Three friends of Raintree were recently listed as some of “the most influential young Cambodians who are redefining the country” by annual publication FOCUS Cambodia, so we thought we’d go a step further and explore what we love most about their work.
FOCUS Cambodia, an associate publication of the Southeast Asia Globe, has recently named three people in our community amongst a generation of entrepreneurs and business leaders who are shaping the future of the country. Launched in 2016, this publication includes an annual series of ‘who’s who’ in Cambodia, and it’s great to see not one, but three people in our community being celebrated for their fantastic work last year.
While it’s always uplifting to see features like this, what makes this news so special for us is that, just like Team Raintree, these individuals believe in the enormous potential of Cambodia and are taking actions to take the country to another level (and have fun while at it!). As we work and play closely to the trio and have a closer visibility into their behind-the-scenes actions, we thought we would put on our Raintree lens and elaborate just what makes their work wonderful.
Sokcheng Seang: making learning fun and applicable
Sokcheng touches the lives of so many young and curious people in Cambodia by leveraging the power of storytelling and the internet. There is so much to love about the work that this award-winning content creator is championing, who has her office at our workspace. What Team Raintree appreciates most is how she’s making important topics such as mental health and personal finance accessible to a wider demographic in Cambodia, through her platform Wapatoa.
She delivers all her content in both Khmer and English, which may sound simple, but because of cultural lag, this is almost the equivalent of teaching your grandfather how to use Tiktok, or explaining thermodynamics to your artist friend. It’s not impossible, but it’s hard!
Her work gives people the vocabulary to articulate their experience, or an initial blueprint to start taking control of their life. This also speaks to the pressing need for educational content that’s written in a way that’s easy to understand, with real application. If you’re curious to meet the wonderwoman, come find her amidst the shrubbery at Raintree, where she’s probably smashing out her latest blog!
Ratana Phurik-Callebaut: building a generation of finance professionals
Team Raintree connected with Ratana earlier last year, joining our judging panel where she we scoured Cambodia to select just one leading technologist to compete in the final arena at the She Loves Tech Global 2020 - more about this project >> HERE.
Ratana shares our belief that people and projects grow faster with knowledge, and need access to more capital support. So, after building her expertise in international trade and finance in Switzerland, she returned to Cambodia 17 years ago to attract more investors in the country and then lend her skills to SMEs, providing them with consultation, advice and more. She was so passionate about helping others succeed that the President of Eurocham of Cambodia described it as the “lodestar that guides entrepreneurs and business leaders to navigate Cambodia’s commercial waters”.
Beyond her own expertise, she also created a hub for young finance professionals to network and share experiences through the Cambodia Community of Investment Professionals. Her aspirations for this passion project is to create a more sustainable future for Cambodia by upskilling the country’s human capital.
Hok Kang: designing better futures
Our co-founder Hok believes that our physical space fundamentally contributes how happy we are as individuals. This is why for the last 10 years he has led his team at HKA & Partners and Urbanland Asia to create thoughtfully designed spaces where most of us spend the majority of our time - at home and at work.
His work is celebrated for how it goes far and beyond to meet the needs of its users. For example, workspaces at Raintree include open-plan design to accommodate for the fast-growing pace of each company, plus reducing friction for collaborative moments - because it doesn’t get easier than tapping your colleague’s shoulder to bounce ideas off of each other. To truly make our workspace an inclusive place for everyone, tiny touches like braille elevator buttons and accessible toilets on every floor are also incorporated.
Frankly, Team Raintree can tell you that we didn’t know how good we had it at times until we saw our productivity suffer when working from home amidst all the cables and clutter. And this, we think, is what is so magical about the work he does. Check out his other projects here.
These are just three of the many inspiring people we get to hang out with in the Raintree community, and we’re so thrilled to be part of the growing entrepreneurship ecosystem. Work naturally becomes way more fun when we are able to talk to or bounce off ideas with people from different fields. We also love the fact that this type of support is not exclusive to us as Team Raintree. Within our community, being able to engage with one another in such a meaningful way can be as easy as walking up the stairs or asking a mutual friend for an introduction.
Although we’re more socially distant than usual, we hope we can still provide a sense of community through the content and virtual events we have in store later this year. Stay tuned for more news, and if you’d like to partner with us or have any great ideas, talk to us on hello@raintreecambodia.com or find us on social media @raintreecambodia.