Phloeun Prim
Phloeun Prim met Jeremy Hockenstein 25 years ago, when Digital Divide Data launched. “I got involved because Cambodia is stepping up, and education has changed the people and opened up opportunities,” he says of joining DDD’s board. Phloeun also serves as executive director of Cambodian Living Arts, which supports artists and grassroots organizations in creativity and expression, and one of his latest projects, An AI of Our Own, looks at how digital transformation affects communities in the Global South. Oral traditions passed from generation to generation are now being integrated into AI, and he wants to bring the voices of these communities and their traditions into the digital world.
Understanding Cambodia, Phloeun says, requires understanding the genocide where the country lost about a fifth of its population, nearly lost its culture and religion, and lost generations of educated people. "That idea of coming back to help rebuild the country is strong,” he says. His favorite examples of internal growth are Rady, who started as an associate in 2008 and now leads partnerships, and Sopheap Im, who is now Chief People Officer. His vision for DDD's future is shifting from being "the garment factory of technology," where people are trained to type things for Western clients, to becoming solution makers and finders. "We anchor in Cambodia, Laos, and Kenya, and there's an opportunity to be part of that dynamic ecosystem," he says. "Instead of relying on the subcontracting model, we can lift their creativity, thinking, analysis, and look at them as peers." To Phloeun, what's made DDD successful over 25 years is its determination to continuously balance revenue-driven sustainability with social impact—a hybrid model few global organizations have sustained.
