musings from the murky mekong
I’ve started listening to Gary Vaynerchuk podcast lately through the word of mouth from Sereyboth. Seth Godin the magnificent marketer guru has long been one the best bloggers I’ve following for years.
I came to this YouTube video after listening to another video talk by Seth while I was gardening at my front yard.
This video title does really resonate with me in this 2017.
Sophie, my 3-year-old daughter, started her first year at the kindergaten several months ago. This year, her school will be supporting LICADHO’s Early Years Behind Bars for its annual beloved Giving Night.
I’m supporting this cause. And I’m asking you to join this with me.
What: I’m now collecting donations of child/adult toothbrushes as well any gently used or new toys, books, clothes or art supplies for children born into Cambodia’s prison system.
When: I’ll bring the donations of mine and yours to The Giving Tree School (Tuol Kork Branch, house #5, St. 325, Phnom Penh) on December 11th, 5:00 – 7:00PM.
How: If you wish to send your donations of stuff (not money) through me, please drop me a line of your pick-up location (Google Maps link) and mobile phone number. Thanks!
Last year, when my son 5-year-old Tom was a pupil at the school for this Giving Night, I also donated a set of Raspberry Pi 3 starter kit to the Rabbit School Organization. This year, I’m planning to get old books for the donation.
Currently, I’m on a Telegram chatroom of nearly 40 Cambodian tech folks (less than 10 are active) discuss about the potential of blockchain, Bitcoin, and Ethereum, among their personal pursuit in mining the next the big thing.
This Sunday late afternoon, I came across this blog post (in my Gmail inbox sent from The Brain Food Newsletter) from my favorite blogger, Seth Godin. His latest catchy post is Money for nothing.
In his blog post there is also a link to another blog post, which mentioned this book, Technological Revolutions and Financial Capital: The Dynamics of Bubbles and Golden Ages.
Personally, I thought The California Gold Rush (1848–1855) and the dot-com bubble (1997 to 2001) are pretty the same thing as this blockchain big bang.
Updated: December 7, 2017
The National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) has just warned the public about the risk of the Bitcoin and other cryptopcurrency. While the rejection has been widely publicized in the media, it’s not just warning but also a big publicity for this blockchain technology and cryptopcurrency.
Cambodians spend much of their time playing on Facebook, the world’s popular social networking website. Despite Cambodia is a hotbed for Facebook experiment, I expect that it will not affect the number of growing users. Of course, a small number of people here (including me) don’t like it.
If you’re wondering why Khmer people are in love with Facebook, please continue to read on.
Each and everyday, Facebook asks me: What’s on your mind? Here’s my answer to Facebook the company and its shareholders.
1- Cambodians started to hate TV because TV talked to them without listening to them.
2- TV is expensive. They spend money to buy a TV set just to watch. That’s all. Not fun. Nothing much on TV are cute. No cute cat. Not much to see selfies.
3- Cambodians think that everyone in Cambodia and all over the world is on Facebook. So they have to be on Facebook even being the last one in the kingdom to get on the social site.
4- Cambodians can create organic content with high reach. Cambodian users are probably the best viral content creators on the planet.
5- Cambodians have already abandoned TV. Facebook is the main source of all things day and night.
6- Ads spending on Facebook is high and growing non-stop. Why? Big, medium, and small businesses no longer want to spend their marketing money on TV and newspapers. They can easily pay Facebook to the work. $1 per day? Acceptable.
7- Cambodia’s Facebook users care about being on Facebook. Facebook Explore Feed. Who cares?
8- On Facebook, business is business. You have to pay to get in the frontpage if you want to sell.
9- On Facebook, you’re completely free to share your personal information and content (photos from your backyard, yes).
10. Blockchain? What? Facebook invests in you all and mine your data like a pro.
There is this new thing called Explore Feed for all the not sponsored Page content. It’s a Facebook’s experiment. And Cambodia is among the six test countries. So only sponsored Page posts get shown on the prime Frontpage.
The world’s most popular social networking site has just launched a new version for Cambodia’s users, among 6 other countries, the Facebook Frontpage. This newest test version is dedicated to updates from its users and sponsored content only. No more. For those publishers and brands who spent their budget on gaining the quanity of Likes will not get the same treatment of having their messages on the first front page. Those messages are now placed in a secondary section called Explore Feed. Just like its name, it means Cambodian Facebook users will need to do their own exploration.
Also: 12 reasons why Facebook is so popular in Cambodia
Facebook is a tech company that focuses on the result. Tweaking a small feature to get more advertisers to continue spending more money is the goal for the company and the shareholders. User experience is secondary. Publishers or Page owners with largest followers has already spent their marketing budget on getting the number of Likes. It’s as if the number of Likes is useless. This new feature allows Facebook to keep earning more from these businesses and others.
