granted to senior high school students who have shown appreciation for their families while contributing to their communities – though they were unable to continue their studies due to their economic conditions.

“When I was young, my family did not have enough money to support my education. I had to work and was lucky to win scholarships from secondary-school level to university level. Without the scholarships, my life would have been much different from now,” Thongma said.
“That’s why I want to extend the opportunity to others as education can change their lives – and some could one day become the main drivers of the country’s economic growth.”
The scholarship programme started in 2001, when the company successfully revived from the financial crisis. Unlike the company, many households suffering from that disaster still could not find ways to support their children’s education. The project was kick- started as the company amassed funds to support the children of its customers, employees and poor families living near its housing projects, Thongma said.
From the beginning, it promised to extend more than 400 scholarships per annum, for students in the primary, secondary and university levels.
Not only did the company provide scholarships for the children, Thongma personally set up the Vijitpongpun Fund seven years ago to provide scholarships for students through both primary school and university.
The Vijitpongpun Fund also donates budget to support a religious foundation to teach people in the community to learn about religion that will serve them to gain peace of mind.
This year, Vijitpongpun Fund has donated Bt38 million for 52 organisations. Recipients include an education institute, religious foundation, and non-government-organisations whose activities support communities nationwide.
“We cannot say if these scholarships would bring a better future for the country. But for now, we know they are providing an opportunity to pursue education, on which they can build their future and become valuable manpower in the future,” said Thongma.
Besides education, the company’s CSR is now geared towards its own customers, who deserve to live in a good environment, regardless of the age of the projects. Established in 1993, Pruksa has delivered over 120,000 residential units in over 100 projects to its customers.
In its mission to build a sustainable community, Thongma said: “The main objective is to support our customers to have the better community and better living.”
“Our business philosophy is that – with me or without me – Pruksa Real Estate must be a sustainable enterprise. CSR would be a mechanism to ensure sustainability,” Thongma said.

Chief executive officer Eliot Delunas told The Nation that nowadays many events, exhibitions, concerts, special dining and nightlife experiences, and business connections organised both by small and medium-sized enterprises and niche event organisers were off the radar of mainstream ticketing services. This creates a huge opportunity for his business.
Over the past three years, the company’s website has evolved| from a simple event timeline into a ticketing platform for people in Thailand, including expatriates and foreign tourists, to|help them find and participate in events based in Bangkok.
Despite the economic slowdown, SME event organisers have continued to stage events, Delunas said.
“Since the site [went] live, we have hosted almost 10,000 events. We also managed to achieve a high amount of traffic by offering useful content,” he said.
The company is concentrating more on its ticketing tools in order to allow its target clients to access sales channels and run their businesses more efficiently.
One Place Events hopes for sales to be in the tens of thousands by year-end even though its current target is a bit under that figure right now.
He said mobile technology was the future in the digital era, and flexibility for online or cashless payments was also crucial for a ticketing service.
“Currently, we are in talks with several online payment service providers such as Line Pay to [help] our clients and customers make a purchase easily.”
With the healthy surge of MICE business in the country, the company’s One Place Bangkok online guide aims to penetrate this business segment as Thailand is renowned as one of Asia’s MICE hubs.