“I Will Determine a Bright Future”

More than 200 young, energetic, single adults attended the first self-reliance conference in Cambodia. It was entitled “I Will Determine a Bright Future” and was held at the Garden City Hotel in Phnom Penh. At this two-day conference, planned under the direction of Yi Phanna, the Church’s manager for self-reliance services in Cambodia, participants engaged in activities, lectures, personal assessments, and hands-on training. Workshop segments included financial health, self-reliance, problem-solving skills, goal-setting, and achieving financial growth.

The climax of the conference was an entrepreneurial competition in which teams sought to implement their skills and knowledge. Working under tight time constraints, each team had to create a business opportunity plan for a new business and present it for approval to their peers and a panel of three judges. The groups created slideshow presentations that laid out the business plan, budget, and marketing.

One of the judges, Vichit Ith, observed, “I have judged entries in college business competitions that were not as good as some of those our young single adults prepared in much less time.”

Participants gained confidence in their abilities to improve their future lives and careers and contribute to the economic emergence of their country.