NEWS - Results from #492

Technology startups set for rapid growth in Cambodia

Technology-based startups are increasingly becoming a vital part of the business landscape across the globe.

By applying technologies to create new products and services, resolve existing issues, these startups can make a significant contribution to economic development while at the same time generating social and environmental benefits.

But to survive and thrive, technology startups require an enabling ecosystem that includes supportive government policy, easy access to capital, skilled personnel, quality digital infrastructure, and several other elements.

The Cambodian technology startup ecosystem is developing rapidly as private support for new ideas and innovations from incubators, local angel investors, private equity (PEs), and venture capital funds is widening. Over 300 technology startups are in the various stages of development.

Higher education institutions have begun to focus on promoting entrepreneurship and innovation, with some universities setting up their own incubation and startup centers as well as industry linkage offices.

The enactment of laws, like the Consumer Protection Law, the E-Commerce Law, and the Competition Law, has helped in creating more favourable conditions for entrepreneurship and risk-taking.

However, the National Innovation System of Cambodia is still underdeveloped. Cambodia ranked 101 out of 127 countries in the 2018 Global Innovation Index. It scored particularly low in terms of expenditure on education, tertiary enrolment, and knowledge-intensive employment.

While the new government structure for promoting STI can provide a strong basis for the development of the Cambodian National Innovation System, collaboration among stakeholders (within the government and between the government institutions, the private sector, and the academia) is currently weak. The diffused responsibility for science and technology across 11 key ministries presents challenges for effective policy development and governance, and the mandate of MISTI (Ministry of Industry, Science, Technology and Innovation) as the main coordinating institution is still to be consolidated.

Vongsey Vissoth, Minister attached to the Prime Minister, Permanent Secretary of State of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, and Chairman of the Entrepreneurship Development Fund, gave an engaging presentation on the SMEs (small and medium enterprises) and entrepreneurship ecosystem and said it would take public and private sector collaboration to uplift Cambodia’s SMEs.

“Cambodian entrepreneurs have provided support to nearly 400 new businesses and nurtured a youth entrepreneurial culture in target provinces across the country through capacity building, business networking and marketing, and business competition programmes through funding startups as well,” Vongsey Vissoth said.

For full article, please read here

Author: Sok Sithika

Source: Khmer Times

October 30, 2022

Cambodia continues to move ahead on green power path

Cambodia is at crossroads on many fronts, starting with its graduation from the least developed country (LDC) status to post-pandemic economic recovery, according to the latest UNDP research.

The country has drafted the Power Development Plan (2021–40) to respond to the anticipated power demand. It was based on the principles of affordability of electricity supply by embracing least cost generation mix and reliability with adequate generation and transmission.

As ASEAN countries are looking for energy security through greater use of domestic resources, countries such as Cambodia are increasing external sources, including the import of electricity from neighbouring countries.

The government could work out a plan even to shift investment from coal towards renewable and avoid externality costs and potentially stranded assets.

Tassilo Brinzer, Chairman of the European Chamber of Commerce in Cambodia, said, “The Royal Government’s full approval and support for the use of solar panels on roofs is a significant step. Cambodia has gained a reputation as a green and more competitive environment, as well as for better integration into the regional economy.”

Brinzer said it would push Cambodia to become an investment destination as investing in renewable energy can be supported as a qualified investment project under the new investment law and attract producers with clean energy goals.

Yet Cambodia has an opportunity to go beyond its renewable energy strategies and benefit from its unique location between the two leading Greater Mekong sub-region economies and position itself as a leader in green business, the report said. It would enable the Cambodian industry to better integrate into fast, modern, sustainable regional supply chains, it added.

One of the other major benefits, in addition to reducing carbon emissions, is the potential for creating new industries that guarantee a better sustainable energy future, led by the development of solar technology.

For full article, please read here

Author: Sok Sithika

Source: Khmer Times

October 27, 2022

Cambodia, Singapore to enhance energy cooperation

Cambodia and Singapore signed the memorandum of understanding on energy cooperation, paving the way to energy transition infrastructure development and investment opportunities in energy connectivity in the ASEAN region.

The cooperation is expected to enhance energy security and sustainability in the region.

