Phnom Penh, Cambodia (ILO-News) – Cambodia Entrepreneurship Day 2021 (CED2021) was held online for its second consecutive year, where 4417 young Cambodians – the highest turnout in the event’s history – attended an all-day session commemorating entrepreneurship, community and new business ideas.

On the 21st of September 2021, the event was held through the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport (MoEYS) Facebook live, which allowed largescale attendance. CED2021 is part of a tradition which began in 2017 when MoEYS achieved the Guinness World Record for the Largest Practical Business Seminar.

The session, organized by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and MoEYS, announced the five finalists of the young entrepreneurship competition, where some 1000 groups have developed their own business ideas and plans, based on what they learned through the ILO/MoEYS training. The five finalist groups were from 1. Kampong Speu (eco product) , 2. Ratanakiri (banana tree recycling) 3. Koh Kong (souvenir made from snails and flotsams on the beach), 4. Pailin (food processing, dried longan fruits) and 5. Siem Reap (organic vegetables).

In the months prior, 4417 young Cambodians have received ILO’s Ready for Business (R4B) training, a unique peer-to-peer learning approach that reduces training costs, allows massive scale and boosts participant engagement.  Based on the lessons learned, groups submitted business ideas to be considered. The CED committee – comprised of the ILO, MoEYS, sponsors and youth entrepreneurs – selected 25 semi-finalists from 25 different provinces. The semi-finalists were able to then present their innovative business ideas in a virtual demo day to the committee on September 6 and 7.

The CED2021 live event was viewed by more than 27,000 public audiences in a day. They enjoyed an interactive quiz about entrepreneurship, inspirational speeches from guest speakers and an opportunity for young people to find community after a year of social restrictions.

Attendants and participants from the business competition expressed how much they learned about entrepreneurship and were inspired to pursue business opportunities in the future. CED2021 is part of a larger effort from the ILO and MoEYS to support young people across Cambodia with entrepreneurship skills and key training that will allow them to pursue their dreams.

“Cambodian youth from all 25 provinces have actively participated in the Ready-for-Business online training despite the spread of COVID-19. I am convinced that this entrepreneurship development programme will benefit Cambodia in a large scare, for economic development and for skills development for youth to have access to decent work opportunities in the 21st century market and society. Ms Sroy Socheath, Director General of Youth, Ministry of Education Youth and Sport

 Cambodia Entrepreneurship Day 2021 is organized by Cambodian Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport (MoEYS) and ILO, in collaboration with United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Pact Cambodia, supported by Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) through Decent Employment for Youth (DEY) Programme, Government of Japan, Smart Axiata and Wing Bank (Cambodia) Plc.