Prasac moves towards becoming a bank
Prasac, a leading micro-finance institution in Cambodia, had increased its registered capital from US$3.8 million to $20 million in preparation for its transformation into a commercial bank by 2014, the institution said yesterday. “The registration requirement of $37.5 million is a very small amount to href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/prasac-moves-towards-becoming-a-bank/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...
Job fair attracts a big crowd
Officials confirmed there were more than 20,000 participants at the job fair on Saturday organised by the National Employment Agency of the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training, which was held in an effort to educate job seekers about current opportunities. Sokkhon David, acting director of information href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/job-fair-attracts-a-big-crowd/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012110559560/Business/job-fair-attracts-a-big-crowd.html
Lifting maid ban proving a challenge
A lack of legal protections, insufficient commitment from the Malaysian government and an overworked, understaffed embassy are among the major obstacles to lifting the maid ban, according to an internal government report obtained yesterday. Penned by the Ministry of Interior, the 12-page brief details a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/lifting-maid-ban-proving-a-challenge/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013010960701/National/lifting-maid-ban-proving-a-challenge.html
Rice exports at a flying pace
Cambodia milled rice exports reached 49,815 tonnes in the first two months of this year, an increase of 106 per cent from the same period last year. Jasmine rice was the biggest part of the exports, followed by long grain white rice, data from the href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/rice-exports-at-a-flying-pace/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013030561743/Business/rice-exports-at-a-flying-pace.html
Agricultural NGO to Become a Cooperative
The Cambodian Center for Study and Development in Agriculture (Cedac) said yesterday that it was undertaking measures to change its status from an NGO to a cooperative, a move that will ease the organization of donor money and push it to become more profit orientated href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/agricultural-ngo-to-become-a-cooperative/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...
Focusing on a good user experience
Companies and individuals need to do more than just create technology. They need to optimise the services and goods they provide, especially when introducing new concepts to developing markets such as Cambodia. That was the message from one presenter at last weekend’s T3CON12-ASIA conference in Phnom href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/focusing-on-a-good-user-experience/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...
Million-tonne goal still a challenge
It has been more than two years since the Cambodian government issued a rice export policy in June 2010, aiming to export a million tonnes of milled rice by 2015. However, a shortage of capital to buy unmilled rice, known as “paddy”, together with high href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/million-tonne-goal-still-a-challenge/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/Special-Reports/million-tonne-goal-still-a-challenge.html
Long hair a luxury for evictees
Kheng Chen had her hair cut in January and sold it to a broker for just under US$8. She isn’t happy with the close-cropped style because it makes her look older than her 48 years. But when Kheng Chen grows her hair back in a few href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/long-hair-a-luxury-for-evictees/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...
Last days of a valley damned
Yong Yim’s voice rises to a high-pitched quiver when she talks about a planned dam in the Areng Valley that would inundate land her family has inhabited for hundreds of years to form what amounts to a giant battery. Now they are staring at href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/last-days-of-a-valley-damned/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...
May Titthara, David Boyle and Danson Cheong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013020861238/National/last-days-of-a-valley-damned.html
Web hacks a risk for banks
Growing cyber attacks on government institutions and infrastructure could pose a threat to Cambodia’s vulnerable banking sector, officials with the National Cambodia Computer Emergency Response Team (CamCert) said yesterday. Speaking at the fifth annual Banking and Microfinance Conference at the Intercontinental Hotel in Phnom Penh yesterday, href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/web-hacks-a-risk-for-banks/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013060766124/Business/web-hacks-a-risk-for-banks.html
Rubber to give economy a bounce
Cambodian officials say they will focus on nine different sectors in a bid to diversify and ensure continued national economic growth. Among the nine priorities, rubber will play a crucial role in Cambodia’s trade integration strategy. After opening a workshop on Cambodia’s trade strategy for the coming href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/rubber-to-give-economy-a-bounce/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...
Mfone's towers are a hard sell
Nearly a decade ago, Meng Chor inherited a rooftop rental agreement with a telecommunications firm after buying a property on Mao Tse Toung Boulevard. For $300 a month over a 10-year lease, the contract allowed the company that later became Mfone to keep the cell tower href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/mfones-towers-are-a-hard-sell/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/mfones-towers-are-hard-sell
Mobile Banking Services On A Rise
F1soft Company, a software service provider that makes banking transactions available via phone, had commenced operations in Cambodia, company officials said yesterday during a workshop. Sean Thorninn, a lecturer in economics at the Limkokwing University and expert in Cambodia’s landscape of microfinance institutions (MFI), told href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/mobile-banking-services-on-a-rise/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013050765437/Business/mobile-banking-services-on-a-rise.html
‘Power cuts just a transitional problem’
Recurring power cuts and power shortages draw sharp complaints from Cambodia’s public, the political opposition and business owners. Keo Ratanak, director-general of Electricite du Cambodge (EDC), talked to the Post’s Sarah Thust. What is EDC doing to reduce electricity cuts here? The issue of power shortage is href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/power-cuts-just-a-transitional-problem/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013051065532/Business/power-cuts-just-a-transitional-problem.html
Minimum wage panel sets a meet
A joint committee designed to bring about wage increases in the garment sector will meet for the first time on Friday, a Ministry of Social Affairs letter obtained yesterday states. Ath Thorn, president of the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers’ Democratic Union, said he believed href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/minimum-wage-panel-sets-a-meet/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/minimum-wage-panel-sets-meet
March a victory of another sort
While the Cambodia National Rescue Party’s continued push for an investigation into election irregularities may at times feel quixotic, the fact that the opposition was able to hold a peaceful march yesterday without incident represents a perhaps equally significant victory for freedom of assembly. The Ministry href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/march-a-victory-of-another-sort/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...
Shane Worrell, P.2
http://www.phnompenhpost.com
Villagers say petition is a ‘trick’
Villagers in Kandal province alleged yesterday that officials had “tricked” them into thumb-printing a petition supporting tycoon Try Pheap’s claim that he is not involved in illegal logging and endorsing his defamation suit against two villagers. In a scathing report released last Wednesday, the Cambodian Human href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/villagers-say-petition-is-a-trick/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/villagers-say-petition-%E2%80%98trick%E2%80%99
A rare delicacy hard to sell
Ou Seathong sells one of the most expensive foods in the world: edible bird spit. At her shop on Street 182 in Phnom Penh, she sorts edible bird nests on the shelves. Hundreds of years old, the Chinese delicacy is made of the congealed saliva href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/a-rare-delicacy-hard-to-sell/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...
Rann Reuy
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/rare-delicacy-hard-sell
A prison by any other name . . .
Prisons across the country will soon be referred to only as “correctional centres” to change a public perception that they are places where people are simply locked up, the Ministry of Interior announced yesterday. Nuth Sa An, secretary of state at the ministry, said the change href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/a-prison-by-any-other-name/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...
Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/prison-any-other-name
Raising a stink in Siem Reap
Piles of waste stinking up Siem Reap’s Chreav commune are causing serious health problems and making the area unlivable, according to local residents. The site in Knar village, which is run by refuse company Global Action for Environment Awareness (GAEA), is plagued with flies and a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/raising-a-stink-in-siem-reap/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...
Thik Kaliyann
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/raising-stink-siem-reap