The MoU was signed virtually yesterday by Suy Sem, Minister of Mines and Energy, and Tan See Leng, Minister for Manpower and Second Minister for Trade and Industry of Singapore.

The two sides agreed in principle to develop the transitional energy infrastructure and increase energy connectivity opportunities in ASEAN to enhance energy security and sustainability, said Heng Kunleang, director-general of the ministry’s energy department.

This cooperation is beneficial and a step towards the vision of ASEAN energy connectivity, in which the two countries are like-minded partners, taking into account common interests and common goals towards cleaner and more energy-efficient sources and towards zero emissions at or between the middle of the century, Kunleang told Khmer Times yesterday.

“Today’s Memorandum of Understanding reflects the two countries’ strong commitment to deepening energy partnerships to promote the use of renewable energy and the development of the ASEAN power grid and electricity interconnection for cross-border electricity trade to build more economic sustainability towards a common low-carbon future, as well as to achieve the ASEAN energy interconnected vision,” Kunleang said.

For full article, please read here

Author: Chea Vanyuth

Source: Khmer Times

October 26, 2022

Vietnam and Australia promoting bilateral trade and investment

As Business Champions Vietnam-Australia 2022 celebrates its first anniversary, it promises to continue facilitating trade and investment.

The ceremony of the Vietnam-Australia Business Champions Initiative took place in Hanoi on the morning of October 18 in the presence of the Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Tran Duy Dong and the Australian Assistant Minister for Trade and Manufacturing Tim Ayres, as well as some Australian and Vietnamese enterprises.

Tran Duy Dong underlined that, after a year of executing the project, pioneering entrepreneurs in Vietnam and Australia have engaged in several important activities, therefore generating significant value for the business communities of the two nations. “Before today's event, I also had a brief conversation with pioneer entrepreneurs, and I admired their aggressive, passionate, and enthusiastic attitude, as well as the positive early results produced over the past year,” Dong stressed.

Australian Assistant Minister for Trade and Manufacturing Tim Ayres also acknowledged the brief but productive discussion with six leading entrepreneurs. “Deputy Minister Tran Duy Dong and I sat with the pioneer entrepreneurs of the two nations, listened to their many excellent proposals, and will take concrete steps to expand prospects for investment, exporters, and importers of the two countries.”

Both parties reaffirmed their resolve to continue fostering advantageous investment and trade arrangements between the two nations. The Vietnamese side emphasised that it will remove barriers to market entry, import-export procedures, and land, while the Australian side expressed support for pioneering businesses' investment plans. According to Dong, this is a significant and meaningful event that celebrates the efforts and positive achievements of Vietnamese-Australian pioneering businesses over the previous year to boost effective trade and investment relations between the two nations.

Both are certain that the two nations will achieve their aim of being one of the top 10 trade partners of each other and achieving a twofold increase in two-way investment. Six pioneering entrepreneurs from Vietnam and Australia have been selected as senior, experienced executives from prominent enterprises and corporations in critical sectors of the agricultural economy; industrial production; mining; steel manufacturing of steel; technological solutions; and banking and education by the authorities of the two nations.

These are entrepreneurs from TH Group, Hoa Phat Group, Vietcombank, Aurecon Group, Sunrice Group, RMIT University, and Bean Centre.

In both countries, the Business Champions have already been active. The Australian Business Champions convened over one hundred business and government leaders for a series of roundtables in five Australian states and one territory. The Vietnamese Business Champions have formed a business network, co-chaired a roundtable with more than one hundred enterprises in attendance, and participated in high-level government discussions.

In August 2019, the prime ministers of Australia and Vietnam agreed to construct an Enhanced Economic Engagement Strategy, with the goals of becoming one of the top 10 trading partners and tripling bilateral investment. The Business Champions were selected based on their stellar reputation and their representation of important sectors for the economic cooperation between Australia and Vietnam. Their duty is to promote Australia-Vietnam trade and investment, encourage interaction with industry, and report back to governments on both commercial possibilities and problems.

Source : VIR

October 20, 2022

Cambodian delegation starts trade mission in Indonesia

Banten, Indonesia – A Cambodian business delegation from different industries yesterday started their first trade mission in Indonesia under the aegis of Cambodia’s Ministry of Commerce (MoC) and the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia in Phnom Penh. This is the first trade mission in two years since the Covid-19 pandemic hit the global economy.

