AMSA's Community Outreach Project with Thai CDC

Daily Bruin’s reporter Machiko Yasuda intervewed AMSA for its community outreach project with Thai Community Development Center (Thai CDC). Diana Boriboon (’08) and Kamolrat(Bo) Sivanunsakil (’09) responded:

Q: As a part of [Daily Bruin’s] coverage for Asian Pacific Islander Month, we've been interested in what different Asian groups on campus were doing, and yours stood out. Could you tell me what is the project about?
Diana: This year was the first time we partnered with the Thai CDC, hoping to provide more opportunity for UCLA Anderson students to not only give back to the local community but to highlight LA cultural events which they can participate in. UCLA Anderson students get to not only practice their business plan review skills, but to offer relevant feedback to low-income Asians who are looking to become more self-sufficient through starting their own business. The pilot was a success with 7 AMSA members reviewing a business plan and submitting their feedback in less than a week.

Q: How did this project get started?
Diana: I became aware of the Thai CDC when I was an undergraduate student at UCLA in 2000, taking a class which is sadly no longer offered titled "The Thai American Experience." When I returned back to UCLA for business school and became President of AMSA, it was my goal to incorporate more social enterprise initiatives into our organization by partnering with the Thai CDC. I met with the Executive Director (a UCLA Alum) Chancee Martorell in Fall 2007 to explore volunteer opportunities where business school students can provide counseling or support in small business development or social enterprises. What we ended up piloting was a small-business plan review program in December 2007 (led by Kamolrat “Bo" Sivanunsakil, now AMSA's VP of Cultural Affairs).

Q: Could you give me an example, maybe, of the type of work the volunteering consisted of?
Bo: AMSA works with the Thai CDC to provide a business plan review service to entrepreneurs who want to start a new business in L.A. After receiving the draft of business plan from the contacted organization (e.g. the Thai CDC), I will ask for the volunteers to review and comment on the draft of the business plan. The Thai CDC will forward/ incorporate the comment to the entrepreneurs, so they can further improve the draft of the business plan. The process will repeat until we think the plan is completed. The goal is that if the plan is approved, the entrepreneurs will receive some grants to start the business. The financial reward is to encourage the diversity of business models in L.A.

Q: What about on the cultural initiative end?
Diana: We also worked with the Thai CDC to help organize the Thai New Year Songkran Festival held annually in Thai Town in Hollywood. This is an event which draws thousands to Thai Town to experience Thai food, folk dancing, kickboxing, as well as arts & crafts. On Sunday April 13, the festival drew over 100,000 LA locals and was a huge success. For our part, AMSA organized over 20 UCLA Anderson students to volunteer at the Singha booth, and weeks prior to that we had 4 AMSA members canvass Hollywood Blvd from Western to Vermont, alerting local businesses of the Festival and collecting the signatures required to secure the street closure. Overall, this was a great event for all who were involved as it gave UCLA Anderson students a chance to not only interact with local business owners, but an opportunity to explore LA's great diversity.

Q: What do you hope for the future of this partnership? and in other social enterprises for your group in general?
Bo: Although we have only worked with the Thai CDC, the Thai CDC is part of an Asian Pacific Islander Small Business Program, which is a consortium of 5 different ethnic community groups (Thai, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Pilipino). They also pass on about our service to the others in case they may have projects in need of assistance. In the future, I hope we can work with other organizations as well.

(To find out more and get involved with AMSA’s Community Outreach Project, contact Bo at kamolrat.sivanunsakul.2009@anderson.ucla.edu)