Ethnic entrepreneurs across Myanmar are planning to establish a new business association, according to the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (UMFCCI), state media reported on 12 February.

The new association will represent entrepreneurs in regions lagging behind in development. The formation of the ethnic entrepreneurs’ association is aimed at promoting balanced development between urban and rural areas, and ensuring private sector development.

U Aye Win, joint general secretary of the UMFCCI, said the new association would officially be formed within a month, accirding toi the report.

Myanmar's fourth telecom operator, MyTel, has launched its services after being awarded a license, official state media reported Monday.

MyTel is a joint venture of a local consortium comprising 11 private firms and Viettel, owned by Vietnam defense ministry.

MyTel has opened branches across the nation with about 2,000 staff and the operator will only provide 4G service.

The Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (UMFCCI) and Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Myanmar (JCCM) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on all-round economic cooperation and development at the Park Royal Hotel last Wednesday, state media reported.

The MoU is designed to promote bilateral trade and investment, information and technology exchange, as well as human resource and infrastructural development.

From 1995 to 2017, Japan and Myanmar agreed to enter into 15 MoUs. Bilateral trade between Japan and Myanmar grew 2.2 times between 2012 and 2017, the report said.

VisionFund Myanmar recently announced the launch of a new microfinance loan product exclusively for garment factory workers, funded by the Livelihoods and Food Security Trust Fund (LIFT), according to a press release on 16 February.

The loans were first launched at the ZES garment factory located in Hlaing Thar Yar Township, with over 160 workers availing themselves of the facility, which will subsequently be extended to other factories.

Many workers in the garment sector have migrated to Yangon from rural areas. Research informing LIFT’s migration programme shows that around 20 per cent – one in five people – in Myanmar are migrating within the country, moving from rural areas to urban areas to find better jobs and training opportunities to support themselves, their families and communities back in rural areas.

Mr. Guerol Sari, Chief Operating Officer of VisionFund Myanmar commented, “We are very pleased to introduce the loan facility to this hardworking segment of our community and hope the service will create many opportunities for them, and subsequently improve aspects of wellbeing through increased access to education, health and social welfare.”

LIFT’s Rural Finance and Private Sector Partnership Officer, Sandar Aung said that VisionFund’s new loan service to garment workers was designed to support people, particularly women, who had moved to Yangon from a rural area to work in the garment sector.

“It is not necessarily easy to move to a new city, a new job. Difficulties people encounter include debt, high interest rates, costs of moving and establishing themselves in a new place. And it is more difficult because they do not have access to financial institutions or have all the information they need to manage their money so they can live safely, healthily, and also support their families back home in rural areas,” said Ms. Sandar Aung.

VisionFund’s new loan service was launched in response to a need in this segment for financial services that could support extra sources of income, payoff bad debt, and cover unexpected emergencies. Microfinance loans of up to MMK 500,000 will be available to factory workers and staff, with the average loan amount obtainable being 20% of the monthly salary at an interest of 2.5 percent per month.

LIFT’s partnership with VisionFund has also resulted in the introduction of three other innovative loan products: for debt refinancing, purchasing of small-scale agricultural technologies and a credit-line for agricultural and small businesses.

VisionFund Myanmar is known for its emphasis on providing quality financial services to underserved communities with a special focus on empowering women. As a subsidiary of World Vision, the MFI’s vision is to ensure the wellbeing of children in poor communities through its microfinance work. VisionFund has been operating in Myanmar since 2015 and currently serves over 170,000 clients through 44 branches.

Kanbawza Bank (KBZ Bank), the largest privately-owned bank in Myanmar, is to support the improvement of the standards of living for women agricultural producers in the central part of Myanmar by providing access for financing, partnering with Action Aid Myanmar, a non-profit organisation operating here since 2006.

“As the first year pilot phase, we have been investing around MMK 100 million to 120 women farmers and traders in Pakokku, Magway region, who have been unable to access the country’s financial system,” Soe Tin Maung Zaw, senior general manager at KBZ Bank, said.

