Phetchaburi students are sife champs

Sife is a non-profit global organisation that helps students learn about free enterprise.

Sife teams from Chiang Mai University and Payap University were runners-up in the tournament which had 23 entrants.

Following their win, the Silpakorn students now face 40 global Sife teams for the Sife World Cup from October 1-3 in Singapore .

Sife was established in the US in 1975 and is active in more than 2,000 colleges and universities in 40 countries. The Silpakorn victory was announced at the final round of Sife Thailand National Exposition 2008 last Friday at Sasin Graduate Institute of Business Administration at Chulalongkorn University.

Nipaporn Narula, 19, a second-year business management student, said the win came as a big surprise for her team.  "We are only in our second year, so we did not dare to think that we could win," she said. "When we won the opening round, we thought 'that's it for us'. We never really expected to reach this far."

The team's project consists of four supplementary projects: Mangrove Junior Guide to train youths to be tour guides; Youth Bank to instil saving habits for youth at an early age; Building Product Shop to help set up souvenir shops; and Housewife Training to teach entrepreneurial skills to women.

"Before our intervention, the 6th Mangrove was only a government worksite when people came to work in the morning and leave at the evening," Nipaporn said.

"But after we got involved, it became a tourist attraction, not only for locals but visitors from all over who come to plant trees to preserve the eco-system and boost tourism for the community."

Sife Chiang Mai's project, called "The Unseen Reflection", was to develop entrepreneurial skills from selling handmade engraved mirrors at Mae Rim District Juvenile Centre, Chiang Mai. The team worked to provide basic business skills to boys at the centre to earn income in the hope of setting them on the right path.

Payap Sife team set out to help a group of Karen coffee bean growers at Mae Klang Luang Village in Chiang Mai with a project called "Tobeebay Coffee Project". Sife Thailand's sponsors include the Stock Exchange of Thailand, HSBC, KPMG Phoomchai Holdings and The Nation.