AsiaLIFE

Fully-serviced office spaces at affordable prices – a novel concept? Not really, as AsiaLIFE finds out.

AsiaLIFE: Kevin, what brought you to Cambodia?

Kevin Britten: I relocated here in 2005 with Functional Engineering, which is Cambodia's number one electronic fire and security company. I left them in 2007 to run The Secretary.

The Secretary provides serviced offices in Cambodia – can you explain the concept further?

The core business is serviced office suites. Basically we offer an all-inclusive package, from the furnished office with internet and utilities all the way through to photocopying and coffee. I decided to simplify things by packaging it, everything is included in a monthly charge whereas most serviced offices count each sheet of paper and each cup of coffee and bill you for each item. This drives business people nuts and it’s not my way of doing business or carrying out good customer service. I think the most important factor though is my staff. Included in the deal you get the secretarial and administrative support that’s vital for incoming businesses. I have a small but highly dedicated and highly professional team who believe in doing things the right way. We follow the philosophy that without the small things there are no big things.

It's not exactly a novel concept – why do think no one had come up with this before?

I'm sure they had but no one had got around to going through the grind of setting it up. Perhaps they were worried that the idea would be copied too quickly and easily, perhaps they confused the idea with office space that comes with a guard and a cleaner. A serviced office is quite, quite different - it's all about service and service is all about people.
 
So how do you feel about working with Cambodians?

I think that working with Cambodians is perhaps the greatest pleasure of being in Cambodia. I have never come across people so excited to learn and so focussed on making tomorrow better than yesterday. My advice to people in business is to choose people you feel you can work with – this may not mean the most highly qualified or experienced people – treat them well, and give them the opportunity to grow. Then just watch what they do. In my experience they go from walking to flying.

Do you have any other professional interests?

I'm now developing the company's range of business services. After being in education and training for most of my career I'm now getting into the training consultancy business. I'm working with a partner to offer accounts and finance upgrades to businesses that have recently grown from small- to medium-sized operations but their accounting and management systems have not kept up with rapid growth. I'm also interested in consulting on training programmes – which is my real area of expertise. Another project is branching into property management, again it's a service-based business providing clients a service which adds value to the property and therefore adds to the income of the property. There's a lot more to property than just building it. At the same time I've recently joined an Executive Recruitment Network. I can now source management and other expertise from outside Cambodia and the client can deal with a company based inside Cambodia. Basically I'm interested in any business outsourcing or development opportunity.

Last month we covered property development in the capital – how do you think the property market is going to change over the next couple of years?

It's clear that much of the stock of both residential and commercial property here is poor quality and outdated. The property boom we're seeing is just the city playing catch-up after decades of underinvestment. I think that as far as office space is concerned, right now it's very, very scarce. As the buildings now under construction open, the quality will rise and there will be more availability. There will be an inevitable glut which the market will correct. Right now people are predicting US$30 to US$40 per square metre for new office space for next year. That may well happen but I think that by 2011 it will settle closer to US$20. As for the residential rental market, prices for quality buildings throughout the city are rising, but again the market is king. The fact that these price rises are being borne shows that there's a shortage of quality. One building soon to open has international standard three-bed apartments, which they are marketing at US$4,500. I think people will pay that much if the product is good enough.

As for setting up your own business – what advice can you give people who are thinking of doing the same?

If you're planning an honest, straightforward business it's going to cost you more than you think, it's going to take longer than you think, and you're going to make less money than you think.

What are you thoughts about the future of business in Cambodia?

I'm optimistic, very optimistic. Business opportunities are everywhere and the country is so exciting to live and work in, that's why foreigners fall in love with it. It's a country which welcomes new ideas and is experimenting with all the new technologies and systems available. There's leapfrog development going on all around which is great for competitive advantage. Cambodia has so many positives, and it's full of as yet unexploited advantages. For example the level of English here is way, way higher than in either Thailand or Vietnam. Phnom Penh is more cosmopolitan and has the potential to be much more stylish than either HCMC or Bangkok. Peace, security and stability have been established, the frontier economy is going well, rule of law and other governance issues are now on the agenda and I'm confident that they will be addressed.
 
Do you have any upcoming expansion plans?

Only for my waistline. Yes, I do into the areas I've mentioned, and also possibly a foray into retail, plus of course The Secretary2 – when the building is finished.

CV

Kevin Britten

Position: Owner/MD Kamia The Secretary Ltd.

Age: 44

Nationality: British

Marital Status: Divorced and currently unattached

Children: Two – George (15) and Olivia (13). Both are living with their mother in Brunei and visit on school holidays

Experience: After graduating in English Language & Literature I worked in Sudan, Cyprus and Spain before moving to Brunei where I lived in a Borneo-suburban paradise for 17 years.