BANGKOK, Thailand (ILO News) – More than 60,000 young people from around Cambodia took part in the 5th Cambodia Entrepreneurship Day on 21 September 2022.
The event saw 4,887 youth representing each of Cambodia’s 25 provinces take part in a series of entrepreneurial learning opportunities leading up to the big day. Amongst the participants were 2,890 women and 123 young people from indigenous communities. In addition, the event was followed by a local and international audience of some 56,000 more people through social media and online broadcasting.

Cambodia Entrepreneurship Day (CED) is an annual event, organized by Cambodian Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MoEYS) and the International Labour Organization, and celebrated annually on 21 September.

Since 2020, the event has been upgraded into a three-month journey of entrepreneurship training and a national business ideas competition.

In July 2022, youth participants across the country engaged in the ILO’s Ready-for-Business training and developed business plans in small teams over one month. One team was then selected from each of Cambodia’s 25 provinces to go forward to the national business ideas competition. The semi-final round was conducted virtually on 23 August 2022 with 10 teams invited to the capital Phnom Penh for a final round held on Cambodia Entrepreneurship Day.

The 1st place winner was awarded to the team from Koh Kong province, whose business idea was to produce lamp stands and stationary holders from coconut shells.

“Through this programme, we found that a large amount of coconut shells are often wasted in our province. With support from a mentor from the programme, we could develop sample products and brush up our business idea proposal. We want to change the production and consumption system and utilize the waste materials for more sustainable and economic development of our community,” said the team’s representative.

In addition to the final round of the competition, Cambodia Entrepreneurship Day provided an opportunity for young people to provide their input into national policy on entrepreneurship education. Ten young advocators participated in a youth dialogue session with MoEYS officials to raise the challenges youth face in career development and conveyed key messages and expectations to MoEYS.

Mr Chiv Ratha, deputy director of General Youth Department reflected: “For us it is important to hear opinions from young people. Today we could hear different opinions from students from high school and universities. I was impressed by their researching skill. In order to amplify youth’s voice, collecting reliable and evidence-based data from primary and secondary sources is essential. Another issue to note is the gap in educational opportunities. People in rural areas, with disabilities or from indigenous communities have less opportunities to access education. As one approach to address this issue, MoEYS hosted the first ASEAN Youth Dialogue in Siem Reap. We will continue listening to youth voices for sustainable and inclusive development in education.”

This event was supported by Khmer Enterprise, Decent Employment for Youth in Cambodia programme, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, United States Agency for International Development, Pact Cambodia, Government of Japan, Smart Axiata, Wing bank and Pizza Company.