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Cambodia: Gov’t urged to step up investments in tech parks
The seventh edition of the ‘Give A Day’ meet, held in Phnom Penh recently, urged the Cambodian government to step up investments in tech parks for promoting the ecosystem for digital start-ups and also to speed up the country’s march to become a digital economy.
Several stakeholders in the entrepreneurship ecosystem including representatives of government agencies, investors, accelerators, and entrepreneurs attended the monthly event, held under the Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Building Project (EEB).
In his presentation on ‘Cambodia’s Digital Economy and Fintech Landscape and Development Policy,’ keynote speaker Nguonly Taing, Executive Director of the Techo Startup Centre, spoke of the urgency for the country to find new growth drivers to make the economy more resilient to challenges including the Covid-19 crisis.
“The advancement of digital technology creates the opportunity for a new and emerging digital economy which will increase in value from $100 billion in 2019 to an estimated $1 trillion in 2030 for the Southeast Asia region,” he said.
For Cambodia, implementing the Cambodia Digital Economy and Society Policy Framework 2021-2035 is expected to guide the country in its long-term vision of becoming an upper-middle-income country by 2030 and ultimately a high-income country by 2050.
According to him, the common challenges faced by digital start-ups include limited financial support and follow-on funding, inadequate mentors, both in quantity and quality, and insufficient materials and equipment (testing tools, science lab tools, sandbox etc.) to work with.
“In addition, there is limited knowledge and skills as well as innovation and high dropout rate from programmes, tight schedules with other priorities and commitments, as well as inadequate fulfilment of reporting documents including financial reporting and key performance metrics,” Taing pointed out.
The meeting identified solutions to common challenges such as improving basic cyber security knowledge, improving the limited internet coverage outside city centre locations, and creating content for the currently low level of general and digital literacy.
It was explained that developing the ecosystem is vital to establish new drivers for Cambodia’s economic growth and for overcoming internal and external challenges to GDP growth over the coming years.
The digital transformation will have to cover all socio-economic sectors by taking the maximum advantage of the advancement of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and digital technology, the meeting noted.
“A digital society is one that adopts the digital services with inclusion, trust, safety, and still maintaining national identity and culture,” Taing said.
“Cambodia is on the verge of a digital era and digital technology continues to transform every socio-economic activity in Cambodia. As an ecosystem, we need to join hands with Entrepreneur Support Organisations (ESOs) and other actors to promote and build scalable startups,” Taing added.
The Techo Startup Center, on its part, is developing solutions to some of the challenges faced by the start-ups such as improving quality of mentorship, providing investment pitches, time management as well as injecting funds for early-stage start-ups, he said.
‘Give A Day’ is an initiative under the EEB, which is jointly funded by Khmer Enterprise, USAID’s WE Act Project through Pact Cambodia and Swisscontact.
Source: https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501138218/govt-urged-to-step-up-investments-in-tech-parks/