Emmanuel Scheffer

ACTIVITIES

Established in 2001, Confirel has grown on 5 pillars: authenticity, innovation, quality, traceability and social responsibility. Over the past 16 years, the food company has strengthened the presence of its product lines (Thnot, Kirum, Jaya, KEM) in numerous markets at the local and international level and on every continent. Beyond its organic Kampot pepper and Kampong Speu palm sugar under the GI label, the food company has developed a wide range of products (for must of them organic farmed and certificated by Ecocert under European, American and Japanese standards) and 7 family products : Kampot peppers, Palm sugar and syrups, Candies, Vinegars and sauces, Palm Wines and Spirits, Wellness Herbal Teas, Probiotics. With a strict quality control that begins at its own laboratory in Chom Chao, and then at the Pasteur Institute of Cambodia, Camcontrol, LNCG and CIRAD in France, with whom Confirel works closely, Confirel guarantees the safety and the quality of its products.

BACKGROUND

Confirel was founded in 2001 by Dr. Hay Ly Eang, a Khmer-French pharmacist and herbalist who is guided by a strong conviction: the rural development and the improvement of farmers’ living conditions are the keystone of a prosperous and peaceful future for the generations to come and his country, Cambodia. Confirel’s first major goal was to demonstrate that the development of high value added products grown in local soils is the major condition to develop the country, to reduce rural exodus and social inequities and, above all, to improve farmers’ incomes and living conditions. Building close relationships with stakeholders such as rural communities and technical assistants, Confirel has won its bet. Confirel’s organic palm sugar, the food company’s guiding light on the road to excellence, received in 2005 the “Palme d’Or Award” at the Natexpo Salon in Paris, a real worldwide recognition that shows the real potentiel of Authentic Khmer products on the international stage.

Confirel’s commitment and its societal goals, specifically those relating to economic and rural development, education and training, has been rewarded at the local and international level. The Asian Development Bank and the World Bank have recognized the food company as a Business model for sustaina- ble development. Confirel was also honored in 2016 by the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Award for its outstanding contribution to the sustaina- ble economic development of Cambodia. As pointed out by the President of the French Foreign Trade Advisors in Cambodia, who has organized this Prize with the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Labor and Vocational training, the Ministry of Environment, the Council for the development of Cambodia and the French Embassy, “”CSR work will surely benefit not only this gener- ation of Cambodians but many generations to come””. That is exactly what Confirel is working on, while ensuring promotion of authentic Khmer products worlwide.