Bunleang Chang, 28, is a Managing Partner and one of the co-founders of Brown’s Coffee and Bakery, a popular coffee chain in Phnom Penh. He was only 23 years old when he and his cousins opened the first Brown’s on Street 214.  Five years later, Brown’s is a successful coffee empire in Cambodia with seven outlets across Phnom Penh and an army of staff of more than 300 employees, all mostly young people under the age of 35.  He is passionate about coffee, the company and together with his other partners, has big plans for Brown’s future. 
 
Born in Phnom Penh in 1986, Bunleang went to Baktouk High School and earned a Bachelor’s degree in Education at the Royal University of Phnom Penh (International Institute of Foreign Languages) and received his Masters in International Communications at Macquarie University in Australia in 2009. I interviewed Bunleang to get his thoughts on how he became a co-founder of Brown’s, successes and failures of the company, how Brown’s is investing in their staff, and the future of Brown’s coffee business.
 
Q. What was it like growing up in Cambodia? What were some of the challenges you’ve had to overcome to be where you are today? 
 
As a generation after Pol Pot we grew up hearing the stories from our parents about the Khmer Rouge. Most parents who went through the Khmer Rouge, first thing on their mind was to leave Cambodia.  A few people wanted to stay and my parents were one of them.  My parents barely finished grade 6 due to the civil war and the coup d’etat in 1970 and then the Khmer Rouge.  My mom had 9 siblings all survived the Khmer Rouge Era, both of my parents’ relatives all survived.  That was rare. They helped each other.  My mom was very lucky to work in the kitchen. She could save some of the rice and food for her brothers and sisters. My daily lunch and dinner stories were hearing a piece of their traumatic experience. I actually liked listening to it
 
For me growing up in Phnom Penh my childhood revolved around going to school. I was raised in a typical Cambodian Chinese family. I was sent to a Chinese school with most of our cousins. Morning class was Chinese, afternoon was Cambodian school and evening was English. Some of the challenges we faced in Cambodia in the 1990s was security.  I was on a motorbike going to school with the other cousins,. There were three of us.  After the English class ended at 7pm, we would ride our motorbike back home. I would ride in the middle to see if anyone was following us. There were a lot of robberies. Every day was a scary day for us back then.  But we got used to that after a while. There was another political unrest again in 1997 and my parents packed everything.  They were afraid and ready to leave Cambodia but then things calmed down.  They always wanted to stay in Cambodia even after the Khmer Rouge because all of our family was here. Those are the significant memories I still have with me.
 
Q. Who has been the most influential person in your life and why?
 
A. My mom is the most influential because I am very close to her.  Growing up I learned to be patient and articulated from her. She barely finished her primary school. Sometimes she could be quite pushing but it was good. Even now, I’m living up to her expectations.  I discuss everything with her.  She’s like my mentor.  My parents didn’t finish high school but they value education.
 
Q. Which business people/entrepreneurs inspire you and why?
 
A. I think Steve Jobs ranks on top of my list.  Lots of people say he’s very strict and strange, but that is a very important part of the character of an entrepreneur.  You need to be very innovative and you need to push. It can keep you busy and lonely but you stay focused on what you are doing.  Those are the criteria I see in him. I was watching the speech at Stanford before he passed away many times.  He’s really inspiring. I read his biography and he was quite lonely, fired from Apple, founded Pixar and that brought him back to Apple.  It was an interesting life. To have the kind of sacrifices for the company was inspiring and touching.
 
Q.How did the concept of Brown’s start?  What were some of the obstacles you and your colleagues faced when you first opened and how did you all overcome them?
 
A.  All founding partners we were all cousins. One of our projects before we started Brown’s was to start a non-profit in our junior year in university. We were giving education counseling to Cambodian students. We targeted international financial aid packages for Cambodian students to study at U.S. universities. Back then there was no one really guiding them through this process. We got a few students into Stanford, Yale, a student who is currently going to medical school, and one who got into Harvard Business School.  We were keeping in touch with these students and reminded them to get the experience in the U.S. but bring it back to Cambodia.
 
