Learning about banking in Cambodia
Fiona Natusch is working with WING in Phnom Penh, a wholly owned subsidiary of ANZ Bank with over 100,000 customers spread across each of Cambodia's 24 provinces. Fiona will be in the Cambodian capital from January to April 2011on the Asia:NZ-ANZ business internship.
A recent business graduate, Fiona is excited at the opportunity to learn more about banking practices in the Southeast Asian country. She is also taking some time to explore the unique history of the place and make friends with her local colleagues. Here are some impressions from her two weeks into her internship.
Two weeks into my internship, it is still hard for me to comprehend that I have been lucky enough to be experiencing such an incredible country.
Living here and working at WING has well and truly surpassed all my expectations. Every day I am learning more and more about Cambodian business, the Khmer culture, and the Cambodian way of life.
I was warmly welcomed upon arrival by Kunthea, the WING HR Manager, who had a driver ready to take us to my apartment. I am lucky enough to be staying only a 10min walk to work, just past the Russian Market: a treasure trove of clothes, souvenirs, household goods, food, and copied books and DVDs. My apartment thankfully has air-conditioning and a guard at the gate. Shortly after arriving I found myself in a tuk tuk with Nicolas, my manager, navigating the crazy traffic of Phnom Penh to orientate myself before heading out for a cruise on the Tonle Sap and Mekong Rivers for a French birthday celebration.
Two days later I began my first week working at WING - an absolutely fascinating company that is introducing many unbanked Cambodians to mobile banking, and a means to safely transfer money across the country. I was very surprised at the small team (approx 60, including call centre staff) that keeps this company functioning and expanding. While I am working with some Australians, French, and a Brit, the vast majority are Cambodians and there is an equal mix of men and women. I was kept busy with an induction from every team manager to ensure that I understand how the entire company is put together.
Due to some internal restructuring occurring only days before I arrived, my workload has been slowly created day by day. This has made the work even more interesting as I am in a team of four that are in the process of driving the launch of a new service to be gradually rolled out over the coming weeks and months. We work closely with all the other teams in the office, in addition to a variety of people from ANZ Royal Bank – a joint venture between ANZ Bank and the Cambodian Royal Group of Companies. My tasks have been varied and I truly feel that I am contributing to the success of WING.
In terms of pay, I was given some petty cash upon arrival to last me until I opened a WING account to receive my per diem money. This has proved to be a fantastic way to manage my money and understand the product/service that we are providing here at WING.
Outside of work, I have explored many of the sights around Phnom Penh and have received many invitations from colleagues to go out for meals, drinks, shopping and sightseeing. This included attending the International Business Council of Cambodia Ball, traditional Khmer lunch in hammocks on the side of the Mekong, and memorable visits to the Toul Sleng Museum (S21 Prison) and the infamous ‘Killing Fields’. Despite the intensely tragic history of this country, it is easy to see that Cambodia is booming and things are slowly improving for many people.
However, the standard of living of the majority of the population is still heartbreaking to see, no matter how much you try to prepare yourself. It is also very interesting to see such a large presence of NGOs and international organisations here. Almost all expats I have met have at some point been involved with NGOs. The innovative projects that are constantly being set up are very interesting.
No doubt the weeks ahead will only get more exciting. I am in the process on planning a variety of trips around the country, and have also been invited on a management trip to some of the southern provinces to see how WING is working there. I honestly cannot thank Asia:NZ, ANZ Bank and WING enough for providing me with such a fantastic opportunity!