The Cambodian delegation started their visit touring the 37th Trade Expo Indonesia in Baten province which was attended by Indonesian President Joko Widodo and Zulkifli Hasan, Minister of Trade. More than 1,000 guests from over 100 countries congregated at the Indonesia Convention Exhibition Centre (ICE).

The opening ceremony started with an Indonesian traditional dance followed by a fashion show at the ICE on Wednesday morning. Various products were displayed at more than 1,000 booths.

In his opening address at the 37th Trade Expo Indonesia, Indonesian President Joko Widodo said that the growth of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Indonesia has grown 5.44 percent in the second quarter of 2022 even though the inflation has risen to about 5 percent in the same period, while the country’s central bank Bank Indonesia and municipal-provincial authorities have worked together to control the inflation effectively.

Lauti Nia Astri, Minister Counsellor of Economic Cooperation of the Embassy of Indonesia in Cambodia, told Khmer Times that when the trade mission started the off-line trade mission has not been arranged for two years – 2020 and 2021 – due to the Covid-19 pandemic around the world, while the trade exhibition had still been organised on line.

“We expect the delegations or businesspeople will find what they are looking for as there are many varieties of products here from food & beverage, lifestyle products, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics to everything,” Nia Astri said, adding that it is expected that more than 1,000 buyers from across world such as Egypt, South Africa and Senegal to participate in the exhibition.

Nia Astri added that the Cambodian trade delegation will be guided to visit PT Kino Indonesia Tbk (Kino), which is one of the biggest companies in Indonesia specialised in consumer products from hair care to kid personal care, and they will also enjoy a social-cultural trip along with visiting the newest tourism destination of Indonesia, Jakarta Aquarium & Safari that is spread on more than three hectares of land after they enjoyed the annual trade exhibition of the country.

For full article, please read here

Author: Kang Sothear
Source: Khmer Time

October 20, 2022

Brunei economy likely to see modest gains in 2022: CSPS

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN – The Brunei economy is still expected to stage a modest rebound in 2022 despite a sharp contraction of 4.2 percent in the first quarter of the year, according to Centre of Strategic and Policy Studies (CSPS).

In its Brunei Economic Update August 2022 publication, the think tank said it has a “cautiously optimistic” outlook on growth, but warned of significant downside risks.

The downstream oil and gas sector will continue to drive economic growth as external demand rises, while the services sector is predicted to bounce back after full reopening of the economy.

Strong growth was reported in the manufacturing of petrochemical products in Q1 2022, and the start of Brunei Fertilizer Industries’ ammonia and urea production is forecast to increase revenue in the downstream sector.

Earlier this year, CSPS had projected that the sultanate would end its recession and record a positive growth of 3.7% in 2022.

Source: The Scoop

Read the full article here

October 18, 2022

Brunei ranked first in cost of redundancy dismissal

The Sultanate ranked first globally in cost of redundancy dismissal, second globally in applied tariff rate, third in political and operational stability, fourth in pupil-teacher ratio and in graduates in science and engineering.

This was revealed in the recently-published 2022 Global Innovation Index (GII). Brunei Darussalam was 47th among the 48 high-income group economies.

The Sultanate is in 38th place in global corporate R&D investors, but did not score well in domestic industry diversification, hi-tech manufacturing and infocommunications technology services exports indicators.

Brunei ranked 14th among the 17 economies in the Southeast Asia, East Asia, and Oceania (SEAO) region.

The institutions category is where the Sultanate performed the best, at 23rd place globally.

In benchmarking against other high-income economies, Brunei Darussalam performed above the group average, while in the SEAO region, the Sultanate performed above the regional average.

Meanwhile, Brunei ranked 53rd in human capital and research and 61st in infrastructure. Its weakest performance was in knowledge and technology outputs (127th).

Source: Borneo Bulletin

Read the full article here

October 18, 2022

Brunei economic growth forecast revised

The ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO) last week revised downwards Brunei Darussalam’s economic growth from 3.0 per cent forecast in July to 0.7 per cent in its October Economic Outlook.

As for next year’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth, it also revised the Sultanate’s growth from 3.9 per cent projected in July to 3.0 per cent in its October update.