In 2008 with my cousin and friends, we were raising funds for the nonprofit but failed to do so because of the economic recession. When we came back from overseas we thought this wasn’t enough to just do this counseling service to change Cambodia (we still continue to do it on a personal basis).  We thought that by going into business we might provide more job opportunities to Cambodians.
 
We had a lot of things on our list we wanted to do, but the top two was a construction company and the second was the coffee business. We thought coffee was a good start because most of us love coffee and it complemented our skills.  There was also an opportunity back then because there weren’t a lot of good modern coffee houses that catered to young and dynamic professionals in 2009. Those are the things that pushed us to do a coffee shop. 
 
We were really young and thought it was easy. I went back to Australia to train on coffee.  I searched around Thailand and Vietnam for good coffee beans.  We spent 3-5 months just scouting our first location. Then we thought of adding baking products too so had one of the cousins go to Thailand. 
 
We worked very hard at first and slept only 4-5 hours a day for the first 3 months but we learned so much from these early experiences.  We learned recruiting, working with customers (what they liked), managing people, particularly the young people. The most difficult part is really training people, even now because of the level of education and exposure to the coffee culture. A lot of them don’t know what a latte or cappuccino is. They are like a blank slate. And some of them have been trained incorrectly so we have to retrain them up to our standards. 
 
Q. What were some of the early successes and failures and how has the company learned from them?
 
A.Quite a few times early on we didn’t realize that running a company has to be very structured. We used to have only 1 or 2 outlets, which I would be the store manager. When I wanted to launch a new product I would just launch it the next day.  But then from our third outlet onwards, we learned that we needed to be very structured.  Research and Development (R&D) team needs a product, you need to do sampling, need to have panels of judges to taste, then sample in store, work with different departments, etc. We failed once when we tried to launch macaroons recently, the supply chain team did not have good preparation, we didn’t do the sales projection, so in 3 days we ran out of the ground almond to do it and basically we had a hard time dealing with that new product.  Those are the some things we’ve learned as a company that we need to be structured and coordinated.
 
Q. Brown’s has 7 locations in Phnom Penh and is a popular hangout. What makes Brown’s different from the many other coffee bars in Phnom Penh?
 
A.The product has to be up to customers’ expectations. You can see at Browns we have a diverse customer base.  We have local students, young professionals, middle aged Cambodians, and expats.  We have good options of products for different segments of customers. They really come for those products and we have a lot of loyal customers who come in every morning for the coffee.
 
The young crowd, they look at Brown’s as a cool place to hangout. A lot of the students see Browns as a new frontier, a small business, they want to learn more and we are open to those young people if they have a project they can propose to us. The younger people they want a cool nicely designed place to hangout. That is one of our key attractions.  A lot of them can come to Browns and go to different locations and see different designs unlike some of the international brands, the design themes has to be mostly the same.  But for us we are quite flexible. Some of the outlets have totally different designs though we still keep some of the identity. It is a good thing for Browns to have a different feeling.
 
Starbucks defines cafes as a third home. It’s very true, for students they go to school, back home, then the coffee house to do homework and meet friends.  It’s the same for young professionals.  The design has to be a cozy warm feeling and have design features to make people to want to come back.
 
Q. Many young people quit school (either secondary or university) to work fulltime to help their families.  In your opinion, why do you think it’s important for young people to not drop out of school? And what (if anything) is Brown’s doing to encourage staff to continue their education?
 
A.It’s very true, lots of them (young people) want to give up in their second year in school, they want to work fulltime to send money to their parents in the province.  What we’ve been doing is to encourage them to stay and finish school. We have this program for store managers to stay in school—it’s more of a bonus for them.  They can pick any university to study in (except some of the international universities). They can go to Pannasatra or take a course on ACE if they want to improve their English and we pay for their school. For the other staff we offer a loan for them. They can pay it back from 10% of their salary.
 
The good thing is that we can retain them and they can still stay in school.  I think it’s very important for them to stay in school. If we want to promote them to store manager, assistant store manager, they have to know how to do admin work so they have to know how to use computer, research and development. They have to stay in school so they can stretch their career path further, and not just working at Browns. If they are doing accounting or banking they need those skills to earn more.
 
