Prestigious residential addresses, luxurious mixed-use commercial properties, premier lifestyle international hotels and resorts: Singha Estate has done it all. Its long-term vision is to become a global holding company, and this larger-than-life goal goes hand in hand with a business philosophy of sustainability.
This passion for development that does not imperil future generations’ needs is a blazing fire in the eyes of Mr Chayanin Debhakam, Chairman of the Executive Committee and Member of the Sustainable Development Committee of Singha Estate. For him, it is a form of giving to society and it runs in his family.
As the fourth generation of Boon Rawd Brewery Group, Singha Estate’s parent company, he recounted the origin of this corporate philosophy.
“We started as a family business and we learned from our founding ancestor, Phraya Bhirom Bhakdi, who always concerned himself with the welfare of the community, this principle imprinted in our core value and Singha DNA”
“Among the many projects he initiated were the establishment of a school for orphans and construction of a public pavilion, both long before the term CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) was even coined. Singha Estate is resolute in creating sustainability for business, communities, and the environment.”
“Sustainability development infuses every part of our business. We do not see it as an extra, but as part of the essence of our practice. This is why we created the Sustainable Development Committee as a sub-committee of the Board of Directors.
The philosophy gave rise to an ambitious 2016 project, “Phi Phi Set to Change”, an initiative to conserve and restore the natural resources of Nopparat Thara Beach and Phi Phi Island National Park in a collaboration between governmental offices and leading scholars, including the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Faculty of Fisheries of Kasetsart University. Several eco-based initiatives, including a coral rehabilitation project at Yoong Island to help recover bleached coral in national park areas such as Maya Bay, have been adopted and implemented by the National Parks Committee together with local communities and private sectors.
“We devote a lot of attention to the locals and especially students,” Mr Debhakam said, sharing the details of his expedition to Phi Phi, radiating his determination.
“We do this because local communities are key drivers of the sustainability of their own society. We do not claim that Singha Estate is the sole player and we work with no business hypothesis. The locals are the ones who live there and are affected by the environment. From the beginning, we listened to the community stakeholders and implemented conservation and restoration projects hand in hand with them. Most importantly, we kept learning from each other and sharing practices.”
“The 2017 ‘Toh Wai Wai’ project to advance ‘Phi Phi Set to Change’ elevated the effort to the next level. Now the aim was to foster awareness of the value to humankind of biodiversity by setting out to rehabilitate the ecosystem and restore balance to Noppharat Thara Beach and Phi Phi Island Nation Park. The activities included planting local grey mangrove trees (Api Api) after which the Phi Phi Islands are named. Here we propagated coral and increased the number of clownfish by rearing fry in our nursery and releasing them back into sea anemones, their original homes in nature.”
“In 2018, Singha Estate expanded its sustainability project with the opening of the Marine Discovery Center (MDC), the first marine learning centre established by a private organisation. Its purpose is to educate tourists, students, and locals in neighbouring communities. To this end, it comprises four learning area zones: Shark Room, Phi Phi Island Room, Clownfish Room, and Auditorium. The MDC is open to the general public with no admission fees.”
“These projects are beneficial not only for the community and environment but also economic value.”
Mr Debhakam added that he believes that sustainability is central to their business growth.
“Only when business, communities, and the environment co-exist can they thrive,” he said. “We serve the communities and the environment along with taking care of our shareholders.”
And he is no unthinking optimist. He qualified that with: “We are not saying that property development causes no damage. That is just not true. But we are trying to minimise the impact upon communities and the environment so that we can continue to grow strong together.”
Singha Estate continues into 2019 with another optimised project, “Samui Discovery Center,” this time focusing on conserving seagrass, a kind of ecosystem engineer that generates oxygen and plays an important role in resisting climate change. Moreover, the Marine Discovery Centre at Crossroads Maldives is set to open June 2019, where coral cultivated in a laboratory and will be transplanted across a 64,000 square-metre lagoon.
“We understand that building harmonious coexistence between business, communities and the environment is a long, continuous process. Everyone at Singha Estate takes the sustainability projects seriously and a sense of mission underpins everything we do. But we believe that all parties involved will prosper and flourish in a sustainable way.”
Mr Debhakam concluded with a definition of the true meaning of sustainability: “We can’t predict the future. The best we can do is to prepare our children to be ready and resilient to bear with any circumstances but, most importantly, we should protect the natural resources from our own cause. That’s the way forward.”
“We can’t predict the future. The best we can do is to prepare our children to be ready and resilient to bear with any circumstances but, most importantly, we should protect the natural resources from our own cause. That’s the way forward.”
