In Thailand, Fish Swim...and Give Quality Pedicures Too

-Dinner for breakfast?

-Good evening or good morning?

If you are asking yourselves these questions, then you are suffering from a serious case of jet lag and must occupy yourself with activities which will be sure to awaken every cell in your body. Let's stop over in Thailand to recuperate ourselves.

How privileged we are to be in the safe hands of Uncle Jamie, Aunt Bonnie, cousins Kit and Alex, the lovely zookeepers of 4 dogs, 2 cats, and George, the hornbill!

For lunch, we feasted on tangy pomelo salad, fried sea bass with tamarind sauce, and pad thai at an authentic Thai restaurant - cannot get any better than this for me. Weighed down by the itis, Aunt Bonnie takes us to Phunnee Massage to take advantage of the 4 person for 3 person price deal at the fish spa. Yes, the picture will prove it: after rinsing our feet, we dunked them in the fish tank and in no time, approximately 100 fish called Gara Fish, aka Dr. Fish, went hunting for our dead skin cells. Feels like immersing your feet in a bottle of champagne! Made me think: if fish can provide good skin for the people then business can rethink their bottom-line mentality and be good citizens for the people. Too much of a stretch? Hey, at least we can give props to Mother Nature and her symbiotic relationships.

Stay tuned for meeting with the director of Jaab Design Company and Sister Louise from the Fatima Center, two examplary social businesses in Bangkok...

Are We There Yet?

Oh, did you not get the itinerary? It will take us approximately 24 hours to travel from Dulles International in the Washington Metropolitan area to our first stop in Thailand, so we certainly have a heap of time on our hands. I'll use this as an opportunity to introduce the purpose of our trip...

Between 1975 and 1979 the Khmer Rouge regime purged one third of Cambodia’s population in attempt to eliminate any social hierarchy, including symbols of wealth and culture. The genocide decimated the majority of the country’s intelligentsia and artists, leaving it in a state of abject poverty and collective amnesia. After years of recent stability, Cambodia has received significant attention from donors and other respective groups who are looking to support social enterprises in the country. For example, in 2004 the World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) launched the Grassroots Business Initiative (GBI) to assist organizations that directly work with the poor to offer financing and capacity building knowledge and training. The GBI has supported over thirty projects throughout the world, among which at least three of them are based in Cambodia. The benefits of social enterprises in Cambodia has equally extended to the global economy as more stores carry items produced by local Khmer artisans who are required to commit to the principles of social entrepreneurship. Thus, in wake of the genocide which has so shattered Cambodia’s economy and national psyche, engaging Khmer citizens will start the engines of productivity and awaken a national identity.

In 2005 the Royal Government of Cambodia published the National Strategic Development Plan (NSDP), which it considers the overarching development strategy for the period of 2006-2010. After reviewing the document, two objectives stood out to me. First, the government commits to collaborating with Khmer civil society, enlisting it as a key stakeholder in the socio-economic development of the country. Second, it pledges to promote the development of the private sector, notably of small and medium enterprises, in order to create jobs and generate income. Both the demand for increased collaboration with civil society and the need to strengthen the private sector are intrinsic goals of social entrepreneurship, a rapidly developing field which applies business solutions to social problems as a means to create sustainable economic opportunities for the poor and engage them in the marketplace. With the support of the Fulbright Scholar Program, I propose to examine the participation of Khmer civil society in social businesses in Cambodia.

I have prepared a set of questions to establish the parameters for my project: How is Khmer civil society educated on the goals of the NSDP? What mechanisms are social businesses using to reach out to members of civil society to engage them in their social entrepreneurial activities? What is the average retention rate of civil society throughout the course of their respective projects? Are social businesses operating in the more poverty-stricken rural provinces with the same efficiency and intensity as they are in urban cities? How have the activities and projects benefited Khmer civil society?

I plan to divide my project equally between urban and rural Cambodia, spending five months in each location in order to gauge Khmer civil society investment in social enterprises on a macro-level. The focal activities of my research will consist of working directly with a social business, one in Phnom Penh and the other in one of Cambodia’s rural provinces, and compiling my experiences, observations and data to create individual case studies for each entity. I hope to highlight them as business models for current and prospective Cambodian social enterprises and will focus specifically on the organizations’ commitment to the lives of their constituents and their contributions to Cambodia’s economic development. In each case study, I will include the company’s background, a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis, information about its financial performance and lessons learned from actively engaging civil society in its business operations...

Woa, that was quite an earful! I am thrilled to have you accompany me on this voyage. Sit back, relax (as much as you can on this cramped flight) and get ready for some madness, all worth our while!