Mindventure: Heart-Healing Business for the New Generation under Pressure 

Forbes Asia recognizes Chulalongkorn Business School alumni among Asia’s 30 Under 30 Social Impact Leaders 2025 for their founding of Mindventure, a social enterprise dedicated to addressing mental health challenges among youth and working-age adults in an era marked by pressure, stress, and social isolation.

Burnout at work, fading motivation to study, low self-worth, sadness, loneliness, social withdrawal, and being around “toxic” people may be quietly eating away at many individuals.  Even when people do not want to feel this way, such experiences are often difficult to avoid. Today’s social and economic conditions, modern lifestyles, and the pervasive influence of social media all contribute to high levels of stress, pressure, and loneliness.  

Changing the world may be more challenging than changing our perspectives, learning how to manage emotions, and developing effective ways to cope with situations that do not go as planned. This belief became the opportunity and motivation behind the founding of the social enterprise Mindventure by two sisters, Chanakarn (Kangsom) and Kantaporn (Namwarn) Kachonseree, alumni of the Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA International Program), Faculty of Commerce and Accountancy, Chulalongkorn University (Chula Business School).  

“Mental health is extremely important because everything begins with the mind. When we are stressed or unhappy with our lives, it affects our work and relationships. Even one person experiencing mental pain or suffering can have a ripple effect on their environment. That is why we must pay attention to mental well-being,” Chanakarn said.  

“We founded Mindventure with the intention of helping alleviate mental health challenges in society. We provide training programs for youth, working professionals, and corporate groups to help people better understand themselves and develop self-learning skills, so they are better equipped to cope with change and societal pressures—whether in educational settings, workplaces, or society as a whole.” 

After a decade of running initiatives for social impact, the two founding siblings of Mindventure, both young entrepreneurs and creatives under the age of 30, were selected by Forbes Asia as one of the 30 Under 30 Asia: Social Impact honorees for 2025. 

Ms. Chanakarn shared her feelings about receiving the recognition that “I’m very happy that our intention to create social impact has been recognized by the wider community. This award has also given us a chance to reflect on ourselves—what we have done, what has happened along the way, and how we will move forward.” 

Ms. Kantaporn expressed similar sentiments: “I feel extremely happy and amazed. I never expected that we would be selected for Forbes Under 30. I would like to thank everyone who has supported us all along. It hasn’t been an easy journey to establish Mindventure—we’ve been through so much. Without everyone’s support, we wouldn’t be who we are today. I’d like to thank our school, Chulalongkorn University, our family, and our team members who have stayed with us until this point.” 

The origin of the heart-healing business began when Ms. Chanakarn was a Grade 12 student. She shared that she enjoyed participating in many volunteer activities, one of which was a “listening” volunteer program organized by JitArsaBank. 

“At that event, the facilitator invited us to discuss the question, ‘What is life?’ It was the first time I had ever shared my life story in such a deep way with someone I didn’t know. What I received in return was unconditional, non-judgmental acceptance, which left a deep impression on me. At that moment, I realized that I hadn’t even accepted myself. I often compared myself to others and felt that I wasn’t good enough. Yet the person in front of me at the event, a complete stranger, listened and accepted me exactly as I was. That made me truly feel how powerful listening can be. I remember telling myself then: this is what I want to do for a living.” 

From her firsthand experience of witnessing the power of deep listening, Chanakarn was inspired and driven to study the art of listening and self-understanding. While studying at Chulalongkorn Business School, she actively sought training opportunities with various institutions, including the Thailand Coaching Academy, life-empowerment coaching programs at the Jittabhivadhana Vichalai (Mind Coach) Foundation, Google’s Search Inside Yourself program, as well as personality-related tools such as MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator), DISC (Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, and Conscientiousness), the Enneagram and Strengths Finder. 

Chanakarn did not pursue this journey alone; she often invited her sister to join her. During her second year as an undergraduate student, Chanakarn began experimenting with developing courses for young people, integrating the knowledge and skills she had studied and practiced. Her very first workshop, which focused on inner development for youth, received an overwhelmingly positive response. 

“I invited my younger sister and friends to help organize listening-focused workshops for secondary school students. At the time, there were very few training spaces like this, so it was the first opportunity for participants to truly understand themselves, practice self-love, and recognize their own self-worth,” Chanakarn explained. 

The positive response from the high school students uplifted both sisters, especially Kantaporn, who chose to follow her heart and pursue her studies at Chulalongkorn Business School, just like her older sister. Together, they learned the science of business alongside the discipline of personal development. 

“Young people may not yet have much access to mindfulness practices, so we want to make this field more approachable and tangible,” Kantaporn said of co-organizing the training sessions with her sister. “I’ve been interested in mindfulness since childhood. I attended a mindfulness retreat when I was in Grade 6—it was truly a life-changing course. I used to overthink and lacked self-worth, but practicing these techniques helped me develop skills to manage my thoughts and regulate my emotions more effectively.” 

The initial workshops served as a prototype, which later evolved into a business plan. Chanakarn and Kantaporn were selected to represent Thailand in a business plan competition in Singapore, participated in leadership-for-social-impact projects such as the Young Entrepreneur Programme and the YSE Global Programme, and enrolled in the School of Change Maker in Thailand. In 2020, they also had the opportunity to compete in the Youth Co:Lab organized by UNDP (United Nations Development Program). 

