Cambodia through the eyes of local startups

Photo credit: duha127 / 123RF Stock Photo.

With a population of about 16 million people, Cambodia is often economically sidelined by its bigger neighbors, Vietnam and Thailand. But for a country where 60 percent of its population has no access to electricity, Cambodia has progressed leaps and bounds in technology. According to a recent Asia Foundation report, Cambodia witnessed a surge in mobile phone ownership, with almost all of its population owning at least one (one-third of these being smartphones).

So what is so interesting about the Cambodian market, especially in the startup scene? What opportunities are there for a small but sizeable market? I asked Cambodia-based founders for their insights.

Opportunities in the economy

Tourism as a major contributor

Tourism is a vital pillar of the economy. The country had over 5 million visitors in 2015, bringing with them about US$3 billion in hard currency.

Langda Chea, the CEO of BookMeBus, a ticketing platform for bus, taxi, and ferry services in Cambodia, sees the opportunity in this. Ninety percent of the company’s monthly ticket sales are sold to tourists, who are likely more familiar with ecommerce. He is confident that the local segment will boom in the next few years when more online and mobile payment solutions come to the market.

Steven Path, CEO of Pathmazing Inc., a software solutions provider in Phnom Penh with an almost 100-strong development team, also shares a similar story. His company built Tesjor, a tourism-related booking services app. With the rise of tourist arrivals, the app’s usage surges as well.

Singaporean Jamon Mok, CEO and founder of Backstreet Academy, on the other hand, considers Cambodia as one of his core markets. According to him:

“Cambodia has a unique proposition for tourism in that it experiences highly concentrated tourist traffic […]. Almost all [tourist traffic] is guaranteed to pass through the town of Siem Reap which has less than a 100,000 population. This is a great reason for a tourism startup like us because we get high traffic in a small area, which makes penetrating the market much easier. We also have less competition compared to places like Bangkok which has high traffic, high competition, and [a] large area.”

In Mean also has a bullish outlook on tourism’s hand in the growth of the economy. According to him, both Phom Penh and Siem Reap are “booming thanks to tourist arrivals.” This creates a fast-growing real estate market, which prompted him to create KhmerHome.com, a portal that helps real estate agencies, developers, and homeowners manage their property online, taking advantage of the rising demand.

A young growing population

Cambodia is literally blessed with youth. A 2013 census in 2013 showed that 62 percent of Cambodians are under the age of 30. A further report on the internet and smartphone usage revealed that a third of Cambodians use Facebook, making the internet/Facebook the second most popular channel to obtain information after television.

Vichet In, CEO of Mediaload, recognized the changing media consumption tastes of the young and sought to capture this audience. His company runs Khmerload.com, a digital entertainment media. He shared his vision in disrupting the traditional media business by customizing and localizing content to serve millennials in short, written, and video formats.

The business environment

Ending thoughts