What about my PASSIONS? Here's how I have been trying to maintain them!

What about my PASSIONS? Here's how I have been trying to maintain them...

Hello, and welcome back!

I know, I know. I have been gone for quite a while now.. and even worse, I haven't even entered the blogs about my conferences I've promised. But here me out.. I've got some real good excuses-- or at least, I think. Hahaha.

So here's what I was up to for my 2016 Summer.

1. First of all, I interned in the Risk Management Department for CIMB. I interned for a round a month, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I met a lotttt of really dedicated, lovely people, one of whom I have already started calling "mommy." Hhahah Bong Nita, you're hilarious. Thank you for the entertainment on the boring office days. Other than that, on the serious side, I actually sat down to read and understand a lot of the Group Policy, Credit Policy and Manual, etc. I also did many case studies on the credit loans, home loans, commercial loans. I'd like to think I have a pretty great grasp of loan assessment, especially in looking for the credit and non-credit risks associated with the Small and Medium Enterprises in Cambodia. I've got to say.. a month of learning very interesting things. I also met the Deputy CEO, Neoh, who gladly gave me a bunch of Omega/credit management books to read. He also offered me another internship position in the commercial banking sector, so it's quite good to think of having a secured place in case I don't have anything to do next summer. Hahaha. Furthermore, I was given the opportunity to be interviewed along with our CIMB CEO, Mr. Bun Yin. I am both inspired and humbled by his background. Last, but not least, I was also given the chance to go on the CIMB's Univeristy Road Show (to UC and RULE). I was one of the panelists, actually.. and yeah. :D

2. Start-Up Ecosystem in Cambodia - What happened in the year I was gone?
It all started with one event. Just one event, but a lot of networking. First of all, I met Melanie who happens to be working Impact Hub at a Bitcoin event. Then, she asked if I wanted lunch so I ended up getting lunch with her and Olivia who is the COO of Impact Hub. Oh recap, before that, when I attended an Investment Strategy event, I met two other people: Mr. Bora Kem and Mr. Kimsopha Kong. Mr. Bora and I ended up meeting later on again; I will elaborate in number 3. Mr. Sophat and I ended up working together on his video project for MIE. He also volunteered to meet up with me a few times to discuss the situation of the start-up scene in Cambodia, as well as his business registration services. He gladly shared with me his vision for his business, stating that he sees himself starting another investment company to attract and help ease the FDI in Cambodia. I am so proud and supportive of him. I honestly cannot wait to see where he goes! Back to the first event (bitcoin), I also met bong Srey Lak who happened to be one of last year's SHE scholar. We quickly became good friends, and so we caught up, drove around, grabbed coffee, and did a whole bunch of reading. I'd love to see her again in the near future (and I think I will!!).

3. Mr Bora ... Mekong Strategic Partners and how we met again..
This is a little random of a story, I guess. Haha. Right after I went to the talk about what Bitcoin was, I emailed TEKHUB to tell them about how I'd love to give another bitcoin talk 2.0 where I will explain on the technical side of Bitcoin. And so, I did! I gave a talk.. twice! The video can be found on TEKHUB's website.. and a lot of my friends visited and kindly cheered on me. I am one lucky girl to have some company. #Blessed. Having seen my performance, Mr. Bora contacted me and asked for me to go Mekong Strategic Partners' office and discuss the Blockchain technology in SEA and Cambodia. I thoroughly enjoyed our conversations (along with two of his other peers). This has opened up even more opportunities as: 1) Bora jokingly said he'd open up an offer for an internship next year for me... haha 2) Mr. David Marshall told me about a Canadian Alumni Association which is about to start, asking me if I had wanted to (and should look out to) apply for executive positions, perhaps.

4. Been interviewed by the founder of Khmerican...
This was another random encounter, after my Bitcoin talk. We ended up having a great, long conversation on not just start-up, fin tech ideas, but the entertainment industry. He happens to manage two well-known Cambodian stars and he had gladly shared with me his experiences an outlook on the management industry.

