Daughter of Cambodian refugees, Sotheary Chap lived her childhood and adolescence in Auch. A businesswoman in Asia, she has just returned to the Gers to occupy a position of responsibility in a very masculine sector, the construction industry. Meet.
During a recent meeting with Gers construction stakeholders, Sotheary Chap was the only woman at the table. A rather familiar situation for the 36-year-old Auscitaine, who traveled the four corners of the globe before returning to the fold in September 2020. “During business meetings in Asia, I was sometimes taken for the assistant … of my assistant! ”, smiles the one who has held business manager positions at Mercedes-Benz (Cambodia) or Archetype (throughout Asia).
Quality of life
The desire to see the country took him from his studies in BTS management / commerce, at the age of 24 years. “I always needed new challenges and to be independent: at 16, in Auch, I was babysitting to pay for Thai boxing lessons because my parents were against it!”
His parents made the choice of the Gers after having fled the bloodthirsty Khmer Rouge regime (1975-1979) and initially lived in the Paris region. “While on vacation in the Southwest, they said to themselves:” This is where we want to live and educate our child ” […] Like many people who have known horror, my parents preferred to spare me that, to keep this heavy heritage to themselves. Until I decided to go to Asia. “
Classe business
In the space of a month, the young woman finds a job and a home in Cambodia. Her multilingual profile (French, English, Cambodian, Chinese) appeals as much as the voluntarism she displays. “In Asia, energy and desire are more important than a diploma.”
The other side of the coin is that it also takes the full brunt of the social chasm that exists between the privileged (of which she is part as an expatriate) and the majority of the population who live below the poverty line. For Sotheary, business class trips follow one another, but they are interspersed with meetings with his extended Cambodian family.
At the end of 2014, a serious motorcycle accident, which she miraculously survives (“my lucky star” she says), sends her to hospital for a few weeks. She decides to stop the repeated trips and go back to Europe with her companion from Gers. “We have always had the idea of coming back home in the back of our minds,” says Sotheary. But the young woman is not yet done with international business. She landed a job as head of major projects in London (at BDP, a firm of architects and engineers, 1,200 employees worldwide).
The arrival of the Covid-19
Then the health crisis will accelerate their choice to return to Auch. “The Covid has changed the view I had of life. I want to ask myself, to build a family life. And the choice to live here with mine, my family and my friends, was obvious. “
In the midst of DIY and construction equipment, the one who is now departmental manager for the Kiloutou group launches a new challenge: “Construction is still a sector too little known to women. Things have to change: it is a sector in good shape. economic health and women can bring a plus “, promises Sotheary Chap, before returning” to juggle “with his three phones.
feminizationworking
The Kiloutou group gives female candidates a chance for their positions of responsibility. Of the ten agencies of the Montauban regional sub-group (Agen, Auch, Cahors, Castelsarrasin, Montauban with 3 entities, Rodez, Albi, Castres), four are headed by women. From conflict management to advice given to clients, Sotheary Chap is convinced that “women have everything to do the job as well as men, with a different approach.” At the French level of the construction industry, great progress remains to be done. accomplish: according to the French Building Federation (FFB), the sector has 12.4% of women, even if this figure is close to 20% for the “executives” category.
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