ASEAN COMMUNITY OF ENTREPRENEURS
EXPAT ENTREPENEUR
BOOKS AND LEARNING
In Cambodia, everyone loves to read. Families and young adults visit the local‘ bookstore’ – a nearby book-selling kiosk in the town’ s flea market for the latest in cheap Khmer translated books. Enterprising urchins even buy some cheap books from the market and stack them in baskets and hawk the copies to foreigners lounging around the riverbanks.
Cambodia used to be one of the most sophisticated publishing industries before the Khmer Rouge annihilated most of the literate from academics to engineers and doctors. The literacy rate among the locals is estimated to be 37 % as of 2011.
There is a growing cottage industry of do-it-yourself‘ publishers’ that are fuelling an increasing demand for a wide variety of books – from romance novels to English to Khmer translations of popular western books – a shady practice that keeps hole-inthe-wall publishers alive.
This might bode well for publishing houses looking for a niche market to grow and stake claim in the future as the book provider for everyone Khmer. The latest studies show that it only takes US $ 23 to make one Cambodian literate.
Local libraries have outdated books and need good Khmer and English books. While old Khmer literary treasures are reportedly getting lost because archival technology and curation is insufficient to maintain these books in good condition, the government and many organisations are doing their best to preserve Khmer literary heritage books.
Bookstores in Cambodia are improving slowly. Monument Books is the latest and the biggest bookshop in Phnom Penh and at the airport. D’ s Bookstores, a long favourite haunt among local book hunters, has five thrift book shops( one by the lake in the backpacker area and three in Phnom Penh and at least one in Siem Reap). Bohr’ s Books is another bookstore on the street just behind the Foreign Correspondents Club of Cambodia( FCCC).
Talented English writers / educators or translators may find good opportunities in publishing while making good effort to learn the local Khmer language. Helping put up a school in Cambodia may provide unexpected rewards as it grows and becomes a legit source for the Khmer locals to improve their learning and economic standing.
SKILLED WORKERS
The local Khmer populace lacks sufficient technically proficient workers to keep up with demand from investors. Whoever is available may already be working for a foreign company based in the capital or will be working overseas in pursuit of greener pasture. Unlike most developed ASEAN economies, Cambodia is still a wide open frontier for both regional and western investors.
The government has already partnered with Vietnamese and Chinese companies to develop areas with plenty of natural resources, i. e. the mining industries. Other business opportunities such as tech start-ups might prefer Singapore or Thailand and even China, but Cambodia offers start-up entrepreneurs the unique position of being there before everyone else figured out they should, too. Any opportunity to develop the Khmer locals to be technically skilled for your project will always be looked upon favourably.
There might be more western and regional businesses looking into Cambodia as a platform to expand into Asia or as an outsourcing centre in the ASEAN region. Hence, being the most proficiently skilled person around might spell job opportunity
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ASEAN COMMUNITY OF ENTREPRENEURS | ISSUE 2: 2016