5. Thought of a crazy (not so crazy anymore since I just finished my sponsorship proposal) of bringing Cambodia's first international hackathon!!! SEAHack!! Wooohooo. So yes, this has been my primary focus. I have actually reached out to many people for help-- whether mentoring or running the actual event. One of the people of have helped me most is Bong Athika, the co-founder of 2030 Youth Force Cambodia. We will actually be co-organizing the event. In order to help further facilitate this event, I have also reached out to AUPP's Student Government in hopes to recruit some great core organizers to join the team. Other than that, I've received generous support from Allen (Founder of STEM Cambodia), Mr Duke (main organizer of GDG Hackathon), Miss Jolyda Sou (Founder of Inspire Cambodia), Mr. Mike and Vitou (co-founders of Mlab Cambodia), and Bong Sothira (first MIT Cambodian female graduate).

6. Books... CYA
During the summer, I actually ran into bong Bin Yan at the Royal Palace. I swear, I don't think that life is at all.. random. So thank you, Lord, for this coincidence. Anyways, so bong Bin and I met and later, I visited his new mart near Toul Tompoung. We had a really great chat about kindness, religion, politics, all those things that we expected to be talking about. Hahahah nerds. But on the honest side, I love bong Bin Yan's big heart. His passion to give back always, always motivates and inspires me. In fact, he has just adopted 10 sons from his tribe! He's an amazing man. Later on, I decided I was going to start writing a book a well. I would say I am about 10% done, and therefore, I thought I'd reach out to bong Dara Ly (founder of Cambodia Young Authors) in order to ask for his advices on writing, launching and marketing my books. Not only was I not let down, I also gathered great, close connection with him. We talked about many things.. our passions, visions, dreams and even bonded on our hope to see the growth in readers among our millennials. I am actually looking forward to apply for and be part of CYA's program. My book is scheduled to come out next summer. Stay tuned! Hehe.

7. Social Justice .. and reform
I spent about 2-3 weeks writing up an MIT Solve submission. My proposal was concise: a crowd-funding platform for women in SME's in SEA. Although I did not get chosen to be one of the finalists to pitch in NY, I am actually still very happy I did my proposal. I learnt a lot about the rapid growth of SME during the process. It also definitely pushed me to read a lot on how crowdfunding works, money laundering and security issues, and how to write a good proposal. I think that's pretty much all that is important to be explained, but if you were interested to see the product, here are the links! :)
Proposal: https://solve.mit.edu/challenges/women-and-technology/solutions/1407
Website: https://nguonponhneath.wixsite.com/fundforher

8. Business ideas? Entrepreneurial endeavors?
This is yet another random encounter. Vathanak and I actually met when he came to my talk on bitcoin. Curious and impressed by the fact that he had co-founded Scarface Cambodia, I stalked his LinkedIn. I read on his idea of having a bulk delivery service called Praob. I called him up and the next day, we were sitting for coffee, discussing the ideas in hopes to reform Praob. I wrote up a lean business proposal, however, on the next meeting, we decided we were a little probably financially incapable to sustain the business. Therefore, we put off the opportunity. However, luckily, thanks to our entrepreneurial minds, we became very interested in using Nak's ming's 4mx28m house in order to turn into a co-working space. Therefore, this is pretty much what we've been working on. I've worked quite roughly on some parts of the full business plan. And I am proud to say that I am genuinely excited where our plan will take us, because I can really envision this co-working space (Central Hub) being born in the very near future. Go squad!

That was pretty much my summer! I know I went through many things this summer.. many many things. And due to the tendency to focus on the negative outcomes, I decided maybe I should write about what had gone right about the summer instead in order to remind myself to show gratitude. It actually really helped me, now that I have written everything to be thankful about. Therefore, I'd like to end here with a small message. If you feel like you aren't making progress, or are stuck, first of all, I want to realize that you are not alone. Second of all, I want you to device a set of steps to help you move forward and then ask for your closest friends' and family's support. I have come to realize that it is very important to have support and a system of some sort to help you move. Don't do it alone, reach out for support. You won't be let down, trust me, at least not by the right persons who genuinely loves you. And remember, although some days it might feel like you are taking steps back, hang in there. Tomorrow, you will take 2 steps forward. Brighter days and greater things are to come. You are loved and you are enough. More than enough, actually. So learn to love yourself, to put things behind you, to forgive, forget, and move forward. You deserve the world, darling.

That's all for now, take care and see you in a later block!!

Lots of love,

Neath Nguon