AMRO also revised its short-term growth forecast for the ASEAN+3 region.

The continuing strict dynamic zero-COVID policy and real estate sector weakness in China and potential recessions in the United States (US) and the euro area are weighing on the region’s outlook.

In its October Update, AMRO staff forecasted the ASEAN+3 region to grow by 3.7 per cent this year – down from the 4.3 per cent growth projected in July reflecting mainly weaker growth in Plus-3 economies.

The ASEAN region is expected to grow strongly by 5.3 per cent. The region’s inflation rate for 2022 is now projected to be 6.2 per cent – a full percentage point higher than previously forecast. Growth is expected to increase to 4.6 per cent in 2023 as China’s economy picks up, with inflation moderating to about 3.4 per cent.

Source: Borneo Bulletin

Read the full article here

October 18, 2022

2022 top startups in the Philippines

PHILIPPINE Startup Week 2022 (PHSW22) is happening from Nov. 14 to18, 2022. With the theme "Homegrown Heroes: Cultivating Future Tech Giants," this nationwide five-day conference brings together the local startup community. Dr. Rafaelita M. Aldaba, undersecretary for Competitiveness and Innovation Group, Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), is hopeful and believes the "Philippine startup ecosystem is thriving in the new normal, as seen in the unfettered growth of investments. Home to a great pool of creative talents and with more focused government support, the Philippines is now a real emerging startup destination."

Sharing a list of startups provides a resource for jobseekers excited by the opportunity to innovate, solve big problems and grow their skills. Success stories could also serve as an inspiration for potential startup founders or entrepreneurs to increase the pipeline of ventures in the country. LinkedIn and Shell LiveWIRE list their top startups for 2022.

In its inaugural Top Startups in the Philippines list, LinkedIn highlights the local startups that have shown resilience in an uncertain market environment and are continuing to innovate in 2022. The list showcases companies, predominantly homegrown tech businesses, that successfully captured market opportunities amid the pandemic. LinkedIn analyzed data across four pillars to compile the list: employee growth, jobseeker interest, the attraction of top talent, and engagement with the company's LinkedIn page and its employees. Their top 10 startups are Tier One Entertainment, SariSuki, Shoppertainment Live, Kumu, Edamama, GrowSar, PDAX (Philippine Digital Asset Exchange), Edukasyon.ph, Peddlr and Prosperna.

A new class of entrepreneurs emerged during the pandemic who embarked on micro or solo entrepreneurship to augment their income and overcome financial challenges. Those entrepreneurs behind startups, such as SariSuki, Shoppertainment Live, Edamama, Growsari, Peddlr, and Prosperna, met opportunities to respond to the demands of the times. Led by local creatives and talent, the live-streaming platform Kumu highlights the country's growing demand for innovative and interactive digital entertainment that champions Filipino voices and perspectives. Tier One Entertainment, a gaming and esports company, shows the unique potential of this lucrative industry by investing in talent and technology. Education technology (Edtech) platform Edukasyon.ph saw an opportunity to be of service in response to the disruption in the education sector and emerging concerns about the future readiness of today's youth. As digital finance becomes more mainstream in the Philippines, the rise of PDAX (Philippine Digital Asset Exchange), a homegrown cryptocurrency exchange, shows the Filipinos' growing interest in exploring new frontiers in personal finance and investments to diversify and optimize their portfolios, navigate the current economic climate, and benefit from future growth potential.

Meanwhile, Shell LiveWire chose the 2022 Top 10 tech startups that contribute solutions to socioeconomic problems: Bambuhay, Carbonamics, Evergrocer Zero Waste Online Shop Corp., Hive Energy PH, Kargax, Pieza PH, Recycle on Demand Bin, Sakahon, Suds Sustainable Pods, and Taxikel. Climate technology startup Carbonamics looks promising. They transform carbon dioxide emissions from the air into bioethanol — a chemical compound that helps minimize carbon emissions when mixed with fuel. JF Gauthier, founder and CEO of Startup Genome, believes in technology's role in fighting climate change. "Innovations by tech companies may be our best bet to prevent global disaster, given countries' failure to negotiate or legislate their way out of climate change. But those innovations would succeed only if Cleantech startups scale," Gauthier mentioned in the GSER.

