On 20 July 2024, at the Business Development Center, Credit Guarantee Corporation of Cambodia (CGCC) and the Young Entrepreneurs Association of Cambodia (YEAC) co-organized the Entrepreneurship Program Initiative of CGCC (EPIC) 2^nd series of 2024 on “MSME’s Best Practices in Obtain and Effectively Managing Formal Financing”, supported by Feed the Future Cambodia Harvest III of USAID,  highly participated by Mr. NimishJhaveri, Chief of Party of Cambodia Harvest III, Mr. Sar Kinal, Executive Vice President of YEAC, and Mr. No Lida, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of CGCC, and distinguished speakers and 51 trainees from Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSME) in Agriculture sector from Phnom Penh, and 12 Provinces.

Through the EPIC 2^nd Series of 2024, all trainees had the opportunity to learn the main training topic “MSME’s Best Practices in Obtaining and Effectively Managing Formal Financing” by Mrs. Chau Lon Molika, CEO and Founder of Cambodian Standard Development & Supply Co., Ltd., and BoD in charge of Commission Access to Finance of YEAC. As also a business owner, Mrs. Molika shared the strategy in financial management and her experience in obtaining formal financing through grants, loans, and other financing options, and also encouraged the trainees to share their experiences as practical inputs to other trainees to get maximum and comprehensively advantages from the formal financing. Trainees also shared their personal experiences through a group discussion on effective financial management.

In addition, trainees also learned about CGCC’s Credit Guarantee Mechanism to Support the Access to Formal Financing of MSMEs especially in the agriculture sector, which is one of the priority sectors of the Royal Government and a core sector of national economic development, through sharing from Ms. Chum Selarath, Manager of Business Development (Bond Guarantee) of CGCC.

In line with the CGCC Credit Guarantee Mechanism, Ms. Mak Davy, Deputy Chief of Medium Business Lending Officer of ABA Bank, also shared the bank’s support for MSMEs in access to the guaranteed loans and the bank loan approval procedures to increase the awareness of MSMEs in obtaining formal financing from the bank and to increase their financial literacy.

Capacity-building is one of the priorities of CGCC in the mission of improving financial inclusion and developing SMEs in Cambodia. EPIC is the flagship entrepreneurs’ capacity-building program of CGCC that will provide training to MSMEs on relevant and practical topics for entrepreneurs in collaboration with related stakeholders/Participating Financial Institutions.