Happy Piglet

It's a question I usually ask myself and I think many people might ask the same question. Well, I don't know, but I want to know. And one day, I asked my father about his experience. He told me that when the Khmer Rouge regime ended, he and his family returned to Battambang. Because their house was destroyed, they had no place to live, so they asked a family, who had a house, for a space in their house to stay and that family agreed. After that, he went with others to get rice from the storage in the farm field (that storage was managed by Khmer Rouge, after the regime ended, it was left). He got a few sacks of rice. He gave half to family and he took half to sell and got two Chi (Chi is Khmer gold measurement, 1 Chi is about 3.75 grams). That two Chi was his funds to start his business. At that time, business in Cambodia was nothing besides going to the border to buy things to sell in the country. My father, with one of brothers, rode a bicycle to the Cambodian Thai border. Th

After my grandfather found the place, he told my grandmother, then they organized a moving house.   They told the soldiers who were their customers to find a new supplier, they sold the products in the grocery store and stopped importing new things. For the house, I have no idea - because the one who narrated the story didn't remember since she was so young at that time. After organizing everything, my grandfather hired a big truck carrying the heavy equipment such as the bed, wardrobe etc and also his family: my grandfather, my grandmother, my aunt, my mother and my twin aunts who were just babies. The truck drove from Phnum Den, Takeo, across Phnom Penh and continued driving until it reached the new house of my grandparents at Sdau village, in Battambang province. It is hard to imagine how my grandfather did it. It was like going from the south pole to the north pole, it was incredible he did it and he did alone. We just heard a summary about his adventure in which he

The soldiers kept making orders in a row and became my grandparents' main customers. My grandfather used the money to buy a lambretta (taxi bus) for him to carry passengers and luggage and open a grocery store at home which my grandmother was responsible for. Both of them worked hard and saved every single penny.  Still they made business with the soldiers. With all their effort, at last my grandparents could build a house of their own along the road up the mountain. At that time the family was bigger - they had a second child. Later on one night there was one thing happening. It was not quite good but it was a thing that changed my grandparents' life to another step which gave them an opportunity to rise higher. That night was a few days after my grandmother gave birth to her twin daughters. Since they had goods in the house, my grandfather raised dogs, male and female and their puppies. At night there was no suspect, then in the morning my grandfather found his dogs

Though great grandpa Uy gave dowry, it was not much. After marriage, my grandfather set own house between two houses by using their walls to be his walls and their eaves to be his roof. He stopped working as the assistant to a taxi driver.  My grandfather tried hard to earn money but it seemed he didn't get lucky. As for grandmother, she sold shaved ice dessert in front of the house. Because of stress and wanting money to start a business, my grandfather went to do gambling. At that time, he played 'rooster fighting'. At first, he won, then he lost and lost. He wanted money back so he kept playing everyday, but the more he followed, the more he lost even the necklace. My grandmother was so angry. She ran to great grandpa Uy and said she wanted to break up, but great grandpa Uy said that her husband was not bad, it was his trial, later on he would stop.  It was like his claim. Not long after my grandfather quitted gambling by himself; no one told or instructed him

I am old. I don't want to be an employee for my whole life, so I resigned and started to think about doing business. But doing business is not easy; it requires a lot - especially knowledge/understanding the business. My chance to go to university to study business is impossible, but I don't give up and I try to find a way to learn business without spending a penny. Of course, I found it. It is a family's history. My family has a business background, especially my grandparents - both parents of my mother and father. Hence I decided to study about them - how they did business and the way they managed their business. Not only about business but also about life, society and humanity. Let's start with my grandfather - father of my mother. My grandfather was born in 1935, at Phnum Den, Takeo province. He was a second child, he had an eldest sister and youngest brother. His father (my great grandfather) came from China and married his mother (my great grandm