‘I envision Cambodia’s future in IT powerhouse Korea’

“My ultimate goal is to establish a software firm named after me in Cambodia, and develop an application that is widely used by many people.”

Seoman, a 23-year-old man from Cambodia, said this with confidence. Pisai, 22, Seoman’s colleague who came to Korea from Cambodia, also has a big dream. With working experience at a software-related company, Pisai wants to establish an IT educational institution in Cambodia 20 years later, and teach children there. Seoman and Pisai are trainees who finished courses at the “Cambodia HRD Center.” The HRD center was established jointly by Web Cache and Korea International Cooperation Agency under the Foreign Affairs Ministry of Korea in order to nurture software professionals and advance the IT industry in Cambodia. Of more than 120 trainees who studied at the HRD center for one year, some 10 who excelled in performance were singled out and were brought to Korea. They will take hands-on trainings for two years at Korean software companies, including Web Cache, Ahn Lab, and K4M.

After joining at the web development team, Seoman is working on an app with diverse functions, including informing the location of shuttle buses to parents of kindergarteners. Pisai is learning database management technology. Seok Chang-gyu, head of Web Cache, said, “We hope that technology trainees who came to Korea will grow to become leaders who will spearhead the development of Cambodia’s software industry, and play a major role to lead future IT industry cooperation between Korea and Cambodia.”