Cambodia has a lot of love stories with Facebook. But the interesting timing is Facebook, Google, and Twitter, are being grilled for their role in the last year’s US election.
I think the majority of Cambodians may not notice this tweak. What matters is that they still see that Facebook is working and feeding them the content they want to consume. If the social networking site were having a one-hour downtime, the public will get angry much more
than this introduction of the Explore Feed.
It’s the first time ever that this issue has happened. Facebook should have done much better than this. But after all, it’s the global tech company that can decide without listening to their users.
This is the worse tweak ever. My tweets here (also others’)
BREAKING: #Facebook wants #Cambodia among 6 countries to continue outspending $$ on sponsoring their content updateshttps://t.co/dLTdE2SjmR
— Tharum Bun (@tharum) October 24, 2017
Most users will never know or notice. Nobody should ever blame Facebook.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/10/this-could-be-the-end-of-facebook-hive-podcast
I was quoted in this VOA News article here: Facebook Faceplants in Cambodia.
One of the biggest sessions at this year BarCamp Asean (a special edition of BarCamp Phnom Penh), TechTalk 2017 offered some highlights of Cambodian tech startups to the enthusiastic audience. Key business players from big to small shared their thoughts on their tech offerings, challenges, golden opportunities, and what it’s like to build and grow a company. Read on my note from this event as I kept trying to capture some of the most important points from the speakers.
When: October 22, 2017
Where: Institute of Technology of Cambodia
Anthony Perkin, Chief Technology Officer of Smart, on cashless society
Sophorth Khuon, Founder and CEO of Morakot Technology, core-banking system for microfinance and banks
Leakhena Long, Joonaak Delivery
Ly Channa, CTO of BookMeBus
Bora Kem, Investment Manager of Mekong Strategic Partners
Makara Khov, Underscretary of State, Ministry of Post and Telecommunication
Chy Sila, CEO of Sabay
Chanda Pen, moderator
Socheata Lim, Vice President of Young Entrepreneurs Association of Cambodia (YEAC)
Ros Khemra, Regional Accesss to Finance of Mekong Business Initiative (MBI)
Zoe Ng, Managing director of Raintree
Sopheak Chheang
Member of Corco and Co-founder of Emerald Hub
Sokunpanha You
Head of Strategy, Smart Axiata
Chanda: One of the issues facing startups
a company needs at least 3 years of capital
What are the some the criterias that Smart looks to invest?
Smart Fund. 5 millions dollar that invest in early stage compnay. lacking of fundings is one of the challenges
To MBI: what are some of the things MBI is looking for?
we’re an ecosystem builder that supports startups. government in Vietnam, Singapore and other countries are turning their focus to support startups
Startups have a lot of potential.
Startups can grow from a small company into a big one in the region
Investors look for in a startup. Team. skills. Realistic of the product. and growth potential.
Socheat
invest in 4-5 startups. 3 gone. one is half success
a lot of young and talent people. only 16 million population
Ecosystem is important
EmeraldHub
what advice to you have to startup people
A lot of challenges and opportunities
If you start the business, you need a clear mission, vision,. strong team and commitment.
Zoe Ng
What advice do you give to entrepreneurs
Networking. The people they know, partners, are one of the driving factors…
Have fun. Relationship is not going to last if you’re not having fun.
Try different things all the time.
Don’t just go to tech tech events.
Sokunpanha:
Smart Startup
CSR: Support events like BarCamp Asean, …
invest in company
Invest in young startups
partner with iflix. Support ecosystem.
The tech ecosystem in the region:
Khemra
The whole ecosystem: corporate support, government support policy
More co-working spaces
In term of technical capacity, we’re good. Top ten in 2016-2017. BanhJi top 10.
We have a smaller community, but good.
As competition among key players in Cambodia’s tech startups is at a new height, 2017 is the year of creative partnership. Uber and Grab are making their presence felt in Cambodia. The two giants are powerful in how they operate, market, and compete. Uber opened its Phnom Penh office mid this year, before officially launching a few months later with the presence of US Ambassador to Cambodia William Heidt. Singapore-based Grab quietly started by hiring young Cambodian talents to start its operation in the Cambodian capital. The arrival of the Silicon Valley’s company and the King of Asia will transform the Cambodian transportation sector dramatically in the next few months. Uber and Grab are in Phnom Penh to do both: to educate the local market as well as to bring this small, growing market more competitive. However, the future of the local startups in this category remains uncertain.
