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Social Innovation Program

Solving Social Issues Through Entrepreneurship Vol.7

API School: Bringing World-Class Education to Children in the province

Sasakawa Peace Foundation


February 7, 2025

API founder Vannak (Photo: provided by Cnai Accelerator Program)

Since 2022, the Sasakawa Peace Foundation has been operating the “Cnai Accelerator Program” in Cambodia. This program is modeled after the Santhit Accelerator Program, which we developed and rolled out jointly with a Myanmar-based venture capital firm, Emerging Market Entrepreneurs (EME) in 2021. Both programs incorporate the incubation curriculum of Village Capital, a globally renowned early-stage venture capital firm.
 
“Cnai” – meaning “innovation” in Khmer – is a program which incorporates a gender lens, and is committed to creating an equitable learning environment where female entrepreneurs can participate on equal footing with male counterparts. Each phase entails the selection of a cohort of entrepreneurs, who receive funding and guidance towards the expansion of their businesses with ongoing support being provided by program partners.
 
Since the end of 2023, the program has been in its second phase. We have added new partners, such as Khmer Enterprise, a Cambodian government agency, HarvestIII, a U.S. government agency, and CAPRED (Cambodia-Australia Partnership for Resilient Economic Development) to the project. Building on our existing partnership with ADB Frontier, we have through these new relationships been able to further enhance the community-building potential and strength of the overall curriculum.
 
We spoke with the finalist entrepreneurs of the second phase about their entrepreneurial stories, challenges, and how they contribute aim to solve social issues through their businesses.

In this seventh installment, we spoke with Mr. Vannak Soth, co-founder of API (Australia Pacific International School), an international school offering 13 years of education (K–12) from kindergarten through high school.

Located in the heart of Siem Reap—a regional city best known for Angkor Wat—API currently serves 800 students aged from 18 months to 18 years old. Following a curriculum by Pearson, one of the world’s leading education service providers, they deliver world-class, high-quality education.

One of API’s top priorities is career education focused on nurturing future leaders, giving students opportunities to start considering their careers while still at school.

―― What motivated you to establish API School, and what is the story behind it?

API School located in the city center of Siem Reap (Photo:provided by API)

About 20 years ago, when I was in high school, I had no idea what career I should pursue. My parents ran a small shop in rural Siem Reap and hoped I would become a doctor. My mother only completed second grade, but she worked incredibly hard so my sister and I could attend university. Seeing her dedication made me want to work just as hard.

Nowadays, many young people have the chance to go to Phnom Penh or even abroad, but that wasn’t the case back then. I ended up majoring in tourism and hotel management at university and started working in a hotel during my studies.

While working there, I got to know an Australian couple who frequently stayed at the hotel. They introduced me to an NGO that was opening schools in the rural area where I grew up, and I began working for them as a local assistant. Initially, I thought I’d move on after a few years, but I stayed for a decade. It was demanding but very rewarding—I learned so much about running projects, operating schools, collaborating with international partners, and other tasks I’d never done before.
 

In 2013, I decided to open a school in central Siem Reap—this became API. My first big challenge was understanding the major differences in managing a nonprofit versus a for-profit entity. At the NGO, if we needed computers, we could request them from our headquarters in the U.S. or Australia. But once we became a for-profit, that wasn’t possible anymore. Back then, I didn’t even grasp the concept of cash flow, so shifting from a nonprofit mindset to a for-profit mindset was quite a struggle.
 

We experimented with various models before finally settling on our current approach, where we teach Khmer in the morning and English in the afternoon. About five years after launching, I took a moment to reflect on what I’d been doing. I asked myself, “What is Cambodia missing right now, and what can I do to help?” Research shows that 70% of Cambodian high school students are unsure about their future career paths, which was exactly how I felt at their age. So I thought, if I can reduce the number of students who feel lost, if they come to our school already thinking about their future career, preparing for it, then they won’t waste time like I did—and that could really help Cambodia progress.
 

That’s why we started offering one-on-one career counseling, connecting students with professionals from various fields, and giving them opportunities for hands-on work experience at the end of each term. Also, during the Cnai program, we adopted OKRs (Objectives and Key Results), one of which is to make our career-preparation curriculum even more systematic.
 

When we opened in 2013, we had 25 students and 8 staff. Within a year, our enrollment grew to 90, and now we have 800 students. Currently, around 10% of them have special needs, and we’ve been building an inclusive environment to ensure they can learn comfortably. Academically, they’re also performing exceptionally well. Among our Grade 12 students (ages 16–18) who took the national exam, 30% achieved an A, compared to 3% nationwide, and all of them passed.

