CHY SILA has come a long way since he invested his US$500 life savings in a small shop in Cambodia’s capital to sell bootleg music and pirated movies.

    Fast-forward 16 years and Cambodians are now watching the films he distributes not on scratchy DVDs but in a US$5 million multiplex theater, a joint venture with Thailand’s Major Cineplex and the centerpiece of a new mall owned by Japanese retail giant Aeon that drew 2 million visitors in its opening month.

    The 39-year-old former tour guide, university dropout and son of a mechanic is one of the biggest success stories in a country that was for years Southeast Asia’s war-torn, aid-dependant basket case.

    Though poverty is still rife in the countryside, an urban boom and robust growth fuelled by garment manufacturing for brands such as Nike and GAP has given rise to a growing consumer class that earns triple the average income.

    “We see there’s a lot more buying power than before,” said Chy Sila as he took a bite from a croissant and sipped cappuccino at one of the bakeries run by his CBM Corp., Cambodia’s biggest food and beverage firm.

    “People can afford to pay so now’s the time, we’re ready for big brands to come here... Materialism is in peoples’ hearts, what you wear, what you drive, represents what you are.”

    With a fast-growing working population and falling dependency ratio, Cambodia has the demographics most favorable to rapid economic growth.

    Young Cambodians now buy smartphones, flat-screen TVs and Japanese motorcycles. They tap banks for loans and credit cards and are fuelling the kind of culture the 1970s ultra-Maoist Khmer Rouge killed 2 million people to prevent.

    Aeon plans more malls in Cambodian cities and operates a microfinance firm so shoppers can buy on payment plans. Its new mall, boasting shops from the likes of Mango, Levi’s and Versace, drew 100,000 visitors daily when it opened in June.

    “The middle class is growing,” said Aeon spokesman Satoshi Otsuka. “The average age for Cambodians is early 20s and they’re fashion-conscious.”

    Chy Sila was born the same year the Khmer Rouge swept to power and said he lost “countless” relatives to Pol Pot’s pursuit for a peasant utopia.

    Today’s Cambodia, with an economy that averaged 8.1 percent growth from 2000-2012 and expanded 7.4 percent last year, according to the World Bank, is a far cry from what the Khmer Rouge envisioned when it abolished money and property ownership, executed entrepreneurs and blew up the central bank.(SD-Agencies)