The EiR program, part of the Strengthen Entrepreneurship and Innovation pillar under the Enhancing Entrepreneurial Ecosystem and Investments (3Ei) initiative, connects international experts with local actors to deepen technical expertise and build ecosystem resilience.
Katrin Kiviselg is a B2B sales strategist, coach, and trainer with more than 15 years of international experience working with technology-driven companies across Europe, Canada, and Australia. A Partner at Northstar Consulting Group, she helps startups and established firms design sales strategies, refine messaging, and close high-stakes deals. Her portfolio spans fast-scaling companies such as Bolt and Arbonics, ventures in deeptech and defense, as well as public and private organizations. She also mentors with Swiss EP, Startup Wise Guys, and Superangel VC Fund, and lectures on “Professional Sales” at the Estonian Business School in Estonia and Finland.
Her mission began on August 11th with orientation sessions at Swisscontact, followed by the workshop The Sales Star Model at Khmer Enterprise. The session brought together 29 early-stage founders and MSMEs. Feedback was overwhelmingly positive, with more than 65 percent of participants reporting significant improvement in their knowledge. Topics around sales, value, features, and strategy were most frequently highlighted as impactful and relevant to participants’ business needs, with many indicating the workshop would very likely improve their business outcomes.
On August 12th, Katrin delivered a full-day workshop B2B Sales & Strategic Growth for Startups, co-hosted by Swisscontact and EME at Khmer Enterprise. With 11 founders and MSME owners, the session combined business advisory frameworks with early-stage investment logic and growth-oriented sales strategies, offering entrepreneurs both conceptual and practical insights into scaling.
August 13th was dedicated to one-on-one mentoring at Swisscontact, with Katrin working closely with three startups and SMEs in the morning and two more in the afternoon. These sessions provided tailored guidance on customer targeting, pipeline building, and addressing specific sales challenges.
On August 14th, Katrin facilitated Developing Sales Strategy for Early-Stage Startups at Smart Startup Space. The workshop gathered 31 participants, mostly from startups, with others from SMEs and consulting firms. The majority rated their satisfaction positively with most reporting significant or very strong improvements in their knowledge. Participants expressed particular interest in future sessions on digital marketing, sales strategies, and customer journey development. In the afternoon, Katrin mentored three additional startups, providing feedback on their go-to-market strategies and sales execution.
On the final day, August 15th, Katrin delivered the workshop Sell Like a Pro: How to Win Your First Business Customers at Techo Startup Center. For participants joined the session, where majority of the participants indicated satisfaction and knowledge gained. Feedback highlighted the session’s practical and engaging approach, with particular appreciation for the focus on customer journeys, sales cycles, and actionable processes.
Katrin Kiviselg’s mission reinforced the importance of structured sales strategies and scalable processes as foundations for growth. Her workshops and mentoring sessions equipped Cambodian entrepreneurs with practical tools to build trust, sharpen their market entry strategies, and secure early customers.
The Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EiR) program is part of the Strengthen Entrepreneurship and Innovation initiative under the Enhancing Entrepreneurial Ecosystem and Investments (3Ei) project. It is funded by Khmer Enterprise (KE), the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), and the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), and co-implemented by Khmer Enterprise and Swisscontact.