Green Bamboo Cambodia is an ambitious project with a clear mission: to make a positive impact on the environment while providing sustainable construction materials.
Using treated bamboo from Cambodia's abundant tropical forests, the company has already achieved remarkable results across multiple projects in various locations.
Green Bamboo Cambodia was instigated by Caroline Chau, a French-Cambodian entrepreneur. Caroline also has a day job as marketing manager at Artisans Angkor, a large co-operative that is restoring banned Khmer Rouge-era crafting techniques to create contemporary fashion items and accessories.
Her goal is to make Cambodia a bamboo ambassador in the construction sector and a hub for bamboo construction.
“Green Bamboo Cambodia will build an integrated business model for environmental and economic development in the region through responsible construction and ecotourism,” she says.
Kisso SDG’s eco-village in Tropeang Thom village, Puok district and Satcha, the first incubation centre for Cambodian handicrafts in Siem Reap, are some examples of her creative work.
Caroline is currently seeking $450,000 in investment from interested donors, including Urban Living Solutions, the Phnom Penh-based construction firm behind the city's most innovative projects, including Urban Village and Factory, as well as Bakong Village and Rose Apple Square in Siem Reap. Hotels in Phnom Penh such as Penh House and Urban Village itself are already making liberal use of bamboo as an eye-catching design and construction feature.
Green Bamboo Cambodia will achieve this by establishing a unique, sustainable, and high-end resort with a limited number of guest rooms, surrounded by nature and constructed using locally sourced materials.
Furthermore, the project will integrate a sustainable bamboo factory and establish a Bamboo Academy offering environmental educational programmes and workshops on bamboo.
It is also guided by a triple bottom-line approach, with profitability, societal benefits and environmental sustainability as its key priorities. Green Bamboo Cambodia will be a profitable eco-tourism business, generating returns within the first five years of operation with a targeted 19% internal rate of return.
“We respect the untouched land we operate in. Our project emphasises ecological intervention that is environmentally friendly and socially engaged. We actively involve local culture communities, promote environmental preservation, and adhere to sustainable construction principles," states Caroline Chau.
"Through our building development, we will demonstrate the potential of bamboo as a versatile and eco-friendly building material. We will integrate locally sourced bamboo and promote its use in construction, creating new economic opportunities and fostering job creation in the bamboo industry," she adds.
Green Bamboo Cambodia is a development organisation that began as a personal project searching for ways to make a life filled with purpose and meaning by promoting the potential of bamboo in Cambodia.
About the entrepreneur
Caroline Chau was born to a Cambodian family that migrated to France. She had always wanted to visit Cambodia, the country of her ancestors. Daughter of Cambodian refugees, Caroline grew up in France knowing little of her own heritage. After a 13-year career with transnational environmental services company Veolia, that brought her extensive international experience from Asia, Europe, US & Canada to Latin America, and culminating in her appointment as Marketing director for Latin America, she has decided to follow a different direction, one that builds on all she has learned with a world leader in sustainability practices while allowing her to follow her passion for rediscovering her homeland and willing to give back by creating a sustainable haven where humans and nature can commune in harmony.
While working for an organisation, she seized the opportunity to visit this country and it changed her life. She backpacked around the country, met her family members and decided to stay here for the rest of her life to do something good for Khmer people, especially by constructing sustainable housing for families living in rural Cambodia.
She holds a Master Degree in International Business Management from Business School in France and has been graduated from the INSEAD Social Entrepreneurship Program in Singapore.
She has also followed the intensive bamboo course at Bamboo U Green School Bali and IBUKU, to learn about Bamboo, the way it has been designed and the way it will be developed to benefit the people and the planet, as it is the bottom line of her project Green Bamboo Cambodia.
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