Coco de Takeo, a social enterprise from Cambodia’s Phnom Penh Vicariate, is preparing to compete in the National Entrepreneurship Awards in November 2023.

Mr. Sorn Meak, the person in charge of Coco de Takeo, stated that this occurred after the company placed fourth out of twenty in the fourth semi-final competition of small and medium-sized businesses on September 19 in Kampot, Cambodia.

“The conditions of the competition in this course required 20 enterprises to prepare a presentation of 8 minutes and another 12 minutes to respond to the questions from the speakers and the committee on Social Enterprise of their own place, and then they selected only 4 enterprises to participate in the National Entrepreneurship Awards,” he said.

He added that Coco de Takeo had five sectors: sewing handicrafts by women with disabilities, weaving (silk thread, cotton thread, banana thread, and coconut shell thread), coconut processing, banana processing, Krama (Khmer scarf by banana weaving), bag production, food processing, coconut candy, coconut noodles, and restaurants.

Meak said Coco de Takeo processing makes coconut and banana production exciting and helps women with disabilities, mothers with disabilities, and children earn money to benefit society and the community. “So, we received a good rating”.

With the preparation for the competition in November, Meak is determined to make efforts to show the achievements in the craft, show the project focused on helping society so that society can be united and take care of poor people with disabilities, and understand that, of course, people with disabilities also have the ability to perform work duties for livelihood and help society.

Coco de Takeo was founded in 2016 in Pong Teuk Khang Tbong Village, Kus Community, Tram Kak District, Takeo Province. It is approximately 90 kilometers from Phnom Penh’s capital and employs 42 people, 13 of whom are disabled.