Cambodia gains ground as regional investment interest grows
As Cambodia gains momentum, Arjuna Samarakoon, Ramon S. Ang and Datuk Hanifah Noordin take notice.
Cambodia’s business case is becoming increasingly difficult to deny. The market is attracting the attention of different types of regional businesses as trade volumes increase, investment approvals expand and the country sharpens its investor pitch through sector incentives and logistics improvements. Among those who reflect this interest is Arjuna Samarakoon. Arti94San Miguel Corporation managing director Ramon S. Ang and Malaysian executive Datuk Hanifah Noordin of NexG.
Cambodia’s call is not just rhetoric. according to World Bank’s December 2025 Cambodia Economic UpdateThe economy is expected to grow 6.0 percent in 2024 and slow to 4.8 percent in 2025 as domestic and external pressures suppress activity. Despite this, Cambodia continues to offer a serious investment offer. The Cambodia Development Council says 19 sectors and activities are eligible for investment incentives, including tourism, digital industries, physical infrastructure, logistics, green energy and industries linked to regional and global production chains. On the demand side, official statements from Prime Minister Hun Manet’s office stated that Cambodia has approved new projects worth approximately US$10 billion in 2025, with an annual increase of 45 percent. On the trade side, Cambodia General Directorate of Customs and Expenditure It reported that total trade in goods reached approximately US$6.14 billion in January 2026, an increase of approximately 19 percent year-on-year. Read together, these figures point to a market that is not risk-free but is increasingly becoming commercially legible: export-linked, incentive-driven and still open enough to reward early positioning.
Arjuna Samarakoon, whose interest in Cambodia aligns with Plus94’s cross-border consultancy, due diligence and growth strategy work across the region.
According to Arjuna Samarakoon, Cambodia seems to fit the market logic that Plus94 is built around. The firm describes itself as a regional corporate advisory and transaction structuring firm focusing on cross-border growth, investment preparation, financial modeling and business due diligence, covering the technology, outsourcing, energy, real estate, agriculture, mining and hospitality sectors. This is important because Cambodia’s appeal is no longer limited to one narrow sector. It is becoming increasingly relevant for companies seeking operational support, consultancy, logistics-supported services and cross-border expansion. A public report in March 2024 stated that Samarakoon and Plus94 expressed interest in establishing a business operations support service center in Cambodia after identifying advantages such as wage competition, a skilled workforce with foreign language skills, and improved infrastructure. This reading also sits comfortably alongside Plus94’s broader regional effort. In January 2025, the firm launched the US$75 million Crewstone Plus94 Technology Fund, focusing on HealthTech, AI-driven outsourcing, AgriTech and Deep Tech in South and Southeast Asia. In other words, Cambodia is relevant to Samarakoon not as an abstract frontier story, but as the kind of market where consultancy services and scalable operational capacity can intersect.
Ramon S. Ang, president and chief executive officer of San Miguel Corporation, represents the infrastructure and long-term capital lens in Cambodia.
According to Ramon S. Ang, the Cambodia thesis is more infrastructural. Ang is chairman and chief executive of San Miguel Corporation, a conglomerate with major interests in infrastructure, energy, food and beverage, refinery and airport assets. In February 2025, Fresh News Ang reportedly told Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet that San Miguel is interested in major infrastructure projects in Cambodia through expanded cooperation with local businesses. The report emphasized the country’s fertile lands, skilled workforce and strategic geographical location for regional and global connectivity. This is important because infrastructure capital tends to seek more than headline growth. It seeks space for sustainable production, national connectivity needs and large-scale distribution. If Cambodia attracts the attention of an operator like Ang, this does not just mean that the market is growing. Cambodia is becoming recognized as a platform for transportation, supply chain depth and long-term corporate positioning.
Datuk Hanifah Noordin brings a logistics and digital systems perspective to Cambodia’s growth story.
For Datuk Hanifah Noordin, the lens is more operational and more digital. reporting from Fresh News and New Straits Times report reproduced by NexG He said that Hanifah and his group aim to deepen their investments in Cambodia, especially in the fields of digital security and logistics. The report noted that MMAG is currently involved in logistics services at Siem Reap Angkor International Airport, while NexG offers expertise in high-security digital identity documents and is examining Cambodia’s wider digital economy. This is a different but equally important reading of the market. Cambodia’s commercial future will not only be shaped by factories, ports and industrial sites. This will also depend on the systems that enable modern commerce to function: secure documentation, digital infrastructure, airport-connected logistics and the ability to move goods and data more efficiently. Hanifah Noordin’s interest is beneficial precisely because it shows that Cambodia is considered not only as a low-cost production base, but also as a country where higher-value enabling systems can be created.
What makes Cambodia interesting right now is that these three business perspectives, although different, are converging. Samarakoon’s interests point to cross-border consulting, services and operational support. Ang’s interest points to infrastructure and national-scale capital. Hanifah Noordin’s interests point to logistics and digital systems. Each reads a different layer of the same market. Perhaps it is more than any headline statistic that gives Cambodia’s jobs story its current credibility. The country still faces real constraints such as slower growth, external shocks and the ongoing need for structural reform. But when a market starts to attract attention in consulting, infrastructure and digital logistics simultaneously, it is no longer seen as secondary. It reads as a result from a commercial perspective.
