Can you start a business in Cambodia with $5k?

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beaker
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Re: Can you start a business in Cambodia with $5k?

Post by beaker »

taabarang wrote: Sat Apr 22, 2017 9:56 am "Just ask moto dopes to take you to the chicken ranch"

Not sure that works throughout all of the K of W.
I'm good friends with a tuk tuk driver in Kampong Cham who told me the following, one day he picked up a fare at the bus station, took him to the guesthouse and was told to wait. When the barangse came back he told the driver to take him to the best chicken ranch around. Now my Cambodian friend, the driver, speaks damn fine English but isn't up to date on tourist slang. So, as you have doubtlessly guessed by now he took him to a real poultry raising endeavor way out in the sticks. And nearby we don't have any chicken farms such as the one in Shitsville-at least as far as I know. Your better off asking for
pteah mai yaim(sweet mother's house) or whorehouse.
OP was asking about Koh Kong, where it does work. It isn't barang slang is what the locals call it
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Re: Can you start a business in Cambodia with $5k?

Post by taabarang »

". It isn't barang slang is what the locals call it."

"Chicken farm" is Cambodian? Highly interesting that my friend the tuk tuk driver didn't understand him.
As my old Cajun bait seller used to say, "I opes you luck.
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Kuroneko
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Re: Can you start a business in Cambodia with $5k?

Post by Kuroneko »

taabarang wrote: Mon Apr 24, 2017 9:37 am ". It isn't barang slang is what the locals call it."

"Chicken farm" is Cambodian? Highly interesting that my friend the tuk tuk driver didn't understand him.
More American I think :D

Image

Actually, fifteen or so years ago it was just referred to as "Phum Thmei"I suspect it got re-branded as the chicken farm, more recently,probably by the influx of "Pattaya refugees"
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Re: Can you start a business in Cambodia with $5k?

Post by AE86 »

redjade wrote: Mon Apr 24, 2017 8:43 am
Thanks I was more after how you can become the wholesaler. Anyone have any idea or experience.

Thanks
You'll need a lot more than $5k to wholesale stuff to make any kind of money you're talking about.

I don't mean to say this condescendingly, but the kind of questions you're asking on behalf of your friend are way too fundamental. These are the kind of things any business person should already have known within a few days after some basic searching. Not saying they're a bad person or stupid, rather inexperienced, and it shows.

My advice would be to start very very small, as in a few hundred dollars, and do something like roast pork or noodles in front of the house and work as hard as you can to make it the best noodles or pork as you can. If you can't make that work, then you'll know the answer to a larger business aspiration, but much less money is lost.

Good luck to your friend.
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Re: Can you start a business in Cambodia with $5k?

Post by hanno »

Have to agree with AE86 here: a lot of questions should not need asking in this time and age. Don't become (or was it your friend) another clueless foreigner in the Kingdom ending up all fcuked.
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Re: Can you start a business in Cambodia with $5k?

Post by Kuroneko »

hanno wrote: Mon Apr 24, 2017 1:29 pm Have to agree with AE86 here: a lot of questions should not need asking in this time and age. Don't become (or was it your friend) another clueless foreigner in the Kingdom ending up all fcuked.
Exactly right, I think the topic has been fairly well addressed. The question "Can you start a business in Cambodia with $5k?"sort of evades the context. The Op initially stated

"...a friend of mine has a khmer girlfriend which he had for almost 2 years know. He has been funding her approx $700 pm month with some of the money going to her family in the provinces. She I a nice girl smart hard working but like most comes from poor family and lacks opportunity."

The question is really more about the chances of a girl who is being sponsored to the tune of $700/month being able to start up a business for $5K. I would think the answer would be generally no. Generally the only girls that are being sponsored with large sums by absent sponsors are bar girls, and I am not using the term disparagingly. Often the girls have more than one sponsor and so the incentive to start or run a business is lacking. I realise that there are a few exceptions with respect to sending money and these are guys with houses and families here that work abroad, but they would not be asking about business opportunities.

