Who is Caroline Chau ?
Ms. Caroline Chau is founder and CEO of Green Bamboo Village Ecolodge & Retreat in Cambodia.
Daughter of Cambodian refugees, Caroline grew up in France knowing little of her own heritage. After a 13-year career with transnational environmental services company Veolia, that brought her extensive international experience from Asia, Europe, US & Canada to Latin America, and culminating in her appointment as Marketing director for Latin America, she has decided to follow a different direction, one that builds on all she has learned with a world leader in sustainability practices while allowing her to follow her passion for rediscovering her homeland and willing to give back by creating a sustainable haven where humans and nature can commune in harmony.
As a strategic marketer with a passion for businesses balancing profit and purpose, Caroline founded in 2019, Green Bamboo Cambodia, a social entrepreneurship venture to promote sustainability through the development of bamboo in Cambodia.
The objective is to revive the bamboo value chain, from the plantation to the
production of a sustainable building material through capacity building and demonstration projects.
Beyond sustainability, bamboo offers technical characteristics that allow creative designs. Located in Song Saa Reserve, a large-scale ethical land development, in Banteay Srei, Cambodia’s vibrant natural and agricultural worlds, Green Bamboo Cambodia Eco-resort illustrates this potential as a pilot project to promote bamboo building, for other hospitality and real estate development. By combining concept creation with social and environmental impact, the purpose is to become an exemplary model for sustainability and eco-tourism. Her passion for bamboo already spread through the country and contribute to raise awareness on the potential of this amazing material, shifting mindset from considering bamboo as low value natural resource to the most sustainable construction option.
She holds a Master Degree in International Business Management from Business School in France and has been graduated from the INSEAD Social Entrepreneurship Program in Singapore. She has also followed the intensive bamboo course at Bamboo U Green School Bali and IBUKU, to learn about Bamboo, the way it has been designed and the way it will be developed to benefit the people and the planet, as it is the bottom line of her project Green Bamboo Cambodia.
As a proud member of the returned diaspora, her new venture is rooted in her belief in building a better future for her country and its local communities. This is how we all find our true roots and grow stronger by binding them with the Earth.