Oknha Noun Rithy - Chairman/CEO

“Starting up a company, the most important things are that, first, you have experience and skill, and second, you have a good network. It means when you have built a good network and you have experience, you will be confident in yourself and the others also have confidence in you. This is a first step towards success.”

The above advice is from one of the most successful people in the real estate sector in Cambodia – Oknha Nuon Rithy, Chairman and CEO of Khmer Appraisal Foundation (KFA).

Now in his mid 30s, Nuon Rithy has already had years of experience in the real estate industry. He’s also doing other kinds of business including fuel and gas stations, construction among others.

Wealth is not given by God!

Having been so successful recently with his business, Oknha Nuon Rithy says everything comes from efforts, perseverance and honesty; it’s not by chance or fate or by waiting for God to bestow upon you the luck.

Nuon Rithy is young, energetic, committed and industrious. He has shown his great talent in planning for the success, both in life and business.

He had worked hard as an ordinary employee and moved up to become a supervisor, and then a chief executive officer of the company within which he also has a share, he says.

In fact, the young property company founder was not born to a rich family. He belongs to a poor family whose father worked as an ordinary civil servant and mother worked as a small vendor to raise their three kids.

Born here in Phnom Penh in Tuol Svay Prey commune, Chamkar Mon district, Nuon Rithy grew up as a student and a part-time newsboy to earn money to support his own study. Being smart and industrious, the student and part-time newspaper seller passed his high school exit exam and continued his further study at a university.

He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in construction engineering and a master’s degree in business management.

Married in 2005 and now father of four, Oknha Nuon Rithy shares some tips for running successful business in the real estate industry.

Four key points that make your business strong and successful

To make a company sustainable and successful, Oknha Nuon Rithy says, you have to have 1) good human resource, 2) reasonable finance, 3) leadership, and 4) marketing meaning that you have to well set a market goal. These four points, he adds, are key to sustainability and success for a business.

Oknha Nuon Rithy also stresses that without hard work and honesty from all skilled key staff, the company won’t grow.

Commenting on the success of his own business, he says, it’s undeniable that the country’s political stability and peace do give him a chance to invest and do this business and grow.

We have to keep abreast of the situations of the country and snatch the opportunity to invest at the right time and we will be successful, he adds.

The young Oknha also says real estate business is different from selling products. In real estate business, you largely depend on good human resources because they are your current assets as well as the vessels of the company’s blood and heart, he says.

“I consider my staff as collaboration partners rather than workers. We complement one another with our skills and talents. We are not boss and workers. And also, I consider myself as one active staff member who serves clients at all times and under all circumstances,” says Oknha Nuon Rithy.

Key to starting a business is you, yourself and not capital!

On the capital side, Oknha Rithy says, as a real estate agency, you don’t necessarily need huge capital to start with. What is most important is yourself and that you have experience.

Doing business in real estate industry, you have to have a skill in this area or a similar skill. For example, I myself, Oknha Nuon Rithy says, study construction engineering and have gathered experience by working with one of the famous real estate companies, Bunna Realty Group, in 2008-2009.

That company, he adds, has helped train him a lot.

With passion together with some 10 years of experience, it allows me to found and run the real estate company I am running today.

In real estate business, the service must be real quick. It’s like we work as a chef. You need to provide food service to clients as fast and convenient as possible, says Oknha Nuon Rithy.

And finally, when it comes to corporate social responsibility, Oknha Nuon Rithy always takes his time out of his busy working schedule to contribute to the society.

He has contributed to the development efforts in some villages. And all these humanitarian activities earned him the royal title of Oknha in 2014.

“The more I grow, the more my company grows, the more I contribute to my society,” says Oknha Nuon Rithy.