According to the pilot phase, KBZ Bank and Action Aid Myanmar allocated and invested the finance to support  MMK one million to one and half million for each female farmer with an interest rate of 13 percent per year, with the coordination of the central bank of Myanmar.

Senior general manager Soe Tin Maung Zaw said, “This programme started in November 2017, and we gave financial assistance to the five villages from Pakokku township, and we allocated around MMK 18 million for each village.’’

Aung Min Naing, Action Aid Myanmar’s project manager for the dry zone told Mizzima that female farmers from five villages of Pakokku township will now be eligible to obtain financial access (loans) from KBZ Bank.

He said, “Action Aid Myanmar has consistently been improving the women sector in Myanmar, in which we aim to promote sustainable income through improved access to capital and alternative livelihoods with a focus on women’s empowerment. Besides, we also have been working to see more growth in Myanmar’s agricultural industry by considering women’s roles simultaneously.’’

“According to our research here related to the difficulties in the agricultural industry, we found that there has been high involvement with women having a leading role in agro-industry because most men who always used to help at the land ploughing period have to find another job to earn extra income and move to other cities. So women are responsible for the rest of the farming process until they sell their products,’’ he continued.

“We see this situation happen especially in the dry zone. Men go to other cities or neighbouring countries as migrant workers,’’ he added.

This project will be piloted over twelve months, with Action Aid Myanmar providing collateral for underwriting the credit, and is expected to help women unlock their entrepreneurial potential and to provide for their families.

Nang Lang Kham, deputy CEO of KBZ Bank remarked: “As Myanmar’s largest lender, we believe that our core value of improving people’s lives through banking runs through everything we do. By providing loans to female smallholder farmers who only need to provide proof of land ownership under the piloted project, we aim to extend financial products to those who would not previously have had access to them.’’

Agriculture plays a vital role in Myanmar, and it accounts for one-third of the country’s GDP and employs 70 percent of the population.

Traditionally, the banking and financial systems were only accessible to the country’s affluent population; the majority of farmers are unbanked smallholders and must endure paying back high-interest rates of between 60 to 100 percent to local money lenders if they want to obtain loans to expand their businesses or diversify their crops.

Zin Mar, one of the female farmers from the dry zone living in Hle Chaung Pauk village, said: “Our village has 75 households, and more than 50 people are farmers, and they work in the farm industry. Moreover, we have frequently been facing natural disasters like drought and flood, and we especially suffer from the flood because our village is situated on the bank of the Ayeyarwaddy river, besides we could not forecast weather which provides water to our farm.’’

“Therefore we had to lose our crops like chilli plantation and peanut farm, and we need more investment to recover these losses. So we had to borrow money from local lenders at the high-interest rates,’’ she added.

“We definitely experienced many worries when we obtained loans from local money lenders because of the high-interest rate, and we were not able to pay back in time. Now I think we will benefit from the KBZ Bank’s financial assistance because the bank set the time-period for paying back so we can sell our products at good prices,’’ Thandar Oo, who obtained a loan from the bank, a female farmer from Nyaung Pin village from Pakokku township, told Mizzima.

 “Access to affordable finance is key to poverty reduction in farming livelihoods,” explained Action Aid Myanmar Country Director Shihab Uddin Ahamad.

“Our core work is poverty reduction and women’s empowerment, so this pilot opens up opportunities for women farmers that they have not had previously,’’ he said.

The project is also key to KBZ Bank’s corporate shared value and impact investment agenda.

A portion of the return made by KBZ Bank from the loan repayments will be re-invested into the community in collaboration with the Women Agro Producers Network.

The agreement also means:

• KBZ Bank loans are dispersed to, and repayments taken from, female farmers that need finance in Pakokku.
• Action Aid supports the implementation of the loan arrangements at the village level.
• Action Aid and KBZ Bank will provide financial literacy and book-keeping training to the Women Agro Producers Network, and will assist access to markets for borrowers through KBZ Bank local and national networks.
• Both parties will identify learning from the project to inform next phase access to finance for small-scale farmers.

Additionally, KBZ Bank aims to facilitate the expansion of market access, and the bank will connect the female farmers who obtained loans from the bank and the merchants.

Yu Wai Maung, head of corporate social responsibility at KBZ Bank told Mizzima, “We will invite women growers, producers and merchants to our office and introduce and let them discuss the negotiated prices on the products through the Women Agro Producers Network.”

The project will be evaluated for its impact and success, with plans to continue and extend the scheme to other parts of the country in the future.

The annual rate of inflation in January 2018 was 4.4 per cent, registering a small decline compared with the rate in December 2017, state media reported.

The year-on-year inflation rate was 5.23 per cent in January 2018, as against January 2017. In January 2018, Rakhine State recorded the highest inflation rate at 8.68 per cent, followed by the Mandalay Region at 6.41 per cent and Kachin State with 6.35 per cent. Yangon city recorded an inflation rate of 3.71 per cent, while Nay Pyi Taw recorded 3.27 per cent.

A new air route opened between Kunming, capital of southwest China's Yunnan Province, and Mandalay in Myanmar on Sunday.

The round-trip flights by Sichuan Airlines' Airbus A320 aircraft fly every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. The flying time lasts about 90 minutes each way.

With over 130 Airbus aircraft, Sichuan Airlines is the largest all-Airbus-fleet carrier in China, and operates over 270 domestic and international routes, according to its website.

Courtesy Global Times

Samsung Electronics has scrapped its plans to build a production base for smartphones or home appliances in Myanmar due to an unfavorable administrative environment as well as lingering political uncertainties, the Korean Times reported.

The world's leading smartphone manufacturer, which has three production facilities in Vietnam, has been considering building another plant in Myanmar to capitalize on the country's cheap labor and rising opportunities in Southeast Asia.

Samsung has "made a final decision" not to build a manufacturing plant in Myanmar after a recent visit to the Southeast Asian country,  the report quoted sources as saying.

It has been reviewing the investment as the Myanmar government continued to ask the firm to build production facilities there over the past few years, they said.

Samsung Electronics currently has one marketing branch in the country's capital, Yangon, which is operated under Thai Samsung Electronics.

President Htin Kyaw said that Myanmar could export 3 million tons rice this financial year and it would be a record high over 70 years.

He was addressing Peasants’ Day which falls today on March 2.

“Myanmar can export 3 million tons of rice a record high in 70 years. The export of such a high record is because of great efforts by peasants, cooperation between departmental officials and the private sector so we can praise their great efforts,” the President said in his message.

The President added that 70% of the population lives in rural area and their main livelihood is agriculture.

France's TOTAL company will start extraction of natural gas later this month in the Gulf of Mottama, offshore of Myanmar, according to a Xinhua report.

The gas extraction will be conducted at offshore Yadana gas field in blocks M5 and M6 in the Andaman Sea, Ayeyawaddy regional Minister of Electricity, Energy, Industry and Transport U Win Htay was quoted as saying.

The M5 field is expected to yield 780 million cubic-feet of natural gas per day.

Yoma Strategic Holdings announced that it will acquire a 34 percent stake in Digital Money Myanmar Co Ltd, the operator of leading mobile money brand Wave Money from affiliate firm First Myanmar Investment Co Ltd, for $19.4 million, dealstreetasia reported.

Wave Money is a financial service platform targeting the unbanked population in Myanmar. It is the first company to be regulated under the Mobile Financial Services Regulation and to secure a licence from the Central Bank of Myanmar.

Wave Money has established over 20,000 agents across Myanmar. By August last year, Wave Money had an agent network in 255 townships in Myanmar, almost reaching the entire 330 townships. The platform has got a customer base of around 1.3 million, according to the report.

Foreign visitors can only apply for an eVisa through the official website of the Ministry of Labour, Immigration and Population: https://www.evisa.moip. gov.mm, state media reported on 9 March.

According to the report, some foreign tourists had been found to have entered the country by correcting certain data and information in the eVisa approval letter that was earlier issued through the ministry’s eVisa website. Some websites were also found to be charging additional fees to apply for eVisa through the ministry’s official website.

The ministry has not permitted tour agents to charge an additional fee to help visitors procure eVisa through the ministry’s official website, the report said.

Some 76,031 people entered Myanmar in February 2018, including 57,450 travellers with tourist visas and 18,581 with business visas, state media reported quoting the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism.

From April 2017 to February 2018, some 699,252 foreigners visited Myanmar, including some 480,490 tourist visa holders and 218,782 business visa holders.

There are some 1,474 hotels, motels, guesthouses and inns in Myanmar, having a room capacity of some 58,249, according to the Hotels and Tourism Ministry, the report said.

On the heels of a new financial product designed specifically for factory workers in Yangon’s industrial zones, VisionFund Myanmar (VFM), the second largest microfinance institution in Myanmar, recently partnered with Opportunities NOW (ONOW), to launch ‘Mr.Finance VFM’ - a ground-breaking chatbot platform that provides user-friendly financial literacy to microfinance borrowers, VFM said in a statement.

The statement continues, the innovation takes advantage of Myanmar’s historic rise in smart phone adoption and clients’ eagerness for cutting-edge education. The partnership between VFM and ONOW reflects core beliefs that financial health must combine financial inclusion with financial literacy.

VisionFund Myanmar’s Chief Operations Officer Mr. Guerol Michael Sari said, “Client education is a key strength of our organization and a core part of our mission to bring financial services to underserved clients and communities in Myanmar. With ONOW we found a social partner, with whom we can give our clients additional access to financial education via Facebook messenger, which they can also share with other friends and colleagues. Client education is a key part of our technology strategy, which aims to support effective financial literacy.”

Opportunities NOW Co-founder and Executive Director Matt Wallace added, “We’re passionate about Financial Education that is emotionally engaging, timely, and simple. These are achieved through the first financial literacy chatbot platform in the world, Mr. Finance. We’re excited to partner with VisionFund Myanmar to bring these tools to thousands of microfinance clients, knowing VFM is a partner that is changing lives in the most difficult-to-reach parts of Myanmar. This combination of access-to-finance and digital-first financial literacy is an important step in that effort.”

Through ONOW’s chatbot platform ‘Mr. Finance VFM’, clients obtaining the factory worker loan will be able to learn about VFM’s financial products and procedures, complete interactive financial education training modules, and qualify for finance via certificates of completion verified by VFM officers.

The features of the platform are aimed at building resilience through interactive learning; from simple advice and practical steps on how to improve the user’s financial situation, to short and actionable reminders, and an interactive game that borrowers can relate to - where users help a woman along her business journey with business and financial management concepts taught along the way.

Trade through the Thai-Myanmar border gates from 1 April to 2 March of the current fiscal year (FY) was worth some US$1.33 billion, which is some $90 million more than the trade value achieved during the same period last FY, according to state media.

Of the seven Thai-Myanmar border gates, Myawady gate is the major trading point, but the value of trade at this gate decreased by $29 million compared with last FY. Similarly, Tachilek also showed a slight decline in trade.

The other five border gates recorded an increase in trading activity. Exports via the Kawthoung and Myeik checkpoints significantly surpassed imports. Border trade was worth $78 million at Tachilek, $816 million at Myawady, $179 million at Kawthoung , $242 at Myeik, $12.5 million at Hteekhee, $6.3 million at Mawtaung and $0.8 million at Maese.

Japan will contribute to the insurance, loan and electricity sectors in Myanmar for its economic development, according to state media quoting a report released by the Republic of the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (UMFCCI). 

Japan’s Ambassador to Myanmar Tateshi Higuchi read out a message sent by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe confirming his country’s commitment to Myanmar at the Myanmar-Japan Joint Economic Conference.

