Solving Social Issues Through Entrepreneurship Vol.8

In rural Cambodia, there are many small retail shops, the vast majority of which are run by women. However, due to underdeveloped distribution infrastructure, there is a significant gap between urban and rural areas in terms of access to essential goods. Most daily necessities can only be sourced from urban centers, forcing shop owners to spend up to three hours traveling for supplies—despite earning only around $30 in daily sales.
To address this issue, ATELIER has developed a B2B e-commerce platform. Currently, the company operates by receiving individual orders from small retailers based on its product catalog and delivering goods from the capital to rural areas. However, challenges remain, such as the small volume of individual orders and the fact that many shop owners lack access to the internet or apps like Telegram.

To overcome this, ATELIER introduced the role of “community leaders,” who consolidate orders from 20 to 40 shops within a local area and place a single bulk order with ATELIER. This system allows shop owners without smartphones to still access the service.

In addition, ATELIER has adopted a franchise model, with three retail shops currently handling orders on its behalf. Once funding is secured, the company plans to develop a dedicated app to streamline the ordering process. For now, product catalogs are shared via Telegram and Facebook, and orders are placed online or by phone, with deliveries made within two days.
 

One of the first challenges in expanding a business in Cambodia is securing reliable local talent. Skilled professionals tend to be concentrated in urban areas, making it difficult to find trustworthy personnel in rural regions. In some cases, Japanese entrepreneurs have even suffered financial losses due to being deceived by local partners.

Additionally, many entrepreneurship support programs in Cambodia are donor-driven and primarily designed for Cambodian nationals, meaning foreign entrepreneurs are often ineligible to participate. For example, JICA’s support programs are only available to companies with headquarters in Japan. Given this context, I strongly feel the need for local partners who understand the unique challenges faced by foreign entrepreneurs and are willing to overcome them together.

Furthermore, Cambodia’s small population and limited market size make it difficult to attract venture capital (VC) investment. Most VCs expect startups to scale to at least one million dollars in revenue within five years, which is hard to achieve within Cambodia alone. As a result, expanding into neighboring countries such as Vietnam or the Philippines is likely necessary in the future.

In terms of fundraising, while there are options such as grants, microfinance, and bank loans available at the seed stage, there is a significant funding gap in the “missing middle” range of $100,000 to $300,000. Unlike countries like Indonesia or the Philippines, Cambodia lacks a well-established network of angel investors. Therefore, our current strategy is to grow revenue through grants and bank loans, scale the business, and then seek funding from small-scale VCs.