There are 2,439 startups in the Philippines, according to Traxcn, an analyst-led platform providing curated profiles of 100,000+ startups across 230+ sectors globally. Based on the GSER 2022, there is a strong improvement in Manila's Ecosystem Value this year at $2.1 billion from $584 million last year. DTI reports that FinTech and e-commerce remain the country's top-performing sectors because of their density of talent, support resources and startup activity. It added that "a call for a united front and aggressive development of the Philippine startup ecosystem is needed to catch up with rising and emerging ecosystems highlighted in the GSER 2022 Report." It would be interesting to see how the PHSW22 conference engages startup founders, investors, corporates, academia, media and government agencies to promote collaboration, innovation, and support to further grow the Philippine startup ecosystem.

Source: Manila Times

October 17, 2022

ASEAN more attractive for FDI in mfg services

MANILA, Philippines — The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which is expected to be among the main growth engines in Asia Pacific in the next decade, is expected to become a more attractive destination for foreign direct investments (FDI) in manufacturing and services, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Rajiv Biswas, S&P chief economist for Asia-Pacific, said in a report the ASEAN is expected to continue to be one of the fastest growing regions of the world economy, and one of the three main growth drivers of Asia-Pacific, along with mainland China and India, over the next decade.

He said total ASEAN gross domestic product is forecast to more than double to $6.4 trillion by 2030 from $3 trillion in 2020.

“The rapidly growing size of the ASEAN consumer market will become an increasingly important magnet for FDI inflows as multinationals establish manufacturing and services capacity in Southeast Asia to tap the domestic demand in the region,” Biswas said.

He said FDI inflows into ASEAN reached a record high of $174 billion last year, the same as the pre-pandemic high seen in 2019.

Contributing to the high level of FDI to the ASEAN last year are inflows to electronics manufacturing and projects related to electric vehicles.

Biswas said the electronics industry is an important part of the manufacturing export sectors of ASEAN economies like the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam.

“Consequently these countries have been attracting new FDI inflows into the electronics sector as multinationals try to expand their production capacity given strong growth in global electronics demand since 2020,” he said.

In the near-term, he said FDI inflows to the ASEAN are expected to be supported by the resilience of the region to the slowdown in the US and European Union this year.

Citing the latest S&P Global Purchasing Manager’s Index data, he said manufacturing conditions across the ASEAN improved at the quickest pace for nearly a year in September, with firms seeing higher increases in output, new orders, purchasing activity and employment, while business confidence remained historically strong.

The headline ASEAN Manufacturing PMI rose to 53.5 in September from 52.3 percent in August, reflecting an improvement in the health of the region’s manufacturing sector for the 12th successive month.

Over the medium-to-long term, Biswas said the diversification of supply chains will be supporting the FDI inflows to ASEAN.

To reduce vulnerability to global supply chain disruptions due to natural disasters and the coronavirus pandemic, he said multinationals are focused on diversifying supply chains.

With the Russia-Ukraine war also leading to supply chain problems and disruption of pipeline gas supplies for the EU, he said this may reinforce diversification of manufacturing supply chains toward the ASEAN region.

In addition, he said ASEAN nations are expected to benefit from their membership in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement which seeks to boost trade and investment flows among Southeast Asian countries and trade partners China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand through further reduction in tariff barriers and higher quality rules for trade in services.

“Following considerable disruption to Asia-Pacific trade flows during 2018-2021 due to the US-China trade war and the impact of the pandemic, the implementation of RCEP will help to further reduce barriers to regional trade flows within the Asia-Pacific region over the medium to long-term,” he said.

He said one important advantage of the RCEP is its very favorable rules of origin treatment, which is seen to help build manufacturing supply chains within the RCEP region across different countries.

“This will help to attract FDI flows for a wide range of manufacturing and infrastructure projects into the RCEP member nations,” he said.

While the Philippines is among the countries that signed the RCEP, it has yet to complete the ratification process for the agreement.

During the previous administration, the Senate did not vote upon the resolution to confirm the RCEP amid concerns on the agreement’s impact on the agriculture sector.

The Department of Trade and Industry and National Economic and Development Authority are pushing for the immediate ratification of the RCEP to allow the country to attract more investments.

Source: PhilStar

October 16, 2022