WE Act, Facebook to develop digital skills for women entrepreneurs

Participants pose for a group photo at yesterday’s event to mark the launch of the partnership between Facebook and WE Act. KT/Pann Rachana

Women entrepreneurs in Cambodia will soon gain access to digital marketing and business skills of an international standard courtesy of a partnership between Facebook and WE Act yesterday afternoon.

Gathered at Raintree was an eclectic set of representatives from tech giant Facebook, international development organisation Pact, the US ambassador to Cambodia Patrick Murphy, Chhea Layhy – director of the SME Department at the Ministry of Industry and Handicrafts – and representatives from USAID and Cambodia’s female business community.

Sabine Joukes, Pact Cambodia country director and WE Act Chief of Party, kicked off the celebrations and praised Facebook for joining the WE Act programme to further develop women’s role in the Cambodian economy.

“We know that development can only work really with partners – with other people who are also actively pursuing the same vision. In this case we found ourselves sharing the same vision as Facebook, so we’re very happy to shake hands today on our new partnership,” said Ms Joukes, adding that 61 percent of the 510,000 entrepreneurs in Cambodia are women.

Of the 310,000 women entrepreneurs, 99 percent of them operate micro-businesses, which characteristically employ less than 10 people.

“This is another opportunity for us to work with them and help them grow,” said Ms Joukes.

WE Act is a five-year project, funded predominantly by a $10 million grant from USAID – the United States Agency for International Development – which set about its ambitious mission in March this year. Now, partnering with Facebook for the next four years, Ms Joukes said they aim to train 1,700 women across Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and Battambang to develop their digital marketing skills and take their businesses to the next level.

This, she said, is hopefully just the beginning and when the programme officially opens to the public in March, WE Act will have a clearer idea of whether the partnership with Facebook and the resultant training opportunities can be expanded to reach more Cambodian women.

Ms Joukes went on to announce that Facebook will be providing a range of experts in the field of digital marketing who will be training Cambodians to become trainers themselves. This, she said, will allow them to host training days where women entrepreneurs can attend free of charge to upgrade their skills and embrace the digital revolution.

Lauding Facebook’s She Means Business initiative, Ambassador Murphy took to the stage briefly to share his vision for women-run businesses in the Kingdom.

“Women really do mean business – I see that every day here in Cambodia, both in the capital and when I travel – and clearly women need help though, but given the right tools, women can make a great difference and overcome these barriers,” the ambassador said, adding that the US embassy was proud to consider itself a supporter of WE Act and Facebook’s partnership.

The She Means Business programme now operates in 30 countries, according to Facebook representative Beth Ann Lim, who said 650,000 women have been trained through the tech giant’s programme.

The programme, which will celebrate its fourth anniversary in March, originated in Asia and went global, Ms Lim says, adding that when women succeed, we all succeed.

“What we’ve found is that women are naturally coming to Facebook and Instagram to start their business – 43 percent of people coming onto Facebook, the pages were women-owned. The reason why this is so important is because entrepreneurship is a challenge, particularly for women, and what we are able to do was to have them come onto our platform and be equalised with other brands,” explained Ms Lim.

Chhea Layhy of the Ministry of Industry and Handicrafts raised the issues affecting all SMEs in Cambodia, from accessing finance, attracting skilled workers and adapting to the digital age.

He said that the government is listening to concerns of the business community and is in the process of simplifying the registration process, as well as making it easier to acquire a licence to export goods and products. He also pointed to various efforts the ministry was making to support small businesses in the form of the SME Bank, the Entrepreneur Foundation, the Startup Fund and the SME Development Policy Section II.B.2.2, which, he said, will promote women entrepreneurs. Source from Khmertimes.