Ada Chirapaisarnkul

Ms Ada Chirapaisarnkul is a pioneer in the fields of social entrepreneurship and social investment in Thailand. She founded and manages the Thailand Young Philantropist Network, which is a platform to engage young and determined professionals with a shared mission to make positive changes in society. The community counts over 2,700 young leaders working on strengthening civil society in Thailand.

In 2012 she also co-founded taejai.com, a fundraising website aiming to nurture a culture of strategic giving. The Thailand Young Philantropist Network has also created Life Hero, which advocates education equity through scholarships. Many of her projects focus on piloting innovative new financing tools such as "giving circles", as a form of crowdfunding for pro bono, skills-based volunteering. The focus of the network lies on empowering children from the least privileged socioeconomic backgrounds in Thailand.

Through Life Hero access to formal education becomes accessible for many young learners. The network researches better alternatives for transforming the life of youths and works closely with Unicef. It explores skills training and job matching which not only enables access to education but also offers direct links to long-term employment.