Experience in Stuttgart part of training investment strategy for Europe-Asia conglomerate

A highly diversified global company with European leadership and Asian headquarters in Singapore sends Cambodians to Europe for training and expresses certainty the expense is a good investment.

According to Alfons Mensdorff-Pouilly, General Manager of Jebsen & Jessen Cambodia Ltd, one of the company’s most talented engineers - Sok Chamroeun Hak - went to Stuttgart, Germany last year to attend a technical training at affiliated company Lapp Cable.

Mensdorff-Pouilly said Sok Chamroeun Hak was impressed by the professionalism of a well-established German company, especially by the amount of time and energy such a company would spend on research and development.

“When he left it was 35 degrees in Cambodia and when he arrived in Stuttgart it was minus 15, so I gave him some money to buy some winter clothing,” said Mensdorff-Pouilly. He views the expense of sending a Cambodian to Europe as an investment.

“We want to use this travel and these experiences as a motivation for our Cambodian staff,” he said. “Working for an international company means using higher standards.  We use international training opportunities as a reward for good employees, but we think there’s also quite a lot of added value our employees can learn from our partners.”

Sok Chamroeun Hak, who has worked as a senior sales manager for Lapp Cable for a year and four months, went to Stuttgart in February, 2012 for a week’s worth of training.

It was his first time to experience such cold temperatures, although he studied in France for two years from 2003 to 2005.

“Stuttgart is an industrial city surrounded by mountains.  It is the home of many famous brands like Mercedes-Benz and Bosch,” he said.

His training was conducted in English by professional sales experts and product managers from the Lapp group.

“Lapp’s production facility and laboratory for cable testing were quite impressive and high standard,” he said.

“Our hosts were very friendly and supportive, with visa, accommodation, food and transportation all well-arranged.”

Since his trip to Germany in 2010, Sok Chamroeun Hak has visited Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam and Indonesia for work with Lapp Cable.

“Well I would say the trips have been very useful experiences that have helped me a lot to improve my work productivity in term of sales and management activities. Furthermore, with this training, I can connect and share experiences and knowledge with other colleagues from different continents and countries including Switzerland, South Africa, Mexico and China.”