Licence Aims to Incubate 10,000 SMEs in Cambodia Through Financial Technology
Licence Aims to Incubate 10,000 SMEs in Cambodia Through Financial Technology
PLMP Venture, the investment arm of Singaporean blockchain firm PLMP Fintech, has been granted an Asset and Fund Management license by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Cambodia.
The move is part of the company’s 10-year target to incubate more than 10,000 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) through blockchain solutions and networking opportunities.
Kym Kee, managing director of PLMP Venture Capital, said, “The license will open the doors to institutional and high-net-worth investment as we plan for the Creatanium Silicon Valley.”
PLMP Fintech co-founder Peter Lim said, “We have a diversified portfolio of technological, real estate and financial projects that are already in the works.”
One project Lim cited is the Creatanium Smart City. This project, scheduled to be completed over 10 years at a projected cost of $5 billion, is slated to be Cambodia’s first technology park housing SMEs and startups in emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, robotics and cybersecurity through blockchain.
The Smart City will be rolled out in three phases within the Kong Pisei Special Administrative and Economic Zone, an area of more than 1 million square meters.
The area has received a green light from the Kingdom’s Government and Development Council as a key Sino-Cambodian agricultural and industrial cooperation project within the One Belt One Road initiative.
The project will have an industry and trading core zone, demonstration parks and a food and agriculture base with one-fifth of the land being allocated to PLMP Fintech.
This will be used for the construction and management of a residential cluster with condominiums, semi-detached, detached and terraced homes for the project’s population of Cambodian professionals and international ex-pats. The area will also include shophouses and a shopping mall.
PLMP Fintech also noted that asset and fund management is just the first step in its vision of playing a major role in the development of Cambodia’s SME sector.
The company is also in the process of acquiring a specialized bank license to launch public, private and online services and provide business loans and micro-loans through digital collaterals.
The company said, “Counting on all three segments will grant the flexibility to cater to established companies and institutions while developing new products for the significant number of local entrepreneurs who are still unbanked.”
Khmer Times