The ones that I have witnessed addressing the OPs question end up going down the "hairdressing route" or buying a bar. The former fails because the girl has no hairdressing experience and the latter because the girl cannot make the transition from bar girl to manager. The "manager" regards herself as one of the girls and often takes customers when "boyfriend" is away.The bars usually last from a few months to a year or so before they are sold to yet another "hopeful" who wants a bar for his "girlfriend" I know of one bar which is on about its third incarnation. I only know of one successful business in this model.

The question of due diligence has already been addressed but worth repeating. As Jamie noted:
Jamie_Lambo wrote: Wed Apr 19, 2017 2:42 am
if your mate is asking you to ask us for ideas then its not a good sign mate, she should be the one with the ideas of what she wants to do, if shes actually serious about working
but when shes already getting $700 per month for the past 2 years, which is already nearly 5 times the minimum wage, for doing nothing? lol
was she working before he met her? how did they meet? a bar? a poor hard working good girl from a poor family isnt likely to bump into random tourists and strike up a relationship
not impossible by any means, but youre friend needs to be careful, as people have mentioned, its quite a common/stereotypical scenario that we see/hear a lot
i could have got the wrong impression from your OP, how often is your mate in Cambodia? is she working already but wants to start her own business?

if she wants to start a business what skills does she have?
is she a good cook?
is she trained to work in a salon? if she wants a salon it would be best to get a few years training/experience before opening one herself, otherwise would only fail
it all depends on the girl whether a small business would work or not, as she will have to be motivated in whatever it is in order for it to at least break even, and if we dont know her then its hard to make suggestions
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Re: Can you start a business in Cambodia with $5k?

Post by Jamie_Lambo »

Kuroneko wrote: Mon Apr 24, 2017 11:25 am
taabarang wrote: Mon Apr 24, 2017 9:37 am ". It isn't barang slang is what the locals call it."

"Chicken farm" is Cambodian? Highly interesting that my friend the tuk tuk driver didn't understand him.
More American I think :D

Image

Actually, fifteen or so years ago it was just referred to as "Phum Thmei"I suspect it got re-branded as the chicken farm, more recently,probably by the influx of "Pattaya refugees"
yep, as i said earlier...
in SHV the locals just call the chicken farm area the actual name of the village area ភូមិភ្នំថ្មី
ភូមិភ្នំថ្មី - Phum Phnom Thmey, or just Phum Thmey for short, it means New Village
the only people that use the term "chicken farm" are tourists and some motodops
all the locals refer to it as Phum Thmey or Phnom Thmey
its not been rebranded most locals around here wouldnt know what you were talking about if you asked about the chicken farm,
ask them about phum/phnom thmey though, and they will likely ask why you want to know about this place whilst giving you a funny look haha
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Re: Can you start a business in Cambodia with $5k?

Post by Seasquatch »

Took a pic of this off my neighbors fridge the other day -

Image
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Re: Can you start a business in Cambodia with $5k?

Post by LaudJohn »

If this OP is true, this is a train wreck in motion.

good thing your "friend" is using chump change because he is a chump.
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Re: Can you start a business in Cambodia with $5k?

Post by eriksank »

Actually, $5k is a hell of a lot of money to start a business.

I personally would just need a second-hand laptop ($200) + a modem ($50 android phone) + a metfone subscription for 2 months or so (2 x $5). Total $260. A tuktuk, for example, needs to spend a lot more money, just to get started ... but still not $5k.

If you need $5k, your business plan is probably not good.

Pretty much everything that you would buy, you could try to rent. Now, the Cambodian economy is not particularly sophisticated in that respect. You would probably have a hard time renting a truck, instead of buying one. In that sense, starting a business in a more developed country is often easier and often requires less capital. You can also much easier get short-term credit. You may be able to pay your truck rental at the end and not at the beginning of the month. That would be a huge difference. The more sophisticated the economy, the more you can just outsource it all, leaving you pretty much only to deal with following up all kinds of contracts from your ... $260 laptop. ;-)
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