Supporting Cambodian MSMEs to recover from COVID-19
Published: Nov 7, 2023 Reading time: 2 minutes
The Urban COVID-19 Resilience project (Urban Resilience), funded by the European Union, aims to contribute to strengthened social protection, economic recovery, and COVID-19 adaptation in poor urban communities in Phnom Penh. Additionally, the project focused on poor urban communities, particularly vulnerable women and children, who will gain improved access to WASH facilities, psychosocial support, and social protection services, improving the economic situation of families of recently laid-off workers and small businesses at risk of closing.
Mr. Tim Den is the owner of D’fresh Grocery Mart, which focuses on organic vegetables and fruit. He got to know the project after seeing it advertised on social media. When he saw the advertisement, he thought it was a good opportunity to join the project by participating in training courses that focused on revenue management, debt, and the basics of digital marketing.
Before joining the project, he started a business with no clear management knowledge and sufficient marketing skills. And he also experienced several issues, especially during the outbreak of COVID-19, such as difficulties in accessing finance and sufficient knowledge in digital marketing. At that time, people did not go out much, they preferred to order online, so it was more strategic to focus on online or digital skills such as digital marketing.
Under the project, trainings were conducted for small business owners such as Den. Participants of the training learned about revenue management and expenditure and digital marketing., These training opportunities helped Den establish various networks to sell fruits and vegetables at D’fresh Grocery Mart. This valuable knowledge he gained from the project’s training allowed Den to excel in his business. As a result, most of his customers are now ordering online with confidence and regularly. Tim Den said, “Now I can understand how to do digital marketing clearly and have customers who order online about 50% of walk-ins".
"Thanks to People in Need Cambodia for helping me out. We appreciate the efforts of the organisation and the technical teacher during training who supported my small business to grow. In the future, I would like to have more branches in Phnom Penh because people are now starting to become more health conscious by choosing to eat healthier options of food like vegetables and fruits. In addition, I want to help create a market for farmers in the provinces by buying from them at a suitable price”, Tim Den said.
