SIEM REAP, Cambodia--Two years ago, a savvy Japanese tour guide saw her chance to fill a business niche here.
Sachiko Kojima opened a cookie factory. She was soon supplying foreign tourists from Japan and around the globe with souvenir confections from this northern Cambodia city, the gateway to the Angkor Wat Khmer ruins.
Her "Madam Sachiko" cookies, shaped like the ancient ruins, are now the must-buy souvenir for tourists visiting the city.
Kojima, 33, who grew up in Gunma Prefecture, runs her business with Japanese management finesse. But her company, Khmer Angkor Foods Co., procures all its ingredients from Cambodian suppliers. The factory includes a bakery, sales shop and head office.
She uses locally grown cashew nuts and lotus tea to create unusual cookie flavors. The shop also sells attractively packaged coffee beans and peppers.
When the shop first opened with two employees in April 2004, sales were slow. Today, the shop sells in one day what it used to sell in an entire month. Kojima now employs 24 people.
Kojima first came to Siem Reap in 1999 after answering a want ad for Japanese language teachers. She also began working part-time as a tour guide.
Japanese tourists often asked her where to buy the best souvenirs.
It soon struck her that she could make a tidy profit by producing the kind of tasty souvenirs that tourists love to buy.
In 2003, she came back for a visit to the cookware center in the Kappabashi district of Tokyo's Taito Ward, where she ordered custom-made molds to make cookies shape like the famous Angkor Wat temple.
She buys ingredients at markets in Phnom Penh and other cities. She once traveled by motorbike to the Cambodian countryside to find nut suppliers on plantations.
In the shop and bakery, Kojima follows a Japanese business style. The shop's interior is attractive and inviting. The factory is clean and sanitary. Her employees follow rules similar to workers in Japan: No sitting down and no eating or drinking while on duty in the shop.
Foreigners in Cambodia rarely start businesses outside of travel agencies and restaurants.
Kojima had the choice of starting up as a non-governmental organization (NGO), which would have received tax breaks and other advantages.
However, she was determined to form a privately owned, for-profit company.
"I think the people here need to see examples of basic business ideas, such as how to make a profit and how to pay taxes," she said.
