Dried-fish entrepreneur scales back amid slump

Photo by: HENG CHIVOAN
Workers fillet fish at Chanthou Dried Fish Enterprises, preparing them for the next stage of production: the drying process.

The Phnom Penh Post
Wednesday, 29 July 2009
Soeun Say

WHEN he was studying as an undergraduate at business school, Sen Nith wanted nothing more than to be an entrepreneur.

"I dreamed of becoming a manufacturer, producing something made in Cambodia," he says. "And now my dreams have come true - my business is a success."

But it took a lot of hard work to build up Chanthou Dried Fish Enterprises, a business that buys wet fish, sun-dries and smokes them, then packages and sells them.

Like most businessmen, Sen Nith started small. He was careful to research the market meticulously, spending two years working at his in-laws' dried-fish business and another doing his own research.

He then invested US$30,000 of his own money in 1996, setting up in Phnom Penh's Stung Meanchey district with three employees.

One employee would buy the fish from fishermen on the Tonle Sap river, two would work the production line, and Sen Nith would do marketing and sales.

He now has 10 staff and pays them $45 to 65 a month plus accommodation, food and health care.

Sen Nith admits he knew very little about running a business when he started. He knows a lot more now, including just how hard and time-consuming the drying process is.

"The difficulty comes in ensuring the finished product is good quality, has a good taste, and has a long shelf life," he explains. "We still lack the technical knowledge about drying fish so that it keeps for more than a few months. So we must do more research."

He worries that demand for dried fish will not increase without the ability to keep the product safe for more than the current limit of one year when refrigerated. And he is concerned that many Cambodian people tend to prefer the imported versions to his Khmer product.

Despite those difficulties he has clients across the country - from Phnom Penh to Ratanakkiri, Kampong Cham to Kampong Chhnang. He says wealthier people enjoy dried fish as a health snack, as do Cambodian-Americans visiting the Kingdom, and other Khmers from countries such as Canada, France and Australia.

"My products are sold in shops, restaurants and local markets, with most of my clients belonging to the upper and middle classes," he says. "The lower classes tend not to buy because it is too expensive."

So how does it work? Sen Nith says his factory can process up to 600 kilograms of raw fish daily. That generates around 250 kilograms of dried fish, which sells for around 30,000 riels ($7.50) a kilogram.

His suppliers are fish farmers around the country, including from as far afield as Siem Reap.

But his customers were hit hard by the global economic crisis, which has caused business to halve since late 2008.

"In 2007 and 2008 my business was running well," he says. "I was earning at least $2,000 a month net profit. These days I earn around $800 to $1,000."

He has considered exporting, but says the time is not yet right.

"I'm unable to export dried fish at this stage because I want to improve my sales to customers here," he says. "But I would like to start exporting in say five years' time."

In the meantime his strategy for dealing with the competition is to work hard on improving the product's taste, its quality and his firm's customer service.

Sen Nith echoes the call of other SMEs by calling on the government to cut interest rates and the cost of electricity. Cutting the former would allow him to afford a loan to fund expansion when the economy picks up.

"Interest rates locally are very high. They need to come down so that SMEs have the chance to grow their businesses," says Sen Nith.

"Lower taxes and interest rates will provide SMEs with the chance to produce more and to take our products to the international market."
at 11:19 PM 0 comments Links to this post
Relocated evictees decry site
The Phnom Penh Post
Wednesday, 29 July 2009
Christopher Shay and May Thittara

Intl AIDS groups express concern.

RESIDENTS of the Tuol Sambo relocation site, who currently live in rooms smaller than those required for emergency refugee camps, complain of stifling heat, a lack of drinking water and walls so thin that gangsters have been able to cut through them with knives.

Each 3.5-metre-by-4.5-metre room houses an entire family, and every family has at least one member with HIV/AIDS.

More than five weeks after the first eviction, over 100 international rights and HIV/AIDS organisations joined with nearly 40 health experts on Monday to condemn the government's decision to evict more than 50 families from Borei Keila's HIV community in a process that ended Friday.

In the biggest expression of international concern over the eviction, the coalition of rights groups and AIDS campaigners described the site as a "de facto AIDS colony" in a letter sent to Prime Minister Hun Sen and Health Minister Mam Bunheng.

The letter calls for the government to improve conditions at the site as well as conduct a fair screening process to determine whether recently evicted families are eligible for on-site housing at Borei Keila.

Many residents said Tuesday they had lost hope of finding a regular source of income since being evicted from Borei Keila, located near Olympic Market in central Phnom Penh.

"I used to go to the market and sell fish. Now I can only stay home," said Lay An, a 68-year-old Tuol Sambo resident. "I need to pay 20,000 riels (US$4.77) to go to Phnom Penh and back, so I can't make a profit."

The relocation site currently has no source of clean water, say residents, who add they have started collecting rainwater to drink.

Resident Suon Davy, 42, said water jugs costing 1,200 riels were prohibitively expensive.

Kong Pisey, 52, said she could make 7,000 to 8,000 riels per day collecting garbage in Phnom Penh. In Tuol Sambo, however, she said she "can do nothing" except scavenge for small fish and crustaceans in nearby rice paddies.

The letter to the premier and health minister said international organisations and health experts were "deeply disturbed" by the conditions at Tuol Sambo, which, according to the letter, "pose serious health risks, particularly to people with compromised immune systems".

Suon Davy, who is HIV-positive, said living in poorly ventilated shelters without enough food had made her family more prone to illness. Her son just returned from the hospital this week, she said, adding that she constantly worries about her own health.

"The medicine cannot treat me," she said, "because when it gets hot, the pills break."

Sara Colm, a researcher for Human Rights Watch, said "many people simply don't know about" the plight of Borei Keila residents.

"What seemed to be missing was an international expression of concern," she said in explaining the impetus for the letter, adding that she hoped it would push the government towards taking greater responsibility for evicted communities.

"There is no sense the government is taking control," Colm said.

Suon Davy said the authorities had visited Tuol Sambo only once, on the day the first residents were forcibly evicted to the site.

Phnom Penh Deputy Governor Mann Chhoeun defended the government's actions with respect to the community and said NGOs were partly to blame for conditions at the site.

"We have worked hard already to do everything for them, but some NGOs just panic," he said. "We invited some NGOs to have a meeting and asked them to pay $20 to $30 a month to help the HIV/AIDS residents. But they said they could not help because we have no plan. NGOs are good at criticising."

Mann Chhoeun vowed to give the community clean water and provide a health-care centre for the community.

Mam Bunheng declined to comment directly about the letter, saying in an interview, "We are good at managing to help people, and we have done this according to our ability."

Posted in: Khmer News