Challenging business for startups
The World Bank recently ranked Cambodia 184th out of 189 countries for ease of starting a business, but you wouldn’t have known it at Phnom Penh’s recent Startup Weekend.
Pitches for Cambodia’s first commercial organic chicken farm and for an app to connect tuk-tuk drivers to passengers were among dozens of ideas brought forward at the 54-hour event the weekend before last. In all, about 120 participants came together to form teams, conduct market research, develop business schemes and finally present their projects to a judging panel.
The Phnom Penh venue, a sleek office space with spiral staircases and gleaming interiors, looked like it belonged in Silicon Valley rather than in the capital’s dusty outskirts on Chroy Changvar – a fitting contrast for an entrepreneurial tech event in one of Asia’s least developed countries. …
Tharo’s team won the competition with a mobile app that could let friends recommend shops to one another through photos in return for rewards. The team’s video pitch is now competing for $500,000 in prizes against more than 200 other teams from around the world. This was the third Startup Weekend in Cambodia, but this year is the first time that Cambodia is joining the annual Global Startup Battle. A Phnom Penh win would be remarkable for a country where less than 20 per cent of the population have internet access and less than 10 per cent use social media. At Startup Weekend, the majority of participants had backgrounds in business and marketing rather than technology. … The World Bank noted in an October report that would-be entrepreneurs in Cambodia must complete 11 separate procedures under government rules to start a business, with the whole process taking about 104 days. … Justine Drennan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/challenging-business-startups