Unlike in Vietnam and Singapore, startups have a better ecosystem to operate thanks to the policy of starting and doing businesses. However, it’s new to young Cambodian entrepreneurs to enjoy that local support advantage. This year, Khmerload, a Cambodian Buzzfeed-like startup, received an investment from Silicon Valley-based 500 Startups. However, the Cambodian startup registered its business in Singapore, instead of its home country.
In Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s home of tech entrepreneurs and startups, local startups have introduced their services to the locals and travelers on their shoestring marketing budget. Even though they’re new and small, they have been featured prominently in the local and international media outlets. BookMeBus, a 2-year-old startup was featured in CNN for making it easy to book a bus ticket. Other local startups like PassApp, Exnet Taxi, and iTsumo have been in this transportation and ride-hailing business for a couple of years. Time will tell. But their direct competitors are Uber and Grab.
For customers, the arrival of Uber and Grab mean more choices and better offerings. For the founders of Cambodia’s tech startups, it’s now the ideal time to draw inspiration from Malcolm Gladwell’s David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants.
Cambodian startups have to be very creative in partnership to take on the superiority of Uber’s technology. Cambodia’s ride-hailing ITsumo has recently partnered with Choice Taxi, a private taxi company offer 24 hours services.
With Cambodia’s largest money transfer agent TrueMoney, BookMeBus is now able to offer better customer-experience that the startup CEO believes will help grow its base of users. Most of Cambodian people still rely on cash for payments. This partnership allows BookMeBus to make it easy for more local customers to book their bus tickets at TrueMoney’s network of agents across the country. Also, the Cambodian unicorn startup last year tied a relationship with mobile money transfer services provider Wing.
On the digital content media and video on demand (VOD) front, the local streaming providers have to welcome and play a very competitive game with global players. Netflix launched in Cambodia with the film release of First They Killed My Father, directed by Angelina Jolie. It’s probably one of the most of strategic marketing and public relation campaigns to make its name known to the Cambodian users.
Mobile operator Smart is a partner with Malaysia-based iflix, a Malaysia-based company that offers video-on-demand service. Smart has recently acquired 30% stake in home-grown entertainment content producer Sabay. These businesses hope to become Cambodia’s digital champion in a few years. Both Smart and Sabay claimed that this October deal will help them to realize their dream.
Whether the partnerships come from pressure of Uber and Grab, it looks like the users will enjoy better, enhanced services with more added-values for their money. Probably this creative partnership is what the the small (startups) can battle the giants, both Uber and Grab.
The presence of both Uber and Grab also proves that Cambodia has it all for global businesses to launch and operate. Super fast Internet? Yes. Mobile 4G coverage? Yes. The majority of the young population who embraces digital technology? Yes.
Also:
Left: Bunleang Chang of Brown Coffee, me (middle), and Sakada Sam of K.E Cafe.
A morning of talk about all things coffee and everything in between over coffee at Brown Coffee in BKK1.
Got to the cafe in the BKK1 district from Tuol Kork by bike for the early morning exercise and double espresso. Bunleang had coffee latte and Sakada had hot Americano.
One of the most important things from the more than one-hour long conversation was that before Brown Coffee became a well-established coffee chain brandname, the first for Cambodia, Bunlong the co-founder had to work long hours and stayed in the coffeeshop for a couple of years in the early days.
In 2008, I flew to Bangkok and then took a mini van to Pattaya. It’s the first Mekong ICT Camp that took place in Thailand. The week-long workshop was inspired by Asia Source.
The series of this Mekong ICT Camp continues the following years, 2010, 2013, 2015, and 2017. Only the latest one, 2017, that it’s organized outside of Thailand. I fortunately attended all those events. I started as a participant. Later on I took part as a facilitator, board member, and organizer.
In 2008, upon the return from the first Mekong ICT Camp, I managed to work with a few Cambodian participants to initiate and start the first BarCamp in Phnom Penh. The BarCamp Phnom Penh is now everything for everyone across Cambodia. It’s amazing to look back and see how a idea and inspiration can aspire me to start doing things that now involve or impact thousands. I didn’t really imagine that. I just wanted to do something I’ve learned and feel that I pay back.
After these five Mekong Mekong ICT Camp, I think the mission is accomplished. This latest camp took place in Siem Reap. It’s an attempt. I retire from this, although knowing that it means a lot to me.
Now I I have to think about the next thing after nearly a decade. The built network among people in the region and lasting friendship are the best things to have and to nurture.
Chea Langda, a doer and fearless founder
Chea Langda is a startup co-founder of BookMeBus. The young Cambodian left his 8-5 job to launch a website that lists bus trip information. It came out of his frustration when finding a bus seat to his hometown, Battambang province, from Phnom Penh. The BookMeBus now is one of the most popular websites among expats, foreign travelers, and local to book their bus tickets with a just a few clicks or swipes.