Q. It’s been five years since Brown’s first started. How has the business environment for entrepreneurs changed in Cambodia since you first started Browns?
 
I think the hardest in the beginning was we did not know where to find the resources. Not just in Cambodia but other developing countries too. We didn’t know where to go to apply for licenses.  Different Ministry people would come and say we need this and that license. Some of them even quote us very high or even higher than the actual fee you need to pay to the Ministry (some unofficial fees). Unofficial fees are still a big problem. To obtain the license you need to pay for the fee.  It happens in different parts of Asia not just Cambodia. 
 
As for now I can see the changes, the restaurant license we basically need to go to Ministry of Tourism to apply for it.  It used to be we needed to have certificate of location from the Sangkat, then the Municipality, then sanitary license from Ministry of Health, then fire codes license, etc.  As for now, the Ministry of Tourism is more flexible and open, before it was much harder. Most of the licenses you can now get at the Ministry of Tourism.
 
 
Q. Where do you hope Brown’s will be 10 years from now?
 
A. We have a 5-year plan.  One of the commitments we have is to invest every dollar we earn.  So we agreed with all the partners no dividends sharing for the first 5 years and we are planning to extend to the next 5 years. We’re pushing our concept further.  Now we want to go into the roasting business. If lucky enough we want to stretch it further by sourcing the beans from local farmers in the Northern part of Cambodia, in Mondulkiri.  We are talking to coffee farmers there.  One key thing is there is not much know-how.  They need much guidance that they can earn more in the production.  The yield can be much higher if they look after the crop.  One of our goals is to work with farmers. As for now the beans are from the Northern part of Thailand and roasted in Bangkok.  Pretty soon we’ll cut that production to roast it in Phnom Penh.
 
We definitely want to expand.  We currently have 7 Brown outlets, we also have Fox Wine Bar, and Gong Cha Bubble Tea but our main focus is still on coffee. Our plan at the end of this year with the support team is to go to Siem Reap.  It will be a good test to run it remotely from Phnom Penh. Then if successful, it won’t be difficult to go to Myanmar, Vietnam or Thailand.  For Vietnam and Thailand we have to find a good local partner because it’s quite competitive there. We need to be well connected with people in the same industry.  We’ve already established some of the networks.  And our team has been doing a good job in delivering quality and service. 
 
I think the development of Browns keep me motivated.  Our turnover is very low. Last year it was 3% considering the average in the industry is 25% so it keeps me going to bring more ideas and knowledge (like the roasting). The staff wants to learn more, bring more ideas.  The turnover is so low because we work with our staff very closely.  I still chair the store manager/store wide meeting every month.  We are very open to staff to talk and comment on their store managers.  It’s an open working environment and investment in education also helps.
 
Q. You’ve been able to build a successful career at a young age. What advice would you have for young people who may be struggling but want to follow a similar path?
 
Doing businesses now, the boundaries are unlimited.  You don’t have to have the funds, but you have to have the ideas.  You have to have that entrepreneurial spirit within you.  For example students in junior or senior year, you can go and work for a company that you think might complement your business ideas later on. Go get that experience and continue to do research more on that business idea and then one day you will be able to do it. It takes hard work to find what you want to do.  Even for me, doing Brown’s for the last 5 ½ years (including planning), I’m still finding what I want to do.  You have to push, enjoy the journey you are exploring. I’m sure at point of time you will find a little piece of thing you enjoy doing and learn to improve it.  Enjoying the journey is important.
 
Brown’s coffee:http://browncoffee.com.kh
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Steve Jobs commencement address:
http://news.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html

SOCHEATA VONG, 32 
DEVELOPMENT PROFESSIONAL

Socheata Vong, 32, is a development professional at an international development organization in Phnom Penh. Born in 1982 in Banteaymeanchey province, she studied at Samdech Euv High School and earned her Bachelor's degrees in International Relations from the University of Cambodia and in Management from the National University of Management. Her work focuses on providing technical support on elections and political processes, civic participation and social media.  

