CEO Cham Krasna / ‘I do not want to be perceived as someone’s secretary’
By: Robin Spiess - Posted on: March 8, 2019 | Business
Around the globe, women face persistently low representation in the highest levels of business leadership – and the number of females leading the world’s largest companies has actually been on the decline in recent years.

In celebration of this International Women’s Day, Southeast Asia Globe sat down with Cham Krasna, the CEO of Cambodian company Soma Group, to discuss challenges and successes encountered during her first year working as the company’s first female CEO, as well as her vision for the future of Soma Group...


As a female CEO in charge of a Cambodian company, you are one of the few women business leaders in the country. How did you get to this position, and have you faced challenges as a woman in a male-dominated field?
It’s been a year since I became CEO at Soma Group, but I’ve actually been with the company for about ten years total. I climbed the ladder to be here today: I’ve been in several divisions across the company, from the marketing to business and from the hospitality to real estate divisions, and now finally I’m here in this macro perspective role as CEO.

There have been many challenges on my rise to this position, and one of the main ones has been, for me, that when I walk into a meeting room I do not want to be perceived as someone’s secretary. Being young and being a woman, you need to be sure you look credible when you walk into the room, and need to be taken seriously in a meeting. That was one of the main challenges for me at the start, especially when meeting with bigger partners who were coming to meet Soma Group. They’re expecting someone who is much older and, often, someone who is a male figure. I think it took a lot of them by surprise, to see me as CEO. I have had to be sure I am assertive, very informative, and know exactly what I want out of each meeting to help overcome this.
http://sea-globe.com/soma-group-ceo-cham-krasna/

The woman aiming to transform healthcare sector in Cambodia
27 March 2019
Though we now live in a digital age, it is not uncommon to see nurses handwriting information or browsing physical files on the shelf searching for information in hospitals and private clinics across Cambodia.

But with the technology that is on offer today, this is far from efficient. This is where the Peth Yoeung system, developed by First Womentech Asia, comes in.

The web-based hospital operating management system helps the hospital work flow process, ranging from patient management, health records, appointments to pharmacy, stock management, as well as income and expenses.

The system’s groundbreaking features, combined with the predominantly female team behind its design and development, are the reason why First Womentech Asia’s founder and CEO Pong Limsan won an award at Cambodia’s Women in Tech Awards as part of the inaugural Digital Cambodia 2019 ceremony.

The event, held at Raffles Hotel Le Royal in Phnom Penh on March 15, was one of the Kingdom’s biggest tech events to date and was organised by the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications.

This year’s awards focused on the theme Cambodian Women for Digital Transformation, and of 36 female candidates, Limsan was awarded the Cambodian Woman ICT Entrepreneur Award for her work with First Womentech Asia.

The 39-year old was ranked among five female award winners deemed to have contributed most to the development of the Kingdom’s ICT sector.

Besides the Cambodian Woman ICT Entrepreneur Award Limsan was given, the other four categories included the Cambodian Woman ICT Engineer Award; Cambodian Woman ICT for Community Award; Digital Multimedia and Content Award; and the Girl Innovator Award.

With the growing number of women in the ICT sector, Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications Secretary of State Kan Channmeta heralded their impact: “Women play a crucial role in Cambodia’s social and economic development. In promoting tech start-ups and innovations, we have also seen more women joining steadily from year to year. We encourage more women to participate in this initiative.”

Following her win at the Cambodia’s Women in Tech Awards 2019, Limsan tells The Post of the pride she feels about the achievement.

“I’m proud for a few reasons that. First, Womentech Asia helps women to take part in improving Cambodia’s health care sector through knowledge of information technology. Second, we provide solutions to women entrepreneurs in the ICT sector. Third, we help develop the public and private sectors in the health care industry,” she says.

Limsan received a Master’s in IT and Computer Science from the Royal University of Phnom Penh in 2006.

She worked for a decade as a database specialist, web content manager and IT consultant for the Ministry of Health and Asian Development Bank, before founding First Womentech Asia with her husband in May 2013.

“With the support of my co-workers and family, I decided to introduce Peth Yoeung to a broader audience. The Cambodia’s Women in Tech Awards will help change society’s conception of women in tech,” Limsan says sitting in her Phnom Penh office in Toul Kork district’s Teok Laak III commune.

Her company’s mantra is to encourage more women to work in IT, but Limsan says finding female staff to join her team is not easy.

“It is hard to find women to join our IT team. Personally, as a woman myself, it is hard to balance my time on my career and family. It is a general problem that many women are facing, especially in the IT sector,” she says.

