SNOWBALL
Imagine yourself standing on top of a mountain covered in snow. To the horizon, all is white. In each hand is a snowball the size of a tennis ball. You slowly put the snowballs down on the surface of the snow and let them roll down the mountain. As the snowballs roll, they grow bigger, to the size of bowling balls, to the size of basketballs, to the size of yoga balls, and they keep growing bigger and bigger collecting snowflakes as they roll - just like the impact that keeps growing bigger as changemakers grow. This is the ‘Snowball Effect’, and the concept behind our program.
The ‘Snowballs’ in our program are our social entrepreneurs. Their snowballs are the size of tennis balls at the top of the mountain willing to roll down, collect snowflakes, and grow bigger!
WHY
Mid-level social entrepreneurs are the kind that have a clear vision and goals in mind but are still stuck in some way. They are our target group that we want to help reach for the stars. At first glance, these businesses seem to have passed the very challenging beginning phases and have settled. But we believe, with proper further assistance, they could reach the growth stage and do more to make sustainable social change. They could go on to make great things happen.
HOW
We chose the right process to facilitate the snowballs. With 4 months of continual support, we helped them with hypothesis testing, and provided them close mentorship to tackle whatever was holding them back and empower them to do business.
VISION
COMPANION
NIA Social Innovation Unit’s mission is to develop skills and innovation capabilities of target groups in Thailand. In 2019, NIA geared their strategy toward building Social Innovation. As a proponent of Social Innovation, RISE IMPACT undoubtedly shared NIA’s vision. That was why we took the step to become companions.
In the Snowball program, we chose to facilitate mid-stage entrepreneurs in the Validation Phase, who have passed the early stages of Social Innovation, have clear models/directions to solve social problems, but have not yet reached the Growth Phase. We believed in the potential of this group of entrepreneurs. We believed that with the proper guidance their businesses could reach sustainability, and make an impact and social change.
TRUSTED
COLLEAGUE
Incubating mid-level social entrepreneurs could be challenging. That was why we took special care of them. We analyzed each team’s situation closely to understand their norms and develop suitable processes for them. We found out that the validation process was extremely crucial to businesses at this mid-level stage. Only after passing the validation process could they start to learn the next correct steps. However, there were obstacles getting through the validation process: unpredictable team morale, limited time and funding. However, we stood beside our partners, thought outside the box, moved forward with trial and error, and successfully got through the obstacles to reach further towards sustainability.
LONG - LASTING
CHANGEMAKER
Imagine yourself standing on top of a mountain covered in snow. To the horizon, all is white. In each hand is a snowball the size of a tennis ball. You slowly put the snowballs down on the surface of the snow and let them roll down the mountain. As the snowballs roll, they grow bigger, to the size of bowling balls, to the size of basketballs, to the size of yoga balls, and they keep growing bigger and bigger collecting snowflakes as they roll - just like the impact that keeps growing bigger as changemakers grow. This is the ‘Snowball Effect’, and the concept behind our program.
The ‘Snowballs’ in our program are our social entrepreneurs. Their snowballs are the size of tennis balls at the top of the mountain willing to roll down, collect snowflakes, and grow bigger!
SNOWBALL
VENTURES
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Hear & Found - Using music as a tool to connect urbanites with different ethnic groups and stop discrimination
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Pakdone - Educating about nature through equipment that transforms food waste into fertilizer
Jai Talad - Organizing offline and online markets that connect organic farmers with urban consumers to facilitate food security
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Makhampom School for Transformative Learning - Providing activities which promote education by and for the people, helping people to design their own ways of learning, transfer knowledge, and communicate through different arts and sciences
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Alive for life - Producing equipment that helps people perform CPR correctly and decreases deaths from the incorrect performance of CPR
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W Academy - Facilitating personal financial management learning for children, raising the quality of life of Thai people by educating on financial literacy
6
groups of social
entrepreneurs joined
the program
24
participants
IMPACT BY NUMBERS
SNOWBALL 2019
100%
of participants tried new things and adjusted their business model
100%
of participants were confident to make impact or solve specific problems
100%
of activities were
Green Event Management