Socheata was a Board Member of the Cambodian Economic Association (CEA) from 2009 to 2013. She is a manager of a private Cambodian Professional group (CAMPRO), an informal network joined by more than 400 Cambodian professionals working in various institutions. She is also a Managing Director of CamproPost, a website that publishes articles, essays, discussions, opinions, and documents that are related to Cambodia. I interviewed Socheata to get her views as a Cambodian citizen on the country’s civic participation past, present and future.

Q.  What was it like growing up in Cambodia? What were some of the challenges you’ve had to overcome to be where you are today? 

A.  I grew up in a small village in Banteaymeanchey, where rockets were being shot everyday in my village and near my primary school while Cambodia was still in the civil war in the late 1980s. The rockets were launched by the Khmer Rouge guerrillas from the forests and villages they occupied. All the students and myself were hiding in big holes to cover ourselves from the damages of the rockets at school and at home. The rockets were very massive, the sound was too rumbling. I am still traumatized by that. Even now when I hear any explosions, even small ballon explosion, I don't feel okay at all. The Khmer Rouge defected to the government in the late 1990s.

I am fortunate to be the only child in my family who finished high school, while struggling to earn a daily income by selling snacks in my class and in my home village. Not many students from my hometown could afford to study and live in Phnom Penh at that time. There were only a few, as I recalled.

I finished my high school in 1999, and in the same year I was awarded a title of National Best Student in Khmer Literature, an event that I always remember. While all the graduating high school students had to pass the entrance exams to get to the university, the Khmer Literature award allowed me to choose a university without going through the entrance exams. Without that award, I would not have had a chance to come to Phnom Penh to study because of two main reasons: 1) Each public university accepted a very limited number of students who passed the entrance exams. Not many students passed. Corruption in the entrance exams was rampant at that time. 2) My family could not afford to send me to Phnom Penh and pay for a private school. That award has completely changed my life. I am a great lover of Khmer literature and novel.

Q.  Who has been the most influential person in your life and why?

A.  My life was greatly influenced by my father who highly valued education although he didn’t have high education. He taught me at home every day during my primary education. He was the one who insisted to send me to Phnom Penh to pursue my higher education. I remembered sending my handwritten letters to my father in my hometown to tell him about my study progress and living conditions in Phnom Penh.  He advised me to give a hand to others. He passed away in my hometown while I was in my first-month of employment in early 2003. 

Q.  What three philosophers past or present have shaped your views on democracy and have shaped your life?

A.  Buddha is my greatest philosopher. His philosophies of peace, altruism and compassion have shaped my thoughts.  Thomas Jefferson has shaped my thoughts about political philosophy.  I am also inspired by his quote, “I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it." Aung San Suu Kyi is the only living human being who shapes my inner life. I have read quite a lot about her including her untold story of personal sacrifice to advocate for freedom and democracy. She is one of the few finest human beings to enrich humankind.

Q.  Who in Cambodia are your inspirations? 

A.  I have been fortunate to have worked closely in a private group with three people who inspire me the most: Mr. Ok Serei Sopheak, an independent governance analyst; Mr. Heng Dyna, new President of the CEA; and Mr. Chan Sophal, former President of CEA. I have worked closely with these great people as well as several other friends in the Cambodian Professionals (CAMPRO) network. I have been truly inspired by their hard work and their caring heart to help contribute to make Cambodia better. I am also inspired by other people who have been working so hard to realize the vision for Cambodia.

Q.  It has been almost 23 years since Cambodia signed the Paris Peace Accords.  In terms of democracy, in your opinion, what has improved since then?

A.  In my opinion, Cambodia has made much progress in the last 20 years. There are signs of improvement in the democratic process. Yet, there is still much more that can be done for Cambodia to realize the vision. The country has gone through a number of elections since 1993. There have been so many flaws in those elections. 

I participated as an election observer in the 2008 National Assembly elections in Pailin. Voter intimidation and other irregularities were at large. I also participated in the 2013 National Assembly elections in Phnom Penh. I have observed some unprecedented events. There are reports that found irregularities. So many people who turned out to vote could not find their names on the list. People were shouting and crying. Last time in 2008 when people couldn't find their names on the register they just walked off. This time they stayed and shouted and cried. There is more momentum this time, you can feel it.

