Building Water Opportunities in Southeast Asia, a Reflection on the SEABX Tour

Soner Bekir recently represented ALGAESYS AU on the SEABX Cambodia and Vietnam trade mission, where the focus was on exploring opportunities in the agribusiness sector and building relationships across Southeast Asia.

The trip offered a valuable chance to assess the need for ALGAESYS systems in both markets. Vietnam was already somewhat familiar through earlier industry engagement, but Cambodia was a new market and the trip provided an important opportunity to learn more about the local landscape, customers, and partners.

Soner Bekir at the 2026 SEABX Cambodia and Vietnam Trade Mission

The mission brought Soner into conversations with aquaculture operators, dairy farmers, and food processors. While agribusiness was the core focus, there was also broader potential in both countries across tourism, municipal, industrial, and wastewater treatment sectors.

A key takeaway from the trip was the importance of local partnerships. For ALGAESYS, the greatest opportunity lies not only in the technology, but in finding and partnering with local engineering and consultancy firms that can provide language, presence, and long-term support for customers on the ground.

In Cambodia, meetings with a large mango and cashew farmer and processor, as well as a New Zealand dairy consultant, led to ongoing discussions about possible opportunities for ALGAESYS.

In Vietnam, Soner met with dairy businesses, a seafood company, and several progressive engineering consultancies. He also valued the professional connections made with other mission participants, with conversations that may lead to future collaboration and shared opportunities.

One of the strongest impressions from the trip was the scale of the water challenge in both countries. Although water and rainfall are abundant, access to clean tap water remains limited, and bottled water is still the norm in many places. Wastewater treatment is also far from universal, particularly in rural areas.

For Soner, the challenge is clear: help support the kind of step change needed so that more people have access to safe potable water and to ensure wastewater is treated to a standard that minimises health impacts and environmental harm.

Soner also observed that water is valued differently in business and daily life across the region. Bottled water delivery is normal for households and businesses, while tap water is often used only for cooking, washing, and industrial use.

At the same time, business in Southeast Asia is highly relationship-driven. His advice to other Australian water businesses wanting to do business in the region is to pay close attention to price, but not at the expense of building long-lasting trust-based relationships. In this market, relationships matter deeply, and success depends on investing time in people and partnerships.

Soner praised the organisation of the trip by DFAT, CAPRED, Austrade, and the teams in both embassies. He noted the significant amount of preparation that went into arranging relevant meetings and opportunities before the mission began.

The result was a busy but productive programme of presentations, conversations, and site visits that has already led to continued engagement after the trip.

For ALGAESYS AU, the SEABX mission was more than a business trip. It was an opportunity to learn, connect, and lay the foundations for future growth in Southeast Asia.