Update On Sambo Chuop

Update On Sambo Chuop
Entrepreneur:
Location: Muk Kampoul district, Cambodia
http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=20171

This entrepreneur is funded by a Kiva loan administered by Maxima Mikroheranhvatho Co., Ltd. here in Cambodia. Sambo lives in a small village along the Mekong River about twenty kilometers north of Phnom Penh. Her loan is being paid off on schedule.

Sambo, derives her primary income from selling noodles, coffee and beer at a modest stall/shop (see photo) in front of her brother’s house next to the road that passes through their village. She’s been selling noodles for about twenty years but, in 2006 upgraded her menu to the more complex “Chinese Noodle” fare. Prior to that, she sold what is referred to as “Khmer (Cambodian) Noodles”. Her husband had been working as a waiter in a restaurant in Phnom Penh and, over the course of a year, learned how to prepare and serve Chinese style noodles. He then taught her and she made the change.

Sambo wanted to open her shop at or near the district market but rents there are as much as (US) $25 month. Her brother charges her nothing. She said she sells about ten kilograms of noodles a day to between sixty and seventy customers. She said her business was not initially, so popular. Now, she’s refined her fare and can sell everything she makes.

Her business helps support seven people, six of whom still live in the home. One child lives in Phnom Penh where he studies in school. Her husband now works as a cook for a catering company. That sounds more grandiose than the actuality. Khmers have many weddings, funerals and other parties requiring larger-scale food service. Typically, mobile kitchens are erected next to party tents. There, teams of three or more people prepare a meal for the revelers over high-btu gas burners. In a good month, a cook might make $35 or $40.

Other than noodles, the biggest portion of Sambo’s revenue comes from beer sales. She has a karaoke machine and two large speakers which provide amplified entertainment should her customers desire it. (Her daughters also sing in a local band and occasionally practice in her shop.) The music has to be turned off by 9:00 p.m., though.

She hopes that in the future she can continue to grow her business so she can support her one son in college. She is also saving to rebuild her shop but project is two years away.

Posted by Darin Greyerbiehl from Muk Kampoul district, Cambodia
Dec 4, 2007