The recent election proved to be a positive sign from the perspective of being peaceful, mainly, but there were a lot of irregularities.  Post-electoral problems remain just like in the past elections. There have not been any proper mechanisms to resolve the recurring post-electoral conflict. I hope that the two parties will sit together and discuss their negotiations to end the stalemate.

Q.  Over 70% of Cambodia’s population is under the age of 35. How are young people helping to shape democracy in Cambodia today and what key role can they play in the future?

A.  In the past, Cambodian youth were seen as not active, not attentive and not interested in the political process. However, there have been unprecedented events where youth are now seen as a catalyst for democratic transformation.  I was truly impressed by how engaged young people were in the last election. Before, they were mainly interested in entertainment and hobbies and doing fun things. This time, when the opposition leader returned to Cambodia and competed in the elections, so many young people turned out on the streets and were armed with smart phones using social media, wearing campaign T-shirts and caps and waving posters. This phenomenon of youth engagement in the political process also happened to the Cambodian People's Party (CPP) when their youth supporters came out and started their campaign trails on the streets. 

Despite some serious confrontations between the youth groups of both political parties, the election campaigns were marked as peaceful. It is my strong hope that the youth will continue to play an important role to engage more in the civic participation of our country. I learned a quote from Aung San Suu Kyi in the Lady movie, in which she said a quote from her father to a junta soldier in the house arrest, “You may not think about politics, but politics think about you.” I want to see Cambodian youth engage more in the social and political processes.

Q.  Where would you like to see Cambodia’s democracy in 10 years? 

A.  In the next ten years, I would like to see Cambodia rising not only in terms of economic growth but also social development, although I acknowledge that the latter is still a long way. I would like to see the Cambodian people to be able to make an informed choice on their future leaders. I would like to see Cambodian people have access to all kinds of information to make decisions in their daily life. I would like to see reforms in democratic development. I would like to see more women leaders. I would like to see Cambodia rise above the social and political norms and become the wind of change for generations to come. 

Q.  You earlier mentioned about CAMPRO. Can you tell more about the network and what you contribute in the network?

A.  CAMPRO is an informal network privately joined by more than 400 members of Cambodian professionals working in various institutions, including academia, government, NGOs, development partners, private enterprises, and media. CAMPRO has three main activities: (i) share information, views and knowledge; (ii) discuss issues; and (iii) network Cambodian professionals. Through this informal exchange of information, CAMPRO members will better understand and learn how to improve their jobs, and therefore increase their private and social contributions. Members debate on political, economic and social issues privately through an online forum.

I am one of three CAMPRO managers and also one of 10 moderators in CAMPRO. My roles as a manager and moderator are co-approval and admission of new members in the network and daily management and operation of the network. Like other members, I have a great interest in sharing information and expressing my opinions in the network. CAMPRO is the most viable and active network I have ever joined and it is my privilege to be a part of it.

I am also a managing director of CamproPost, a website that publishes articles, essays, discussions, opinions, and documents that are related to Cambodia. CamproPost is the brainchild of CAMPRO. Information that is published on CamproPost come from articles, essays, discussions, individual opinions and other materials that are sourced from both CAMPRO and non-CAMPRO members. The website does not have regular updates because we intend to publish only articles that may be deemed important for the public to view.

Q.  You’ve been able to build a successful career at a young age. What advice would you have for young people in Cambodia who may be struggling but want to follow a similar career path?

A.  I have had more failures than successes and I am inspired by Nelson Mandela’s quote, “Do not judge me by my successes. Judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again." I wish to share some messages to young people about career path as well as about journey to life. First, start small and dream big and never lose hope. As Martin Luther King said, “If you can't fly then run, if you can't run then walk, if you can't walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.”  Embrace patience as a virtue. Enjoying the journey to your dreams is more important than realizing your dreams. Second, we live as a community, therefore communication and networking is crucial. So, communicate with others and build networks. Third, be inspired and inspire others. Learn from inspiring people to help shape your life and inspire others with your realized dreams. Fourth, live a life of meaning and purpose by giving a hand to others. Be compassionate to yourself, your family and extend your compassion to others. My last words are: Be altruistic: give more to others and to your country without expecting any return. 

To learn more about CamproPost, please visit: http://campropost.org