Harrison White
Government-backed entrepreneurial ecosystem builders Khmer Enterprise and business strategy and development company Aquarii Cambodia have formalized a strategic partnership through a Memorandum of Understanding.
A key joint commitment will be to help address any outdated perception of Cambodia and lower the trust deficit that foreign businesses and investors may have of the country by raising awareness of Cambodia’s pro-business and pro-investment policies.
To read more about Cambodia’s post-COVID economic agenda click here.
The two organizations will be working closely together to ensure that the right partnerships and support can be made available or accorded to businesses and investors that come through their respective networks or platforms.
To do so, they have agreed to mutually promote each other’s platforms and their respective activities and initiatives – such as networking events and investment roadshows among others – to a wider audience.
They are also committed to having regular discussions to exchange views and update each other on the needs and concerns of the business community.
Promoting Cambodia to international investors
Dr. Chhieng Vanmunin CEO of Khmer Enterprise said: “This strategic partnership is an initiative that will benefit Cambodia’s Ecosystem in terms of connecting local entrepreneurs to international investors and businesses through business matching, investment and networking events to showcase Cambodian potential business.”
Michael Tan, Aquarii Cambodia’s Founder Director and Chief Executive Officer said: “We continue to identify like-minded and credible strategic partners such as Khmer Enterprise to complement and supplement Aquarii’s larger efforts to help bridge outdated perception that foreign businesses and investors may have of Cambodia.”
“In addition, we will also enable and empower the larger business and investment community in Cambodia through its online business platform, advisory service, and its diverse network of contacts, resource persons and various partners,” Tan added.
Businesses in Cambodia that have a formal partnership with Aquarii and choose to include their company information in the Business Directory on Aquarii’s freely accessible online platform will be acknowledged as such in the filtered search results of the directory.
This should give greater confidence to foreign businesses and investors to connect or deal with service providers, business counterparts or investment partners in Cambodia that they have sourced through the Aquarii BD platform.
Developing Cambodia’s entrepreneurial ecosystem
Khmer Enterprise, which operates under the Ministry of Economy and Finance, was launched in 2019 as a government-funded program in line with Cambodia’s Rectangular Strategy IV.
The fund aims to mobilize, invest and manage resources to support the development of a vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem and to provide financial and non-financial support to related entrepreneurial ecosystem builders.
To read our interview with Dr. Chhieng Vanmunin click here.
Increasing investment and developing Cambodia’s entrepreneurial ecosystem is a key requirement to achieve the nation’s ambitious aim of becoming upper-middle-income with a gross national income per capita of between $4,406 and $12,535 such as regional neighbors Thailand and Malaysia.
