France & Cambodia Business Forum: Sothea Sambath, “we need innovative projects”

At the first France-Cambodia business forum, Sothea Sambath, CEO of Auskhmer, the food and beverage arm of the Worldbridge group, explained how foreign investors can work in partnership with local conglomerates. Remember that the second edition of the forum will take place from 8 to 10 July this year.

Sothea Sambath, CEO of Auskhmer, the food and beverages division of the Worldbridge Group

After greeting and welcoming the audience, which consisted mainly of French entrepreneurs and local business leaders, Mr Sothea Sambath explained: ‘Auskhmer is part of a group called Worldbridge, which was founded by our chairman, Oknha Rithy Sear, thirty years ago:

Auskhmer is part of a group called Worldbridge, which was founded by our chairman, Oknha Rithy Sear, thirty years ago. We started out in the logistics sector in the Kingdom in early 1992.

“To this day, Worldbridge is a dominant group in the logistics sector.”

We have Worldbridge International, associations with the French company Ceva Logistics, and other partners such as BRINKS and KERRY Logistics. We also have property developments, including an innovative project called the PEAK. We also have a commercial bank, an investment fund and a medical business with the Singapore Medical Centre.

We also have a media presence with a radio station and newspapers.

In Trading, we have the Michelin brand. And finally, I run the food and drink distribution branch.

All this to say that, in order to work with Cambodian conglomerates, which are generally well-established groups like Worldbridge, which has been in existence for thirty years, you have to offer innovation. We're constantly looking for partners, and that's where the nerve of the companies that are part of the group lies:

“Every time we enter into partnerships or acquisitions with international companies, we look for innovative initiatives.”

I cite as an example The Peak project, which we will be launching at the end of this year. It's a five-storey luxury retail space.

“We brought in brands from the LVMH portfolio and the KERRY group, such as YSL”

We also intend to enter the hotel business with the Shangri-La hotel, which is due to open in December this year. So this is a very innovative project for us, because it's the first time we've really launched into luxury brands, with French brands and a very top-of-the-range hotel like the Shangri-La.

And this is also linked to the partnership with KERRY, because the owner of the Shangri-La, Philip Toomey, is also the owner of KERRY. And our chairman, Oknha Rithy Sear, has a special relationship with this businessman.

So when he brings a project to Cambodia, it has to be an innovative one. In logistics, with KERRY, we are the first in the supply chain, which is very important, because today we provide a real solution from A to Z in this area, whereas the activity was previously rather ‘fragmented’.

“So, to work with conglomerates like Worldbridge, you need, I think, projects that are going to bring something to the country.”

I don't know the mindset of other businessmen on this point, but, at Worldbridge, we really look to the development of Cambodia. So, I'd like to inform today's guests that if they have innovative projects, we're open to them, because that helps move the country forward.

For example, we are currently developing Industry 4.0, a project that is unique not only in Asia, but also in the world. I don't have time to go into detail, but this project will be a real revolution in the field of processing centres.

In short, it's very simple: if an investor has a very simple, promising and innovative project in its field, then we can work together and attract international companies to Cambodia.