This handsome repository of books, art, fine food and excellent coffee opened in 2016; a sister café opened on the Thai island of Koh Phangan in 2019. It was funded initially by backers in the UK including scientist and angel investor Darrin Disley, and overseen by founder Georgina Hemmingway, a former parliamentary researcher. Over the years it has backed a bewildering range of good causes helping locals in Siem Reap province, which despite the millions generated by tourism is one of Cambodia’s poorer regions: a self-sustaining model, Footprint gives the majority of its profits back to the community as educational and entrepreneurial grants.
Highly regarded for its fine all-day eating, coffee, locally made herbal tea and even cocktails, Footprint has partnered with social and environmental enterprises Naga Earth, Eco-bodia, Refill not Landfill, Rehash Trash, Siem Reap Food Co-op, Cleanbodia and Soulcial Trust; donated teaching resources to floating village and rural schools; and funded a project making sustainable metal straws while training people with disabilities. Its city clean-ups underscored the café’s commitment to the environment.
The gorgeous upstairs enterprise café, filled with natural light and striking artworks, is a co-working space also designed for young entrepreneurs to discuss their ideas. Using a model of “People, Planet, Profit”, Footprint has shown how it’s possible to use tourist income to give back to the community and eco-causes, sourcing ethically and locally wherever possible, and aiming to reuse and recycle – I drop off my empty glass bottles here in a city where such resources are few and far between.
