Cambodia’s ICT sector is going to start up
With few graduates and professionals in Cambodia’s ICT sector, the industry is now urging tertiary education institutions and the Cambodian government to encourage students to enter the field.
Suy Channe, product manager at InSTEDD iLab South East Asia, is among the very few Cambodian women who stand out in the ICT sector. Channe sat down with the Post’s Chan Muyhong to discuss reasons for entering the industry, and what opportunities are truly available for young entrepreneurs to enter the technology business.
Why did you choose to enter the ICT industry?
I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in information technology in Cambodia in 1998. In 1998, IT was something very new for Cambodia and I saw it as a very good opportunity. Also, there were not many female students who chose to pursue IT as a major. Then I received a scholarship to study for a master’s in Computer Applications in India and we all know that India is the biggest outsource country for IT services. So the opportunity to study in India allowed me to compare both markets and identify the best opportunities. Tell us about what exactly iLab does? iLab works with the government, NGOs and mobile companies to design technology solutions. We also focus on capacity building for IT professionals. I work to build skills in the IT industry and help partners take advantage of those abilities. For example, we help companies to gather information/data on health issues, which they can then use to make their reports quickly. We design technology solutions for NGOs and the Ministry of Health.
What is the situation for women in the IT field?
The concept that the job is only for men is still there. In the past 10 years, there have only been three female students in total in all the IT classes. There have been small changes, but I think what has changed is the growing opportunity for women in the IT field. For example, there is a small but supportive group for women in the field. Meanwhile, the community of industry experts is getting bigger despite the fact that human resources are still low.
I think opportunities in this field are quite equal for man and woman as it is really based on their ability to work. I still think there are vast opportunities out there for students in IT field and particularly for women.
The challenge maybe the traditional concept that women’s work performance is not as good as or better than men’s. But I think once they have the chance to work with women, they will change their mindset about women’s work performance.
I with another friend have started an outreach program to high school students to show them the opportunities for women in the sector, and to change female students’ perception about the job, which is very important to encourage them to take up career in IT field.
And the industry as a whole, is finding qualified staff still a big issue?
Human resources in IT in Cambodia is increasing I think. But what is being taught at school does not respond to the practical experience at the workplace. They are not parallel to each other. This is one of the challenges for us to move the sector forward. There are many students who study IT, but not many graduate with the ability to work, to meet the expectations of employers. We can see there is still gap between real work requirements and the theory being taught at schools.
The gap can be filled if students work harder to connect themselves to the real working environment by doing internships or joining events where IT experts gather, expand their network and start looking out for real life working experience. The demand for IT skills is rising everywhere around the globe, not specifically in Cambodia. Once you are qualified, your work has no boundaries.
I see a positive growth for small businesses, started by young entrepreneurs over the last few years. I see the change of attitude of young people who dream and put a step forward to the realisation of their dream.
More and more start-ups are emerging using social media as their marketing strategies – they understand how technology can actually help their business to grow. Both technology and non-technology start-up require technology to operate nowadays. Through this we see that the demand for people with IT skill is rising at the same time of the increasing of small or big business.
However, the domestic market for IT industry is still small compared to neighbouring countries like Thailand and Vietnam where the population is huge. Those countries are already occupied by huge IT companies who provide software. While young companies would not be able to compete with them, those big companies are not interested in investing in Cambodia.
ICT4Development Cambodia Network conducted its first national ICT workshop on “Information and Communication Technology for Development” which took place on Thursday, 29 August, 2013 at Sunway Hotel, Phnom Penh. The purpose of the workshop was to create a platform to promote discussion and raise awareness about ICT for development in Cambodia, what and how ICT can be used to assist development projects, in particular at community level and to share experiences of SPIDER supported projects in relation to ICT4 Development in Cambodia.
It brought together 138 people including 51 female who attended the workshop. They were representatives of government institutions, local and international NGOs, private sectors, university students and media.
ict4d-workshop1There were guest speakers who gave remarks, and addressed the progress and challenges of how ICT has been used in Cambodia for Development. The welcoming remarks made by Ms. Chim Manavy, the Executive Director of the Open Institute, highlighted the important role of ICT in Development, particularly at a community level. She continued by saying that ICT4D refers to the use of ICT for the development of social, economic, and human right, particularly to work with poor people in developing countries. Greater access to information and communications brings greater social progress. She talked about e-ASEAN FRAME WORK and the Cambodian integration. As Cambodia is an agriculture country, she also shared an example of e-Agriculture. She said that farmers need to know information about the price of rice they produced, the markets to sell their products to make their life better. She also talked about the interaction between ICT and violence against women. ICT has been playing an important role for sharing information, laws and policies to prevent and combat violence against women that are helpful to reduce or to stop violent.
Ms. Suy Channe, Product Owner of InSTEDD iLab South East Asia addressed the audience on behalf of the ICT4D Cambodia Network that ICT4D pushed for the cooperation of the organization and also to the grassroots level and authorities. She repeated that ICT is the best tool for providing different information to farmers, clients, and other beneficiary.
In his Opening Speech, Dr. Raymond Leos, Member of Board of Directors of the Open Institute addressed the development of ICT in Cambodia which is not only aware of traditional communication such as the use of TV, phone but now the internet access, smart phone, Facebook, Twitter, and other programs that have changed the society over the last couple years.
ict4d-workshop2At the session of panel discussion, there were 4 expert panelists who were invited to share experiences and opinions on the development in the use of ICT in Cambodia. The guest speakers were from Cambodian IT Association (CITA), Open Institute, Open Development Cambodia, and InSTEDD. The discussions focused on the use of ICT and the role of ICT4D that can promote open information, preventing gender-based violence, improving health through the use of interactive voice response system, promoting youth engagement in the process of development through the use of ICT.
The discussion also explored innovations which were created to assist low-education people to get better access to information, improve the development work and improve their lives through the use of mobile phone, internet, website…etc.
Thus, building information in Khmer language is also a concern to promote ‘access to’ and ‘skill’ of the use the ICT in Cambodia among different levels of Cambodians, allowing them be able to search more content in Khmer language. The discussion also addressed the cooperation at a country level, region, and international level, particularly in the ASEAN integration 2015, how can the country prepare itself for the integration? Nevertheless, each partner of ICT4D Cambodia Network presented in parallel at the last session of the workshop provided more on what they have done with their projects and programs of their organization and networking. The presentations are available at the end of this text.
