Ms. Chutth Chenda, a Cambodian employee of Prince Real Estate, has won first place in the Cambodia ASEAN Chairmanship logo design competition organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation ("MFAIC"). Chenda was one of four Prince employees who took part in the experiment.
Chenda received a US$1,000 cash prize from MFAIC for her winning entry. To recognise her efforts and accomplishments, Prince Group's management has decided to match the cash prize with an equal contribution. As a token of appreciation, the other three participants will also receive token prizes. MFAIC officially announced the winning logo design on October 28th, when Cambodia symbolically took over the ASEAN chairmanship from Brunei in an official ceremony.
ASEAN, officially the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, is Southeast Asia's preeminent economic union that promotes the interests of its member countries. The annual ASEAN Summit, which will be held in Cambodia next year, will mark a critical juncture in the region's and the world's post-pandemic recovery, as the meetings will be closely watched internationally and attended by leaders, senior officials, and key decision makers from the region and around the world. Cambodia's ASEAN Chairmanship logo will be the single most iconic image of Cambodia's chairmanship of ASEAN in 2022, and it will leave a lasting legacy in the Kingdom's history as well as in ASEAN's archival records.
The winning logo features ten lotus petals encircled by a golden circle with the ASEAN symbol in the centre. Chenda explained that it represents the combined efforts of the ten ASEAN member countries in their peaceful pursuit of prosperity and harmony. The colour of the 10 layers of lotus petals is a recreation of the colours of Cambodia's national flag to represent Cambodia's role as ASEAN Chair and host country in 2022.
Chenda, 29, who joined Prince Real Estate in 2020, said she liked to doodle in her spare time and was challenged to participate in the competition by her colleagues. She was surprised that her entry was chosen as the winning logo, but she also stated that the logo embodied her hope that all ten ASEAN nations will continue to work together to overcome the challenges that they each and collectively face, and that ASEAN will be able to achieve sustainable development.
“At Prince Group, we are always delighted to see our employees take part in making a difference to the broader community and Chenda’s contribution is an excellent example of the civic mindedness we seek to champion as an organization,” said Gabriel Tan, Chief Communications Officer of Prince Holding Group. “We sincerely hope the winning logo will be a source of pride for Cambodians and as a local firm, we look forward to doing more to support Cambodia’s ASEAN Chairmanship initiatives in 2022.”
The ASEAN Chairmanship rotates annually according to the alphabetical order of the ASEAN member states. Cambodia joined the regional forum in April 1999 and last presided over it in 2012.
Although the majority of Prince Group's operations are in Cambodia, Neak Oknha Chen Zhi, or Prince Chenzhi, Chairman of Prince Group, recently donated US$1 million to the Lao government in response to local authorities' call to strengthen bilateral cooperation in fighting the pandemic. Prince Group was also recently recognised for responsible entrepreneurship by Enterprise Asia at the 2021 Asia Responsible Enterprise Awards ("AREA"). It was Prince Group's sixth award this year, as regional and international judging panels recognised the Group as a leading Asian business championing sustainable development in Cambodia and throughout the ASEAN region.