Phnom Penh just had its first Startup Weekend, a worldwide phenomenon of high energy events where participants get together to choose and launch a business in 54 hours. The Cambodian incarnation was held in Phnom Penh’s Hackerspace – an innovative co-working & community oriented project in its own right – and attracted around 30 participants.

We went down and helped out on a couple of the startup teams, getting a taste for entrepreneuring in the Phnom Penh tech scene, and came back really excited for some similar all-in, collaborative startup events here in Battambang.

The Phnom Penh Post did a write up on it:

This was Cambodia’s first-ever Startup Weekend, a chance for the Kingdom’s future business leaders to prove their entrepreneurial mettle by building a business in 54 hours.

“There are a lot of Cambodians that have great business ideas,” Darren Jensen, Startup Weekend’s Phnom Penh leader, said.

“But for whatever reason they are too worried about executing them. So Startup Weekend is all about actually getting out there and executing.”

Which you should check out before it disappears behind the pay wall.

A few guys here are starting up a hack night – basically a creative space for working on tech projects and doing skillshares. If you know anyone who likes to tinker, please point them in the direction of our sign up form . English is not really a requirement, just motivation and a thing for self directed learning!

A couple of days to go till Sammaki launches with an all-singing all-dancing street party extravaganza. If you’re in Cambodia on Saturday you should be there as I’m pretty sure it will be the best thing happening in the Mekong region and I’m only slightly exaggerating when I say that. Check this thing out:

Holy crap look at this thing

For those who missed the introduction, Sammaki is a project we’ve been working on for the last 2-3 months to build an arts space for the Battambang community to use for exhibitions, workshops and general arting. It has already attracted a really vibrant community and some great local art so we’re pumped to launch it with a bang.

Got an old digital camera lying around? Participants at an upcoming Open Workshop on Photography are looking for donated cameras to hone their compositional and visual story-telling skills on! Quality of the device doesn’t really matter, so long as it takes what are recognizable as pictures, at least some of the time, we can absolutely use it.

The Open Workshop is designed for Khmer students and NGO teams who want to become better at communicating what’s going on in their projects visually, so your donated device would be furthering the causes of transparency and the open flow of life experience around the world. If you have something you’d like to give, please drop us a line and we’ll figure out how we can collect it!

Kinyei is holding a series of 4 Open Workshops on Photography throughout May. Good photography can go along way in helping us visually communicate Battambang globally. Recognising that many of us are working for NGO’s and Community Based Organisations that need to communicate development challenges, progress, environment and teams to supporters and board members this workshop series aims to help us do that through enabling us to take quality photographs.

When

Introduction to Photography: Thursday 5th May 2011 5pm-6.30pm More on Composition: Thursday 12th May 2011 5pm-6.30pm Light and subjects: Thursday 19th May 2011 5pm-6.30pm Sharing and discussing eachothers photographs: Thursday 26th May 2011 5pm-6.30pm

Who is running the workshop?

Andre Vandam Freelance Photographer

Andre was originaly a primary school teacher, but 3 years ago he changed careers to follow his passion and became a freelance photographer. Andre spent the last 2 years living in China, in a very remote mountian village, which provided him with lots of opportunities to photograph daily life. It was here that he developed a great love for black and white photography!

Andre moved to Battambang in September 2010 and intends to stay for 2 years. His most recent project was a calendar for 2011, which sold very well in the Netherlands, France, Spain, England, Scotland, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, Thailand and Cambodia.

Among his new projects are exhibitions in Cafe Eden and the Lighthouse Gallery, near the Royal Hotel and cards, which are hand made, and contain unique photographs of Cambodia. Andre is excited about sharing his knowledge of photography with Battambang’s community, as it’s such a fantastic way to capture and record the amazing projects taking place.

Who’s it for?

Anyone involved in producing communication and marketing marterials for their organisation. If you are a foreign volunteer and would like to join the workshop we encourage you to bring a Khmer counterpart to ensure the skills are delivered in a sustainably.

What languages will the workshop be in?

English and Khmer

How to register?

Please email workshop@kinyei.org with:

Your name: Your Khmer Counterpart’s name (if applicable): Organisation:

Please note you will need to commit to all 4 sessions and the workshop can only cater for 8-10 people so first in best dressed.

Materials needed

A camera (simple is fine; does not require an expensive camera)

Where

Kinyei Office St 1.5 Battambang Town

Look forward to seeing you in May and taking some amazing photos!