Nophol Techaphangam, nornnorn Founder & CEO, in the May-July 2021 issue of Futurist.
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nornnorn is one of the 100 impact enterprises out of over 1,000 from Botswana, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Malawi, South Africa, Thailand, Uganda and Zambia shortlisted for the SEED Awards for Entrepreneurship in Sustainable Development 2021, an annual awards scheme designed to identify the most innovative and promising locally led start-up eco-inclusive enterprises in developing and emerging economies founded by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), UN Development Programme (UNDP) and International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in 2002.
The final result of the awards will be announced in the third quarter of this year.
nornnorn has won a THB900k-grant (USD28k) from Thailand's Office of National Higher Education Science Research and Innovation Policy Council (NXPO) through the Programme Management Unit for Competitiveness (PMU C) to support our attempt to estimate the amount of waste and greenhouse gas emissions that our mattress subscription service will save over the coming years through a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of our business model. Expected to be completed by May 2022, the one-year project will be conducted by Thailand's Technology and Informatics Institute for Sustainability (TIIS).
Nophol Techaphangam, nornnorn Founder & CEO, in the 1/2021 "Rethinking ASEAN” issue of ASEANFocus.
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Nophol Techaphangam, nornnorn Founder & CEO, was invited to join the “Thailand CE Ecosystem-Business Leadership” panel at the Circular Economy Leadership & Partnership Summit (CELP) 2021 alongside representatives from PTT Global Chemical PCL., SC Grand and Thai Union Group PCL. on March 18 in Bangkok.
Co-organised by the STEAM Platform together with Thailand's Office of National Higher Education Science Research and Innovation Policy Council (NXPO) and the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) Asia and the Pacific Office, CELP 2021 provided "a platform for industry leaders to share their circularity solutions, researchers to re-prioritise their R&D efforts, policymakers to provide strategic interventions to accelerate the circular economy transformation [...] and citizens of the world to align consumption behaviour towards a circular economy."
nornnorn has won an £80,000-grant from the UK Royal Academy of Engineering (RAE) through the Engineering X Transforming Systems through Partnership programme to develop an eco-friendly and economically viable technology for polyurethane foam waste upcycling. The project will be conducted by the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) in collaboration with the University of Cambridge.
Run by the RAE, supported by the Newton Fund and delivered in partnership with innovation agencies in six countries, the Engineering X Transforming Systems through Partnership programme aims to build engineering teaching, research and innovation capacity within partner countries' universities through collaboration between local stakeholders and UK academics that meets local and global development challenges.
Nophol Techaphangam, nornnorn Founder & CEO, gives Tatler Thailand an insight into nornnorn and his work with UNICEF.
From the February 2021 issue of Tatler Thailand
Due to the postponement of the World Tourism Forum Lucerne (WTFL) Start-up Innovation Camp 2020 that had been due to take place in Ras-Al Khaimah, UAE, in 2020, nornnorn was in November last year invited to apply to join the 2021 Camp instead.
Out of more than 450 start-ups in the tourism space from 100 countries around the world that applied, nornnorn is among the 15 successful applicants chosen to join the Camp this November in Andermatt, Switzerland, as one of the three high-potential start-ups in the Impacting (Social Impact & Sustainability) category.
The WTFL Camps are yearly flagship initiatives of the Switzerland-based WTFL, a leading interactive platform where CEOs, Ministers, Academia, Finance, Start-ups, NextGens and Young Talents join force to address the future challenges of the travel, tourism and hospitality industry and shape a more sustainable future.
The Camps aim to boost the industry’s innovation ecosystem by connecting innovators with industry players and investors as well as helping scale and commercialise innovative solutions.
Nophol Techaphangam, nornnorn Founder & CEO, talks to 106GuruTalk about nornnorn.
Broadcasted in Thailand on FM 106MHz on February 10, 2021
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Nophol Techaphangam, nornnorn Founder & CEO, talks to TNN Startup about nornnorn.
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Nophol Techaphangam, nornnorn Founder & CEO, talks to TechNode about nornnorn.
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nornnorn, a million-dollar business transformation. From selling to renting.
