Channelling Cambodia in Phnom Penh

Most of Phnom Penh’s oldest businesses are less than 10 years old, a figure that dovetails neatly with Cambodian history.

Khmer Rouge, Vietnamese and Cambodian government officials had signed the Paris Peace Accord in 1991 that officially brought peace to the long-suffering nation.

Vietnam withdrew its troops and the United Nations Transitional Authority for Cambodia (UNTAC) was moving in to help rebuild the shattered state. In 1994, the recovering land took its first tottering steps alone.

Mohit Rajvanshi is general manager at Thakral Cambodia, a subsidiary of century-old Singapore multinational Thakral Group.

Thakral Cambodia, with headquarters in Phnom Penh and a year-old office in regional centre Siem Reap, provides IT hardware, services and solutions for local and multinational customers across Cambodia, including non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

Integrator arm Neeka accounts for 60 to 70 percent of its business. Today, Thakral has 40 Cambodia-based staff.

"When we started in 1992, foreign companies were not allowed to own their own business. So, at that time, we formed a joint venture," Rajvanshi says. "There was a rule to only work with locals."

Thakral’s operations are a litany of 'difficult’ business environments, including developing countries (Laos), war zones (Sudan) and junta-afflicted communist states (Myanmar/Burma).

So does Thakral follow the United Nations’ lead? "The UN follows us, sometimes!" Rajvanshi quips.

Certainly, for ten years NGOs have been a major contributor to Thakral Cambodia coffers. Aid agencies need modern communications and
efficient infrastructure.

"We’re working with a lot of NGOs and multinational agencies, including US AID and a lot of UN organisations," he says. "And SMBs also."

Rajvanshi, an expat from India, has been with Thakral Cambodia since it began. Cambodians, he says, love technology, and foreign influence – propagated partly by NGOs – brings in lots of new ideas and products, particularly from Singapore and Malaysia.

Thakral even has an assembly plant. Sadly, the project was shelved following the Asian currency crisis of 1997.

"Our plan was to export to some of those nations where Cambodia has an advantage," he says.

"We lost our competitiveness. People can buy TVs from Thailand and Indonesia at half the price."