Our Story

Sonas is focused on rebuilding a new village economy that connects craftspeople, brands, influencers, and consumers through a transparent value chain powered by inventive thinking and technology, one village at a time.

Our Mission

Our purpose is to develop intentional communities that are consciously designed through locally owned participatory processes in all four dimensions of sustainability ( economic, social, cultural and ecology) to regenerate social and natural environments.

How It Started

After researching about many failed development initiatives and their negative impact on Cambodia, Sonas founders, inspired by their mentors, saw an opportunity to develop an innovative and self-perpetuating model with the potential to have a large-scale impact. With the help of one local family, they started the initiative in 2013.

Our Belief

We believe that the large, complex, and interconnected social challenges provides multiple opportunities and avenues for innovation, and no single organization will be able to find all the answers and skills in-house.

At Sonas, purpose drives us, perseverance sustains us, and collaboration multiplies our impact. Together, we’re proving that thriving isn’t a solo pursuit—it’s a team effort that can transform lives and futures.

Our philosophy is simple: success means lifting others with you.

We attract the Impact makers (The Honey Badger) with shared values and a common purpose.
They become an integral part of the impact community of mentors, investors, coaches and entrepreneurs.
Together, we build sustainable small businesses that strengthen local economies and solve social problems at scale.
We create a multiplier effect, where every empowered entrepreneur inspires and mentors another, spreading opportunity village by village.

Like the honey badger sharing the spoils with the honeyguide, we believe in win-win solutions where prosperity is shared, and communities thrive together

An innovative self-driving model

The 4 Pillars of Community Sustainability Achievement

Our purpose drives us.

Sonas shows up.

Not with answers. With a question: what do you need to build something that lasts?

In 2013, we walked into a village in Takeo Province, Cambodia, and met a family of weavers. Extraordinary craft. Strong community. Almost no connection to the market. That wasn’t a talent problem. That was a conditions problem.

So we built the conditions.

A transparent value chain that connects craftspeople directly to the brands and consumers who value what they make. Locally owned micro-businesses with real market access. Technology that makes every product traceable — because transparency builds trust, and trust is the only thing that compounds.

Every partnership is a co-creation. Every product carries a story. Every profit loop closes back into the community. We’re not here to do good despite business — we’re here because good business, done right, changes more than any programme ever could.

The goal was never to build something with Sonas at the centre. It was to build something that works without us — a community of people who care, making better things, solving problems worth solving, transforming one day at a time.

That’s what showing up actually looks like.

One village. One family. One day.

We immerse ourselves in the lives of communities to identify aspiring entrepreneurs and support them with training, funding and other resources that allow them to connect with the market for the goods they produce. The successful entrepreneurs then become the catalyst of change by inspiring other community members, this creates the intended multiplier effect.

THE MODEL VILLAGE

Our vision is to develop the village (Prey Theat, Takeo) to become a role model of a
self sustainable community known as an intentional community that is consciously designed through locally owned participatory processes in all four dimensions of sustainability ( economic, social, cultural and ecology) to regenerate social and natural environments.

” Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and make value added products, you enable the entire village to feed themselves for life ”

Takeo, Cambodia

Long Term Goal

Our longer term goal is to have this model to be adopted by 10 more villages across Cambodia. We will achieve this by actively sharing the success stories and knowledge of our entrepreneurs with other local change leaders from other villages in Cambodia. We will collaborate with forward thinking ethical businesses to expand the market reach to ensure long term sustainability.

How You Can Help

Become a Changemaker by supporting our initiatives.

Step 1

We identify an aspiring entrepreneur and find out what their true passion is.

Step 2

Sonas team supports the entrepreneur on the ground by providing education, training, and access to the market (one of the biggest missing link in Cambodia) to help ensure their business is sustainable.

Step 3

We share their journey of progress with the other like people who want to follow their footsteps.

Step 4

They then mentor at least one more person to create a multiplier effect and help us scale the impact.

To talk about the future is useful only if it leads to action now.

Story