Rangsrith Khunchaimang, now 53, made a bold decision in 2014 to resign from PTT Exploration & Production Plc to go back to his birthplace, Pha Pang in Lampang province, with a lofty goal to create sustainable development.
Pha Pang is a small tambon located in a watershed area near a mountain. The area is full of deciduous forest and bamboo, where the soil is a blend of sand and rock, making it unsuitable for agriculture.
The tambon often faces water shortages during the dry season from May to August because the area is in a rain shadow. In the past many people lived in the community, but sporadic droughts caused an exodus.
Tambon Pha Pang comprises five villages with a total population of only 900, a sharp drop from 1,700 15 years ago. Half of them are elderly.
"The villagers used to talk in 2004 about how if we stay put and do nothing, Pha Pang will be full of abandoned houses. That's the main reason we set up the foundation," says Mr Rangsrith, director of the Foundation for Phapang Community Development.
"As a third generation member of the village who had an opportunity to study in big cities and work for a large company for 28 years, I felt an obligation to go back home and use my engineering background and work experience on energy to develop the area."
He says in the past, the government used to implement projects to help the community, but such assistance has been discontinued.
"Officials who handled the development projects worked on a temporary basis. They came and went with the projects," says Mr Rangsrith.
The villagers all agreed they needed to help themselves before more people left the community.
Rangsrith Khunchaimang, director of the Foundation for Phapang Community Development, with small electricity generating unit in Phapang which use activated charcoal from bamboo as fuel.
Mr Rangsrith together with a group of educated young adults in the village founded the foundation in 2014, then in 2017 established the Green Community Co to run community-based tourism businesses such as homestays, marketing for local products related to bamboo, and advisory services on environmental management.
The social enterprise first borrowed 5 million baht from the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Bank of Thailand to finance its operation and production of community products including dried banana, dried roselle, dried longan and soap from bamboo charcoal.
The community also built five huts from locally sourced bamboo for homestay services, complete with bamboo furniture.
Pha Pang has grown a bamboo forest on 300 rai to help lure tourists. There is a total of 24,541 rai of community forests, with 15,500 rai containing community bamboo forests in the tambon.
The foundation this year set up Pang's Activated Charcoal Bamboo Co to make and distribute activated charcoal.
"Bamboo has great benefits for the economy, with China, South Korea and Japan announcing the preservation and promotion of bamboo forests," says Mr Rangsrith. "Of 22 provinces in China, 20 grow bamboo."
He says once bamboo is burnt at an appropriate temperature, it will become high-quality charcoal, or activated charcoal, which can be used as a raw material to produce cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, medical equipment, air filters, and used in the production of low-emission petrol.
The community develops bamboo forests as a tourist attraction in tambon Pha Pang.
Bamboo fibre can also be used to make clothes, electrical vehicles and even gas pipelines. Activated charcoal is not widely known here, but Thai firms import it from Cambodia for use as a raw material in many industries.
A new factory with total investment of 10 million baht is being built, scheduled to be completed by June. With a capacity of three tonnes per month, the activated charcoal will be supplied to several listed companies on the local bourse.
The new factory is a joint venture between the Foundation for Phapang Community Development and private companies. The foundation holds a 51% stake in the venture.
Mr Rangsrith says a third social enterprise firm called Phapang Community Energy Co is being set up with 1 million baht in registered capital. The firm will offer installation service for alternative energy generation systems using activated charcoal as a key raw material.
"This technology is suitable for highland areas that cannot use solar cells," he says.
Among the installation projects are a small electricity-generating unit in Mae La Noi district in Mae Hong Son and Doi Tao district in Chiang Mai.
"I am optimistic that social enterprises and the many activities here will help attract the new generation to return home and develop their birthplace," says Mr Rangsrith. "Although they may not get as high a salary as in big cities, they can stay with their parents, have a better environment, climate and quality of life if they return home."