Regardless, Limsan employs a team of mostly female IT engineers, developers, coders and designers.
https://www.phnompenhpost.com/creativit ... r-cambodia

Gender Equity at Factories: Cambodia’s Female Leadership Program
Unzipped Staff
Levi Strauss & Co. April 2, 2019

With women making up more than 80 percent of the global workforce in the apparel supply chain, LS&Co. is expanding its efforts to support and empower the women working across its supply chain.

By 2020, our Worker Well-being program, which began as a project of the Levi Strauss Foundation, will have reached more than 200,000 people in factories around the world – the vast majority of them women – providing guidance on health, economic planning, and other facets of work and life that impact well-being for individuals and families. Our Terms of Engagement for suppliers also contain stringent, zero-tolerance policies on sexual harassment and coercion in the workplace. Additionally, new programs and partnerships targeted towards women are being rolled out in several locations.

Last year, Better Factories Cambodia (BFC) and UN Women, with funding from the Levi Strauss Foundation, piloted the “Female Leadership Program” across Cambodia. Though specific to Cambodia, the program addresses conditions seen in many manufacturing regions where mostly young women work far from home, away from families and support networks, with predominantly male managers.

In these circumstances, women are often disinclined to speak up for themselves, particularly in worker-management committees where they tend to defer to male counterparts, especially supervisors. Discussions are therefore less likely to address women’s needs or prioritize gender equity, which can help cultivate work environments where women are less vulnerable to exploitation, harassment and coercion.

Before launching its programs, BFC conducted focus groups with worker-management committees to better understand the challenges female workers face. These sessions highlighted the need to help women better recognize gender and power dynamics, better appreciate their own self-worth, and develop leadership skills they can use to better represent themselves and amplify their voices.

Throughout the pilot phase, participants repeatedly said the lessons were relevant to both their work and home lives. The trainers also saw the impact. “This is one of the most powerful trainings we have conducted,” said Vichhra Mouyly and Sovanthyda Tan. Some conversations were emotional and difficult, touching on subjects that participants had never talked openly about before, but “we could see the ‘a-ha’ moments when the women realized they had power inside themselves and started to change the way they valued themselves.”

As one participant said, “Thank you for giving me the chance to realize who I am and to become a better leader. I realize now that I can make a difference. I can help make change. I can communicate. I can add value at work and at home. I have found my confidence.”

The Female Leadership program in Cambodia complemented the gender-focused report the Levi Strauss Foundation published last year, “Ten Strategies to Improve Worker-Well Being and Business Performance.” The report as a whole sought to make the case that it’s not just workers or women who benefit from enhanced worker well-being, but also businesses in the form of better performance and retention. The BFC program in particular equips factories to implement two of the recommended strategies outlined in the 2018 report: “Grow and flex workforce strength through job design, skills training and rotation” and “Cultivate and appoint qualified women to lead at all levels of the company.”
https://www.levistrauss.com/2019/04/02/ ... p-program/

Think tank launches Cambodian female leaders book
April 30, 2019

German political think tank Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung and Singapore-based collaborative entrepreneur forum Woomentum on Friday launched a book featuring 21 female leaders of the Kingdom.

Twenty-one women from the government, the private sector, civil society and business associations were selected for Cambodia’s Women Leaders: 21 Stories of Grit and Resilience to share their stories of overcoming adversity, as well as tales of failure and success.

The launch attracted a few hundred participants from the government and the private sector. A panel discussion was organised to share thoughts on efforts to achieve gender equality, particularly in Cambodia.

In full: https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ ... aders-book

It’s a man’s world: The women cracking Cambodia’s IT sector
June 5, 2019

A classroom full of young men and women sit concentrating on their laptop screens, sitting in a U-shape configuration facing the wall, occasionally turning their heads to look at the white board explaining basic instructions and IT terms.

Among the students is Sar Srey Em from Ratanakiri province. She went through a strict selection process with French non-profit Passerelles Numeriques Cambodia (PNC), which provides a free post-high school education in IT for people from poor and rural backgrounds.

Coming from a remote town 10-hour’s drive from Phnom Penh, Sey Em has regularly encountered the stereotype that women like her are not capable of working in the IT sector...

PNC’s students are selected to undertake professional training in the digital sector so that they are able to help their families escape poverty in a sustainable way and contribute to the social and economic development of Cambodia.
The organisation operates in Cambodia, the Philippines and Vietnam.