Chanakarn recalled, “It was near the end of my fourth year, and my sister and I started thinking about how we could turn what we’re passionate about into a company—something we could pursue as a full-time career.” Kantaporn added, “So we decided to start a company as a social enterprise and have continued building it ever since.” 

The Kachonseree sisters officially registered Mindventure in 2021, with their primary target groups being youth and working adults.  

“Mindventure is a business that is not focused solely on profit; we also aim to create a positive social impact. Our intention is for our business to help our target groups develop skills to care for their own mental well-being and cope with the challenges they face in life, whether it’s teenagers dealing with academic pressure, self-discovery, and navigating life, or working adults experiencing burnout and various forms of stress.” 

Mindventure’s courses are designed by integrating principles from Buddhism, positive psychology, and neuroscience. They include a range of engaging programs such as Search Inside Yourself, a core training course offered to organizations to support inner self-discovery; Burnout Prevention, which focuses on preventing and coping with burnout; Communication and Team Building, which provides communication techniques to help teams work more effectively and understand one another better; and the Mindfulness Leadership Program, which aims to cultivate mindful leadership for organizational executives seeking to enhance their leadership skills, as well as emerging leaders of the new generation.  

Chanakarn described the training process, saying, “These courses create a space for participants to reflect on themselves. The facilitators design the process and learning environment to support this reflection. If participants open their minds and actively engage with the process, they will gain the most from it. The learning comes from within themselves, through taking time to reflect, contemplate, and have conversations with themselves and with fellow participants.” 

“Not being able to find oneself, constant comparison of self to others, and a lack of self-worth” are common mental health challenges observed among Mindventure’s youth and working-age participants. Kantaporn noted, “Young people who grow up in the age of social media often compare themselves with others and put pressure on themselves to be and do as much as everyone else. On social media, people usually post only the good sides of their lives, not the struggles, which becomes a major source of stress. This also leads to low self-esteem, a lack of motivation to study, work, and engage in various activities.”  

“Many young people today are still searching for a sense of identity, making it difficult to decide what to study or which path to pursue. Without clear goals or an understanding of their own strengths, they often feel unsure how to move forward, leaving them more vulnerable to burnout.” 

For working adults, managing workplace relationships and burnout seems to be an issue that comes up again and again. Chanakarn explained, “People in their 40s and 50s have usually been working for a long time. They need to rediscover their inner drive, what still motivates them to get up and work every day. As for relationships at work, the question is how to manage them, whether with colleagues, supervisors, teammates, or toxic people around them.” 

Society may be flawed, and other people may behave poorly. Those are difficult or even impossible for us to change. What we can do, however, is change ourselves, Chanakarn said, giving the example of working professionals who are thinking about changing jobs. 

“Before going that far, try changing your way of thinking or your activities. We need to start by coming back to ourselves first. Reflect on the aspects of the situation you find toxic. In any problem, there are elements on both sides, theirs and ours. If we observe ourselves closely, we can identify what is within our control and what we can adjust, such as our thoughts or our daily activities.” 

“When we take time to reflect, we may begin to see more clearly what the root causes are and where to start. Most importantly, we shouldn’t keep problems to ourselves, because that can become a mental trap—thinking that ‘this is my problem and I have to solve it alone.’ That only leads to exhaustion. We can ask for help from people around us, whether friends, parents, colleagues, or professionals.”  

Training with Mindventure may not transform participants’ lives overnight. However, what the two social entrepreneurs hope to offer is understanding and a new perspective—one that can help improve life, little by little, every day. 

“Well-being isn’t only about a healthy body free of illness, but also about good mental health, a mind that can be happy in every day despite not getting a bonus, a promotion, or what you wish for.”  

Mindventure’s success as a social enterprise today stems from deeply knowing oneself and what one’s life goals are, actively seeking knowledge, and honing the skills needed to move toward the dreams they envision. Both Chanakarn and Kantaporn have combined the “inner work” they learned from various institutions with the business knowledge they gained at Chulalongkorn Business School. 

Kantaporn shared her learning experience and the subjects she enjoyed most: “Back when I was a student, I didn’t just attend classes—I also took part in activities and clubs. We had to plan, coordinate with others, practice being project leaders, and manage our teammates. All of this helped us develop leadership skills. University is a space where you’re allowed to make mistakes—it’s like a playground where you can practice working before stepping into the real world.”  

“The subjects I really liked and still keep my notes from and use to this day include Consumer Behavior, which helped me understand our target customers, and Business Strategy, as well as basic business principles, which gave me practical knowledge of marketing, finance, and taxation that can be directly applied to real work.”  Chanakarn added, “The classroom content I enjoyed most was Marketing. Marketing encourages critical thinking, broadens perspectives, and exposes us to a wide range of business cases. Business Strategy is essentially a business planning course, which helps us plan how to expand the business and anticipate possible outcomes. The last is Personal Finance, even though we’re not stock analysts or investors, in the end, we still have to earn money and manage our own finances.” 

“Success is just one unit, but the challenges are many times greater.” While they take pride in Mindventure’s achievements, both founders are well aware that many challenges still lie ahead, especially amid today’s pressing economic and social conditions.  

“In the past, we longed for stability in life. Today, what we seek is emotional stability. Mindventure wants to play a part in helping people rediscover happiness and live better lives—in terms of health, well-being, and life balance. Ultimately, we aim to scale our impact and create positive change across society on a much broader level,” Chanakarn concluded. 

Those interested in Mindventure and their courses, please visit www.mindventure.co.th or contact info@mindventure.co.th  or visit Facebook Pages: