Can artificial intelligence help entrepreneurs learn new skills and grow their businesses?
This was the question behind Roksi, an AI-powered chatbot developed to support entrepreneurs in Cambodia. The goal was simple: provide business coaching and learning content through a digital tool that entrepreneurs could access whenever they needed support. For many entrepreneurs, access to quality business advice can be difficult. Regular coaching often requires time, travel, and resources that are not always available. Roksi was designed to complement face-to-face support by making business knowledge more accessible and available at scale. The results were encouraging. Entrepreneurs reported improvements in areas such as business planning, financial management, savings behaviour, and overall confidence in running their businesses. The chatbot demonstrated how technology can help expand access to business learning and entrepreneurial support.However, the most important lesson was not about technology.
An external evaluation revealed that while Roksi worked well for many users, some people faced barriers to benefiting from the platform. Entrepreneurs with stronger literacy skills, reliable internet access, and greater digital confidence found it easier to use the tool effectively. This highlighted a crucial insight: technology can increase access to information, but it does not automatically create inclusion.
The project also reinforced another important lesson. Receiving information is not the same as learning, and learning is not the same as changing behaviour. Real impact happens when people understand new knowledge, trust it, apply it in their daily lives, and use it to make better decisions.
For entrepreneurs, this might mean using new financial management techniques, improving pricing strategies, planning investments more effectively, or identifying new market opportunities. These changes happen through practice and experience, not simply through accessing information. The experience with Roksi continues to shape how we think about AI and entrepreneurship today. Rather than asking whether AI can replace traditional learning methods, we ask how AI can complement human support and create more opportunities for entrepreneurs to learn and grow.
As AI becomes increasingly integrated into our lives, the challenge is not only building smarter tools. It is ensuring that these tools help all entrepreneurs access knowledge, build confidence, and create opportunities for themselves and their communities.
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Ariana Garcia
CEO and Cofunder of YYOUTH
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