KhmerSME: National SMEs Information Web Portal

The Cambodian Ministry of Industry, Science, Technology and Innovation is reportedly setting up another online portal, this one is aimed at small and medium enterprises (SMEs), called KhmerSME.

KhmerSME

According to a report in Khmer Times, "KhmerSME will allow local small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to access various information and lets foreign direct investors (FDIs) seek information from existing SMEs in Cambodia." The web portal will allegedly be available before the end of 2020. The aim of the portal is to allows SMEs to access the information they need in Cambodia regarding:

• Standards
• Regulations
• Compliance
• Incentives
• Loan schemes

ASEAN ACCESS

The article adds that in the future, KhmerSME will connect with ASEAN ACCESS, a new web portal to "support the internationalisation of SMEs in ASEAN, serving as a first-stop service centre towards the ASEAN market." ASEAN ACCESS is for all ASEAN member states to support small and medium enterprises. There are also plans to connect it to the Cambodian government’s new National Information Technology (IT) Business Registration Platform initiated by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. This new platform is due to launch in June 2020. The Ministry of Industry’s SMEs Department Director Chhea Layhy said: “This portal will help the relevant ministries in Cambodia to insert and key in important information for SMEs to the portal."

SMEs in Cambodia

Earlier in 2020, the SME Bank of Cambodia was launched by the Ministry of Economy and Finance on Friday which allows SMEs to apply for loans from the SME Co-Financing Scheme. At the time, the bank had $150 million in capital. In 2019 of the 510,000 firms that were registered in Cambodia, more than 90% of them were SMEs.