When the Cambodia-Japan Cooperation Centre (CJCC) was established in 2004, its primary objective was to promote two-way ties between the nations through business, education and cultural exchange activities.

Almost two decades later, CJCC – which is funded by the Japanese government – now prides itself as the premier centre for Cambodians to meet and hone their business skills based on Japanese knowledge and experience, while helping connect businesses from the two countries.

The centre, based in Royal Phnom Penh University, offers a range of courses crucial to the development of the fast-growing Cambodian economy – from entrepreneurship and corporate development to company management – all imbued with the Japanese management style.

“Since 2004, CJCC has trained 25,379 people in both long-term and short-term courses, and nearly 700 have completed entrepreneurship courses. Twenty-two per cent of those who finished entrepreneurship courses have started their own businesses,” CJCC’s director Khim Leang tells The Post.

“We also focus on MSMEs [micro, small- and medium-sized enterprises], and for the services sector, we cover various topics such as customer satisfaction, day-to-day management, strategic company management and human resource management.

“The purpose of these courses varies according to the subject. For example, the entrepreneurship course is intended to help those who want to start a business, and if it is a family business, we help them improve their operations because most family businesses do not have a proper management style,” Leang says.

In addition, CJCC offers business networking plus business matching between Japanese and Cambodian business community. And, for young Cambodians who desire to venture into the business world, they can take advantage of special training courses at the centre.

“The CJCC Accelerator Programme is for those who have just started their business. We provide training to improve their skills, and for those who are already in business but lack funds to expand, we also help them to source funds.

“Moreover, through the Cambodia-Japan Association for Business and Investment, we promote partnership between the two nations. Through this association we try to match Japanese companies who want to do business in the Kingdom with Cambodian partners,” Leang says.

The CJCC continues to contribute to the improvement of Japanese-Cambodian bilateral ties – both in terms of people-to-people relations and trade activities.

Currently close to 300 registered Japanese companies operate in the Kingdom, while around 250,000 Japanese visited the Kingdom last year.