Harrison White

Cambodian-American entrepreneur and previous President of the American Chamber of Commerce Cambodia, Allen Dodgson Tan has launched ‘Essential Cambodia’ a new book to help foreign investors, entrepreneurs, and managers succeed in the Kingdom.

A launch event was held at SOSORO Museum and attended by a collection of well-known government officials attending the event were leaders from the international business community, members of the diplomatic corps and Royal Government officials.

In addition to welcoming remarks by Tan, there was also a speech by H.E. Dr. Mey Kalyan, Senior Adviser to Supreme National Economic Council (SNEC), and a panel discussion with well-known entrepreneurs: Tassilo Brinzer, Chairman of EuroCham, Tean Ly, Managing Director of Seeva Capital, and Steven Path, CEO of Pathmazing.

Cambodia is naturally a foreigner-friendly country

To create the book Tan conducted more than 20 interviews with successful foreign and local business people, as well as many conversations with those across the business community.

Speaking to Cambodia Investment Review Tan said: “My hope is that this book will help foreigners working in Cambodia to be successful and thrive in the Kingdom. Cambodia is naturally a foreigner-friendly country that welcomes businesses from across the globe.

“Many of the frustrations that our foreign guests experience come from simple misunderstandings that can be easily corrected. My purpose in writing this book was to provide a resource for those new to Kingdom, so that they may learn from the decades of experience of those I have learned from,” he added.

To read more about Allen Dodgson Tan’s involvement with Bluebell Cambodia click here.

According to Tan unlike many books on Cambodian business, Essential Cambodia focuses on the overall business landscape and culture rather than the legal and regulatory aspects of a business. The book highlights potential differences in thinking between European/American mindsets and local customs and norms.

As noted by Tan, Essential Cambodia is intended to complement the great selection of technical legal books already available, such as the Legal Aspects of Doing Business in Cambodia by Dr. Sok Siphana.

Understanding the Cambodian business community

The book also points out unfair international representations of Cambodia, such as the now-discontinued World Bank “Doing Business Rankings.” In addition, Tan acknowledges that challenges exist for all businesses in Cambodia but that these will be significantly reduced when one has a correct understanding of the business environment.

To read more about Cambodia’s strong economic outlook click here.

The cover art and illustrations for the book were designed by renowned French expatriate street artist Chifumi, whose work focuses heavily on Khmer traditional ascetics. Also contributing to the book were Cambodian photographer Ly Song and French photographer Jeff Perigois.

Cambodian readers can find Essential Cambodia at Monument Books on Norodom Avenue in Phnom Penh and in the international departure terminals inside the RELAY stores in both Phnom Penh and Siem Reap.

The book is available to readers overseas on Amazon in both paperback and on Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09V39PSP5