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Startups get local help to turn ideas into business ventures
Southeast Asia is proving a hotbed for startups as entrepreneurs around the region succeed in raising money for innovative new ventures. Two companies whose apps are a common fixture on Cambodian smartphones are proof of what can be done.
Grab’s Gaurav Bubna left the ride-hailing company and raised $10 million to fund NextBillion.ai. Its technology allows companies to add driver locations and delivery history to digital maps. Foodpanda founder Kiren Tanna sold the meal delivery company to Germany’s Delivery Hero four years after setting it up in 2012.
In Cambodia, budding entrepreneurs are being helped by Impact Hub Phnom Penh and the government-funded Techo Startup Center. Impact Hub provides incubation programmes, mentoring, workshops and online learning. It says its focus is on the younger generation, which offers huge potential for economic growth in the Kingdom. “With 68 percent of the population under the age of 30, the next five to 10 years will significantly define Cambodia’s future. We see this as a window of opportunity to inspire and empower the next generation of Cambodia to create real and lasting impact,” it said on its website.
The Techo Startup Center is funded by the Ministry of Economy and Finance and runs programmes to support entrepreneurs
Startup development specialist Saksonita Khoeurn said Techo is basically a tech set-up. She added: “We already did an innovation programme that focused on financial and fintech. They worked on KYC [Know Your Customer] service solutions, payment integration and credit scoring. Our programme in Cambodia only provides themes and the startups have to identify the problems. We talk to our partners, mostly within the banking sector and identify the problems that need to be identified like KYC, which is a pain for the banks. Then we ask for innovators, startups, IT [information technology] professionals and students who have the capacity to solve the problems.”
Teams received $2,000 dollars to carry out market research and the three best ideas were awarded funding of $10,000, $7,000 and $5,000 respectively to turn their ideas into reality.
In spite of the focus on fintech, Khoeurn says ideas are more important than technical know-how. “I think it’s not about technology. They have to identify the problems that need to be changed and figure out which technology can be the solution to the problems. One team used blockchain technology, another team used AI machine-learning to solve the problem. A third developed a facial recognition system specific to Cambodian people.
Source: https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50880824/startups-get-local-help-to-turn-ideas-into-business-ventures/