―― How did you come to participate in the Cnai Accelerator Program, and what has been the most impressive learning experience so far?

Vannak participating in a Cnai workshop (Photo: Cnai Accelerator Program)

When I first learned about Cnai, I didn’t really feel like applying. I’d had a negative experience with another program where education entrepreneurship wasn’t given much priority in Cambodia, given the emphasis on agriculture. However, I used to work at the same hotel as Ms. Serais, co-founder of Siem Reap Farmers Market (featured here) , who took part in Cnai’s first cohort. Through her husband and co-founder, Mr. Saing Sivnhem, I was encouraged to apply. He told me Cnai was a cross-sector program, and that ACT (featured here) was participating. I’d always wanted to be investment-ready, so I realized this was my chance. I had borrowed from banks before, but never had actual investors. I felt I couldn’t grow further if I stayed in place, so I decided to join.

The program was extremely demanding, but I learned a great deal. Every stage was engaging, but the online curriculum we had to complete when we first applied was especially impressive—I still review it regularly. It’s like a condensed MBA in 40 modules. There were times I felt stressed and pressured, but the Cnai team always pushed me to think bigger and step outside my comfort zone. I highly recommend it to younger entrepreneurs. Even if you’re not selected among the top seven, the online curriculum alone is extremely valuable and well worth the experience.

―― Cnai takes a gender lens approach. Did this change how you think about gender?

API students (Photo: Provided by API)

To be honest, before the training, I felt frustrated whenever I heard the term “gender,” because it often seemed focused only superficially on women without truly empowering them. But after attending a seminar on gender-lens investing led by an external expert through Cnai, I realized we could use the data on how API naturally advances gender equality in its operations to attract impact investment.

Right after one of Cnai's seminars, we formalized our anti-discrimination policy, which had never been written down before. I also realized that offhand remarks I considered jokes could have been hurting my staff. Since then, I’ve been much more mindful of my words.

―― How has it felt being part of the Cnai community?

Vannak and the Cnai team

I’ve become really good friends with Jason from Xertificate(featured here). I’ve also spoken a lot with the other entrepreneurs and learned a great deal from them. I want to support Jason’s efforts, so we’re looking into using his services at API.

On the flip side, I discovered there are also some entrepreneurs who are less proactive. In the program’s peer-selection process, participants are paired with a different entrepreneur each time to learn about each other’s businesses. But some people would just wait for the other person to reach out, or they’d cancel meetings at the last minute or arrive late. Naturally, they didn’t make it to the top seven. If you decide to do something, you have to commit 110%.

―― What’s next for API School?

Vannak being interviewed by SPF(Photo: Provided by Cnai)

In the medium term, we want to expand. We’ve secured land and are now seeking impact investors who can offer equity. In the longer term, I’d like to replicate the API model in all 25 provinces. But with our current limited staff, trying to expand too quickly would cause us to lose focus.

I often compare business to a tamarind tree: you can use the young leaves and flowers for soup; you can eat the fruit; once the tree matures, you can gather seeds (which can become medicine) and even graft branches. But if you cut down the tree too soon, you lose all those benefits.

In the same way, we want to wait for the right time to grow. Meanwhile, we aim to equip our students with the knowledge, leadership, and practical skills needed in today’s evolving job market. We also want to provide inclusive education that values diversity and builds resilience so that students from different backgrounds feel safe and prepared for a rapidly changing world.

―― Editor's Postscript

When he was a child growing up on the outskirts of Siem Reap, Vannak used to bike 20 kilometers to Angkor Wat and practice English by striking up conversations with foreign tourists. Watching him speak with such confidence, it’s clear his drive to act, learn, and keep challenging himself has played a huge role in his success as an entrepreneur.
 

API became profitable in 2019 and has been growing steadily, with a 15% annual increase in student numbers and a 32% rise in revenue last year.

After joining Cnai, Mr. Vannak also participated as a mentor in our foundation’s Inclusive Mentoring Network for Entrepreneurs (IMNET) program, which supports rural micro-entrepreneurs, especially women. As a somewhat more established entrepreneur, he actively engaged in the training sessions and communicated extensively with his mentees, becoming a model mentor in the program.

Thanks to his ongoing dedication—not just to his own success but also to supporting the next generation—Mr. Vannak is serving as a guiding light for both the students at API and the young entrepreneurs who will shape Cambodia’s future.


Social Innovation Program
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