Community Business Incubator

The delivery of a Business Incubator for women from a disadvantaged backgrounds over a 6 month period will improve the ability of these women to prosper in the economy through their businesses. We use videos to support the delivery of the project to address the barriers women face.

Over 60% of the businesses in Cambodia are female-owned, and 78% of these only employ one or two people. Only 18% of small businesses country-wide are owned by women. Rural women especially have difficulty expanding their businesses for various reasons including; a lack of problem solving skills, difficulty accessing trainings & gender-based pressures. Running a family based business is very common for women in Cambodia and although they often have the ambition to grow their businesses, they do not have the necessary skills to navigate the problems that arise.

SHE has delivered business incubator and accelerator programs for female micro entrepreneurs in Cambodia since 2015, with graduates on average increasing their monthly revenues by 36%, and their household savings by more than 200%. We will train a number of these SHE graduates to deliver a tailored incubator program directly to women in their own communities, allowing us to significantly scale our reach into rural areas, and utilizing technology to test and scale new entrepreneurship training tools. The training will be supported by video tutorials, activities and resources via an offline app, allowing women to continue learning between monthly workshops.

The target outcomes are to increase the revenue of women-owned micro businesses and to create jobs within their communities. Additional outcomes will be women’s increased confidence and financial decision-making power in businesses and households. It will be deployed through training successful female community leaders that have previously graduated from our programs. These leaders will undertake a further intensive Train the Trainer program and will be supported via materials, activities & videos in the app.

Number of graduates from each program - 300 women graduated from the business incubator in 12 months

Using weekly reminders in the app, we will be able to download reports - An average of 50% increase in business revenue

Using weekly reminders in the app, we will be able to download reports - 6-months post graduation

150 new jobs created

We are the only culturally tailored, gender based incubator program in Cambodia, we have a successful track record of increasing revenue & creating jobs. Our solution is unique as it is taking a successful, tested program and modifying the delivery method to be able to scale the results to disadvantaged, rural women that would otherwise not be able to access the training. Using an app will enhance the results through improved learning outcomes for the women and improved ability to apply the learnings to their own business.

To date, SHE has achieved significant impact through all of our programs, which have been co-designed and delivered by Cambodian women. This new program will train our graduates to deliver similar training in their own communities, thereby providing them with the support and tools they need to support other women in similar circumstances, but allowing them to use their own skills and experiences to tailor the training to their environment and context. They will provide ongoing feedback on the effectiveness of this program and be engaged to support the development and improvement of the tools and curriculum moving forward. 

The solution will be deployed through local community leaders delivering monthly workshops over a 6-month period to the community. Initially the program will be free, and following a pilot period we will charge an affordable program fee to ensure the sustainability of the program, with access to the app will be included in the program fee. We will work closely with community and savings groups to develop a model through the pilot phase for group financing which will allow community facilitators to receive payment for their work

Initially we are seeking funding to develop the app and the initial pilot program, however following this pilot phase we will use a fee-based model aimed at creating a self-sustaining program. We will work closely with community-based savings groups to develop a shared group payment model for groups of women to access the training and support tools collectively. This model will allow community trainers who have already graduated from the program themselves to be paid for their work in supporting more female entrepreneurs. 

The defining factors that limit our ability to succeed are primarily our lack of knowledge in tech development. To date we have only had one tech project and it was quite a small website. We have limited knowledge in developing tech products and implementing their use. 

Additionally being a small team, if we succeed and need to launch a large project our team will need to grow. Rapid growth could affect how our team works, and implements a project. 

http://www.facebook.com/sheinvestments

http://www.ngeayngeay.co

We are applying to Solve to for access to mentorship and access to expertise regarding app development, and to learn how to ensure the app is user friendly for disadvantaged women. We have experience in delivering incubators and business training for women micro entrepreneurs, however we have very little experience in tech development and implementation, and so would deeply benefit from advice and guidance in this area

Development Innovations

English Family Foundation

Vasudhara Foundation

USAID

The Cherie Blair Foundation

Ezecom

Good Return

Thriive

Impact Hub Phnom Penh

Young Cambodian Entrepreneurs Association