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Nophol Techaphangam, nornnorn Founder & CEO, tells Kasikorn Bank’s K SME Inspired why and how he created nornnorn.
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As a fourth-generation heir to a mattress business with nearly 90 years of history, Nophol Techaphangam, our Founder & CEO, was invited to share his experience in leading his family business and inspire the successors of other family enterprises (“NextGens”) to forge ahead with their plans to take their businesses to the next level during the “Changing Your Parents' Mindset” session at The Cloud NextGen Conference on November 26 at Lhong 1919, Bangkok.
Organised by The Cloud, Thailand's biggest online magazine, the event aimed to help disseminate the learning from the earlier generations of business families and highlight how the successive generations had creatively developed the businesses.
Other speakers at the event were:
- Chataya Supanpong, second-generation leader of BBQ Plaza
- Thanat Witpirom, second-generation leader of MS Optic and founder of OCCURA
- Jiraroj Pojanavaraphan, third-generation leader of SC Grand
- Phakamon Somboonvejjakarn, second-generation leader of D'Oro
- Kamolpong Sanguantrakul, third-generation leader of Toyota Khonkaen
Read the event’s summaries on The Cloud and The Matter (in Thai only).
nornnorn, under Circularity Co., Ltd., is one of Thailand's 30 most innovative SMEs and startups selected to join the final round of Thailand Inno Biz Champion (Central Region) contest that will take place in January 2021.
The contest is organised by Thailand's National Innovation Agency in association with the BrandKU Centre, Business Management Faculty, Kasetsart University, under the direction of the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation.
nornnorn has been highlighted as one of "the most inspirational ideas for better tourism [from] cities around the world" to be featured on 101 Ideas for Sustainable Tourism, an initiative by Göteborg&Co, the official tourism and destination marketing organisation of Gothenburg, Sweden's second largest city and European Capital of Smart Tourism 2020.
According to Göteborg&Co, the ideas chosen "relate to city life and urban tourism with a high degree of innovation and creativity. All the ideas have been categorised across one or more of the UN Sustainable Development Goals."
Click here to see other top creative and innovative initiatives from social entrepreneurs, innovative business founders and other players in the global tourism and hospitality industry.
As an entrepreneur who has developed new business opportunities based on sustainability practices, Nophol Techaphangam, our Founder & CEO, was invited to join the Sustainability - An Opportunity for Businesses panel on behalf of nornnorn at the launch of AIT Enterprises Alliance (AEA), a communication and knowledge exchange channel between the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) and enterprises, on November 11 at AIT. The other two panelists were Jamie Brennan, Director of Commerce, Loyalty and Lifestyle Product, True Digital Group, and Tim Feng, President, Deep Dive.
The AEA network aims to foster bilateral engagement between AIT and the private sector and provide opportunities for multilateral collaborations among network members.
Nophol Techaphangam, nornnorn Founder & CEO, tells Bancha Chumchaivate how his family's 88-year-old mattress and bedding business has led to nornnorn today.
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Nophol Techaphangam, nornnorn Founder & CEO, tells Bancha Chumchaivate how his family's 88-year-old mattress and bedding business has led to nornnorn today.
Read more (in Thai only)
As one of the drivers of the Circular Economy movement in the tourism space, Nophol Techaphangam, our Founder & CEO, shared nornnorn's business model during the “Impact of COVID-19 on Tourism: Consumption and production patterns in the future: A case study from experts” session at the “SWITCH-Asia Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) in Tourism: Opportunities and Challenges” webinar on October 8.
Organised by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) in association with the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), the webinar focused on the key impacts of COVID-19 on tourism, SCP opportunities that would enable the tourism sector to rebuild stronger and with greater resilience, and the need for circular models in tourism-related production and consumption of food and plastics.
Nophol was joined at the session by Tomohiro Hamakawa, a co-founder of Mana Earthly Paradise, an eco-resort in Bali, Indonesia, that is at the forefront of sustainable hospitality and a client of nornnorn.
Founded in 2008, SWITCH-Asia is the largest EU-funded programme promoting SCP in Asia.