For many agricultural cooperatives, accessing capital is only part of the challenge. Knowing how to use that capital effectively—and having a clear plan for growing the business—can make all the difference.
In Cambodia, the Facilitation Association of Economy for Cooperatives (FAEC-Cambodia) is helping agricultural cooperatives strengthen their businesses by putting planning at the centre of their efforts.
“We support 13 agricultural cooperatives,” said Sony Pen, Executive Director of FAEC-Cambodia. “We have helped them create business plans to access revolving funds from the APFP-FO4A programme.”
For FAEC-Cambodia, the value of a business plan goes beyond securing financing. It helps cooperatives understand their own businesses, identify their capital needs, and present a clearer proposition to potential business partners and financial institutions.
“The main thing is for the cooperatives to understand the value of the business plan,” Sony explained. “They take their business plan and match it with business partners. But when they need capital, they can also go to a microfinance institution.”
Turning a plan into a growing business
For Tataok Toldaen Agricultural Cooperative, developing a business plan helped members move from having an idea to understanding how they could turn it into a viable business.
“When we start a business, we don’t know what people need and don’t need, and we don’t know how to use the capital,” said Chana Van, Head of Tataok Toldaen Agricultural Cooperative.
The cooperative initially developed a plan for a petroleum business, starting with a budget of around US$4,000 to purchase the necessary equipment.
But the business did not stop with the initial investment.
The cooperative also mobilised additional capital by encouraging its members to purchase new shares. Through this approach, the cooperative gradually increased its capital to nearly 20 million Cambodian riel, allowing it to expand its gasoline buying and selling activities.
The growth in capital has also created new opportunities for the cooperative to engage its members in the business.
“This year, we have money to hold a general assembly, report to members about the increase in capital, and ask members to help by buying gasoline again, no matter how much they need,” Chana said.
For the cooperative, the business plan became more than a document prepared to access funds. It became a tool for understanding the business, planning investments, mobilising members, and making decisions about how the cooperative could grow.
Building stronger cooperatives through planning
The experience of Tataok Toldaen illustrates the broader approach FAEC-Cambodia is promoting among the 13 agricultural cooperatives it supports.
With assistance under the Asia-Pacific Farmers Programme – Farmers’ Organisations for Asia (APFP-FO4A), cooperatives are encouraged to develop business plans that connect their needs with potential sources of finance and business partnerships.
The process helps cooperatives look more closely at their businesses: what they want to invest in, how much capital they need, how they will use it, and how they can generate returns for their members.
For farmer-led organisations, this kind of planning can be an important step towards becoming more financially sustainable and building stronger economic services for their members.
In Cambodia, FAEC-Cambodia’s work shows that access to capital is only the beginning. With a clear business plan, cooperatives can better understand where they want to go—and how to turn available resources into growing businesses that benefit their members.
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