AsiaLIFE

AsiaLIFE Guide: Why did you return to Cambodia?
Delphine Vann: In my family we always considered ourselves “half-Cambodian”. Wherever we lived, in Europe or Africa, Cambodia was part of our lives, from the stories our parents told us, to the wall-sized picture of the Bayon temple that my parents’ photographer friend took in the 60s. I wanted to get to know this place and the people about whom I heard so much in my childhood. My parents finally decided to move back in the early 90s, enabling them to contribute to the preservation of the traditional Khmer culture and heritage. The opportunity arose for me to move to Cambodia with my family in 2001.

What work have you done in Cambodia?
At first, I assisted my family to set up an import export business. One of the projects we got involved in was a partnership to start up the first Fresco outlet. Back then, I found myself pouring lattes and serving breakfasts to grumpy, early morning expats. I wanted to get back to the humanitarian and development sectors I was familiar with, from my work in Bosnia, Rwanda, Colombia and the Philippines. Somehow, here, it touched me differently. I really felt happy to be able to dedicate my professional skills to projects in Cambodia. I joined the NGO world, first working for WildAid and later Oxfam, coordinating interesting projects dealing with some of the most challenging issues in Cambodia, including poverty alleviation, environmental conservation, and land issues.

What lessons did you learn from your initial foray into the development world here?
I gained a good understating of Cambodia’s development sector and was able to explore various strategies to bring a positive change in remote rural communities. I felt we needed to find new ways to enable vulnerable communities to move out of poverty, not merely provide them with just enough to sustain their family. I liked Oxfam’s approach to fair trade and power in markets, and was able to understand the relevance of engaging the private sector in development projects. I also understood the limitations and even reluctance of some NGOs in Cambodia to link up with the private companies, discouraged by blatant, abusive practices. This attitude is not conducive to sustainable development and keeps NGOs more dependent on donor money. The problem is quite deep. There is a clear division between those who do business and those who are NGO workers. These two worlds do not understand each other, and even dislike each other. At times, I think they are scared of each other!

You've recently had a change of direction away from development to business, why?
Not at all. I am still a development worker by profession. I only changed my approach, by partnering up with ICE BV, to start up our Cambodian Green Ventures Co, a company that can promote NGO-private sector linkages to ensure sustainability and profitability to development projects. There are numerous good ideas within NGOs and SMEs in Cambodia, great projects that know how to mitigate environmental and social impacts to bring positive change. The NGOs lack funding and business expertise to realise the projects.

Can you explain Cambodia Green Ventures approach?
Green Ventures Co., Ltd. is the Cambodian branch of Dutch-based International Consultancy Europe BV. With its worldwide network, ICE BV has the potential to target the right funding source, bring on the right partner and develop innovative, structured transactions. Green Ventures identifies local potential projects and partners, design and develop project components and assists in managing their implementation. Depending on the scope of each project, our intervention includes: capital investment, advisory services on investment and deal structuring, fundraising, management, and ad hoc technical assistance, with due diligence, on projects and partners.

What projects are you currently working on in Cambodia?
We support biogas projects, biodiversity conservation projects that include the development of sustainable tourism with revenues for local communities, renewable energy small infrastructure development and the structuring of transactions on ecosystem services as refinancing strategy. We also promote the use of ‘cleantech’ and resource efficiency products through these projects.

What sort of projects are you looking for as partners in Cambodia?
Our priority is to support development projects and businesses interested in biodiversity conservation and committed to include local communities as stakeholders for development.

If somebody had such a project, how should they get in touch with you?
They can visit our website at: www.icebv.net, call us on: 023 724 381, or email me at: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it


CV
Delphine Vann
Company: Green Ventures Co., Ltd
Position in Company: Country Manager
Country of Birth: Cambodia
Kids: Scott (8)