Cambodia Investment Review
The 33rd Give a Day event, co-hosted by Khmer Enterprise and Swisscontact Cambodia under the Enhancing Entrepreneurial Ecosystem and Investments (3Ei) initiative, was held on 25 February 2026 under the theme “Connecting Entrepreneurial Support Organizations and Financial Actors: A Practical Exchange”. This, first edition of 2026, convened 53 participants from 33 organizations.
Since its modest pilot in 2021, Give a Day has grown into a trusted platform for Cambodia’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. By 2025, at least 1,335 participants from more than 443 organizations had engaged in 41 Give a Day events across Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, and Battambang. The platform has consistently strengthened trust-based relationships and enabled practical collaboration among ecosystem actors.
The theme of the 33rd edition directly responds to priorities raised during Give a Day 32nd, where participants identified finance, investor engagement, and stronger coordination between ecosystem actors as key focus areas for 2026. Therefore, this edition was designed to translate that demand into a structured, experience-based exchange at the start of the new year.
Read More: Give a Day 32: 2025 Wrap-up – Strengthening Community and Celebrating Our Achievements
Cambodia’s Evolving Financial Landscape
The session was convened against the backdrop of Cambodia’s evolving financial landscape and the implementation of the Financial Sector Development Strategy 2025–2030. As the ecosystem matures, closer coordination between ESOs and financial actors remains essential to expand inclusive access to capital and improve alignment between enterprise readiness and financing instruments. Participants included government agencies, entrepreneurs support organizations (ESOs), NGO/INGOs, consulting firms, academia, financiers/investors, development partners, and entrepreneurs, etc.
The panel discussion brought together leaders representing different perspectives within the financial and entrepreneurial ecosystem. Panellists included:
- Mr. Chea Sophak, Chief Executive Officer of SME Bank of Cambodia
- Mr. Kong Somphyvatanak, Senior Market and Funding Manager at Khmer Enterprise
- Mrs. Sou Jolyda, Managing Director of Prestige Consulting
- Mr. Uk Remi, General Manager of Obor Capital.
The discussion was moderated by Ms. Lay Sokhuy, Deputy Team Leader and Technical Lead of the 3Ei initiative at Swisscontact Cambodia.
Collaboration Between ESOs & Financial Actors
During the panel, speakers shared real-world experiences on how collaboration between ESOs and financial actors currently function in practice and highlighted four complementary approaches to strengthening access to finance. SME Bank of Cambodia reinforced its role as a market catalyst by adapting to how SMEs operate in practice while grounding decisions in loan purpose and repayment capacity, including piloting financing models that move beyond fixed asset collateral. In addition, the bank engages with business associations for referral and background checks of their clients and works closely with the government institutions to identify potential customers, particularly the manufacturing and processing SMEs.
Khmer Enterprise emphasized the value of long-term SME portfolios and verified performance data to make credible referrals that lower perceived risk and help match SMEs with the right type of capital. Prestige Consulting stressed that investment readiness becomes effective when founders can communicate in financiers’ terms and when connections are curated to fit specific mandates rather than general pitching. Obor Capital underscored that investability rests on founder leadership and business maturity, with governance, standardized processes, and professional systems serving as prerequisites for attracting strategic investors.
Need For More Structured Coordination
Group discussions reinforced the need for more structured coordination across the ecosystem. Participants noted that ESOs tend to engage financial institutions mainly at the accelerator stage, while earlier programs remain focused on compliance, reporting, and market validation. They also emphasized that financial actors prefer curated pipelines, standardized business information, and engagement with decision makers, and observed that some financial institutions still lack SME oriented products or do not prioritize smaller loan sizes.
Participants further shared that program benefits often come through market access, partnerships, and constructive feedback rather than immediate fundraising outcomes. Looking ahead, the groups called for a centralized platform with shared financing criteria, financial actors and SME readiness profiles, more regular connecting sessions, stronger referral mechanisms to identify committed entrepreneurs, and earlier involvement of financial actors in program design so that curricula and financial products better align with enterprise needs.
Give a Day 33 reaffirmed the platform’s role as a trusted space for experience-based dialogue, knowledge-sharing, and ecosystem-level coordination. By intentionally focusing on the intersection between ESOs and financial actors, the first Give a Day of 2026 translated the priorities identified in the previous year into concrete discussion, laying groundwork for more informed experimentation and stronger collaboration across Cambodia’s entrepreneurial finance landscape.
Give a Day is co-financed by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), and Khmer Enterprise (KE), and co-implemented by Khmer Enterprise (KE) and Swisscontact through the Enhancing Entrepreneurial Ecosystem and Investments (3Ei) initiative.