PNC is located on Street 371 in Phnom Penh’s Sen Sok district. They can be contacted by telephone (855 239 955 00) or email ([email protected]).
In full: https://www.phnompenhpost.com/lifestyle ... -it-sector

Unlocking Women’s Leadership Project Inked
AKP Phnom Penh June 19, 2019 --

Ministry of Women’s Affairs has entered a memorandum of understanding with development partners to further promote women’s leadership in Cambodia.

The agreement was inked recently by Women’s Affairs Secretary of State H.E. Ms. Chan Sorey and her counterparts at the ministry here in Phnom Penh.

The partners that joined hands to promote women’s leadership in Cambodia include a social enterprise called WEDU both in Cambodia and Thailand and Mario Ferro.

The five-year project branded “Unlocking Women’s Leadership” will last from now until 2024.

While access to education and other public services among girls and women is significantly improving, women in leadership is seen as the next journey to bring Cambodia’s gender equality to a new level.
By Mc Soleil
https://www.akp.gov.kh/post/detail/11645

Visiting JICA Delegation to Learn Progress of Women’s Empowerment Project
July 25, 2019
Delegation of the head office of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has visited Cambodia to learn about the progress of the women's economic empowerment project executed by Ministry of Women's Affairs.

Minister of Women's Affairs H.E. Ms. Ing Kantha Phavi received the agency's delegation at the ministry here in Phnom Penh on Tuesday.

The minister warmly welcomed the visiting delegation and thanked JICA as well as the Government and people of Japan for the assistance that contributes vitally to Cambodia's development.

The so-called Project on Gender Mainstreaming for Women's Economic Empowerment (PGM-WEE) entails two phrases of implementation , the first from February 2017 to July 2018, and the second from mid-August 2018 to late February 2022.
https://cambodiatribune.com/visiting-ji ... t-project/

US Cambodian immigrant success story.

Donut Palace owner came to U.S. with fifth grade education, opens Powell location
Al Lesar Shopper News/Photo Ruth White
Published 7:00 AM EDT Aug 6, 2019

Not bad for a fifth grade education.

Rom Ouk came to the U.S. from Cambodia in 2007 with a work ethic that more than made up for anything she lacked in the classroom.

Today, the 41-year-old entrepreneur is the owner of two Donut Palace locations, trying to establish a foundation in Powell similar to the success she has enjoyed in Oak Ridge.

Ouk, who relishes the long hours and the opportunity to please her customers, had the much-anticipated grand opening for the Schaad Road location (across the street from Home Depot) on July 20. It was the culmination of a dream she has had for a while.

“Oak Ridge is a different customer base than (the Powell location),” Ouk said. “But our donuts are the same. We make them fresh every day and we make them from scratch.”

When Ouk was in fifth grade in Cambodia, she would leave school to be home to grill meat and sell it in her front yard.
It was the birth of her business spirit.

“I never wanted to go to school,” Ouk said. “I didn’t like sitting there trying to learn.”

It didn’t take long for her to evolve from grilling the meat to selling it raw at a market. When Ouk was 13, she began setting up a stand at the town market and selling cuts of beef. She was the butcher as well as the salesperson.

“I know everything there is to know about beef,” Ouk said. “We would buy a cow, about 300 pounds, then I’d sell it.

“Owning a business like that in Cambodia isn’t easy. The competition is everywhere. Someone selling the same thing will set up right next to you. It’s not nice.”

Ouk waged those battles for about a decade before deciding to come to America and go into the doughnut business.

After four years in the U.S., she became a citizen in 2011.

“I like America,” Ouk said. “It’s a good place to live. If you’re not lazy, you can get a job. I’ve always been told to depend on your husband to support you. I believe I can support myself.”
https://eu.knoxnews.com/story/shopper-n ... 870337001/

Success story.

Chenda, a young Cambodian woman, is one of the youngest Cambodian candidates to successfully pass an overseas training program for airline pilots. She said that she was surprised, but very happy, with her examination result, and she hopes that other young Cambodian women will follow in her footsteps.

Well done.

After checking the CEO News archives, we found that our Cambodian woman pilot was already in the CEO forum news back in 2016. There are some unflattering comments on the thread below about female pilots, but Chenda Dori has now passed her pilot's license after training in Vietnam, proving that Cambodian women are capable of flying commercial aircraft. Go Chenda. May you be the first of many.


Chenda Dori, A Fearless Cambodian Woman Pilot
newsworthy/chenda-dori-fearless-cambodi ... 10725.html