The invisible entrepreneurs of Phnom Penh

[Kung-fu Hillbilly]

Informal businesses tend to be missing from official employment data, leading to the term ‘invisible entrepreneurs’.

By Richa Sekhani and Deepanshu Mohan
29 June, 2018

The Centre for New Economics Studies (OP Jindal Global University, India) recently completed a study on invisible entrepreneurs in three of Phnom Penh’s largest markets: Doeum Kor market, Orussey market and Psa Toul Tom Pung (popularly called the Russian Market). Street vendors belonged to a spread of age groups: 15–30, 30–45 and above 60. The number of female entrepreneurs is overwhelmingly larger than male entrepreneurs: on average, 80 per cent of street vendors in each market were women who also managed and owned the respective business enterprises themselves.

Vendors pay a rental fee of US$37.5–75 per month in Doeum Kor market, US$300–600 in the Russian market and US$700 in Orussey market. This fee is paid to the local officer for ensuring overall security, in lieu of legal and police protection. All street vendors must also pay around US$14.50 annually to local market authorities. This annual fee was viewed as a negotiated bargain with agents claiming to represent municipal authorities to exempt street vendors from indirect taxes on the retail price of products.

Despite the absence of social protection (such as healthcare insurance, unemployment insurance and bank savings), most of the invisible entrepreneurs interviewed, particularly women, worked with high levels of satisfaction. They preferred to retain their autonomy to run their own business over other options.

Full http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2018/06/29 ... hnom-penh/