A delegation, led by Ken Kobayashi, chair of Japan-Myanmar Economic Committee (Keidanren), and 50 Japanese businessmen and the UMFCCI jointly held the 3rd Myanmar-Japan Joint Economic Conference on 13 March at the UMFCCI office.

This week business leaders from across Myanmar joined with policy experts and members of the donor community in Yangon to explore the benefits to Myanmar of adopting “inclusive business practices” that help the poor and boost businesses and the economy as a whole. 

This Inclusive Business Workshop was facilitated by the DaNa Facility, the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (UMFCCI) and Myanmar Young Entrepreneurs Association (MYEA).

Inclusive Business is an innovative approach to promoting growth in an economy which sees the private sector contributing to inclusive economic growth by creating and expanding opportunities for the poor. Inclusive businesses are always commercially viable companies whose core business is to provide, at scale, innovative and systemic solutions for poor and low-income people. The Inclusive Business approach focuses on the concept of the "triple win" where the interests of the companies, the poor and governments are all served and all three benefit. 

Speaking at the Inclusive Business Workshop held on March 15, Gail Marzetti Head of DFID Myanmar said: "Supporting and expanding inclusive business here in Myanmar would be a radical triple win for businesses, the poor and the Government. When inclusive businesses succeed not only does the company profit, but the poor gain through improved income or services, as does the Government through more inclusive growth and a reduction in poverty levels."

Speaking at the event, Maung Maung Ley, Vice President of the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce, said: "It is exciting to be here today and to learn more about the opportunities that Inclusive Business can create for poor communities across Myanmar. My hope is that out work on Inclusive Business can do more than just transform the economy for the poorest. But that by spreading prosperity around the whole of Myanmar we can also promote peace and stability in many of the areas affected by conflict in our country."

Inclusive Business is a new concept in Myanmar and while there is a growing number of social enterprises and corporate social responsibility activities in the country, the notion of engaging the poor through core business activities is not yet established. There are already a number of Myanmar companies with the potential to develop Inclusive Business models who have expressed an interest in innovating to find new business models, recognising the strategic value that highlighting their positive social impact could have for their business. The Government of Myanmar is also interested in Inclusive Business models as a way to reduce poverty and promote inclusive growth by generating income and services for the bottom 40% of income earners.  

The DaNa Facility is a UK Department for International Development (DFID) funded 4.5-year programme, established in May 2016 as one of three components of DFID’s wider ‘Business for Shared Prosperity’ (BSP) programme. The DaNa Facility, implemented by DAI Europe and KPMG, supports inclusive economic growth and private sector development in Myanmar through responsible and sustainable business growth, investment and trade.

The Hanoi-based company Eurowindow, a leading integrated solution provider for doors and façades in Vietnam, which was established in 2002, plans to invest in Myanmar by building its first overseas manufacturing factories.

The company’s CEO said that they aim to spend around US$ 120 million for two factories in Myanmar.

“Myanmar has a lot of potential for the Vietnam market to be expanded,’’ Nguyen Canh Hong, chief executive director and general director of Eurowindow Limited, told media at the official launch of representative office and seminar held in Yangon on 16 March.

The event was attended by Myanmar authorities and the associations of Myanmar architects and construction companies, as well as a wide range of professional architects, contractors, consultants and the media.

On 15 September 2017, Eurowindow received an official license from the Ministry of Planning and Finance to open an office in Myanmar.

“Even if there might be a change of economic policy from the government of Myanmar, it could be a little bit of a concern for us because we think that every government wants the country to be the best, so, with our long term commitment for the investment in this country, we will get the support from whatever government (is in power),’’ he said.

At the meeting with the media, Nguyen Canh Hong explained the company’s future plan of building the two factories.

“Firstly, we will focus on the Myanmar market depending on the growing development here and we will change the habits of local people, so we will plan to have a factory here in the near future probably in 2019 with the investment value of US$ 15-20 million and we will produce doors from this factory for the local market,’’ he said.

“On our trip here, we also talked with Myanmar’s Minister of Industry to build another factory here that would meet the demands of construction materials for the Myanmar market with the investment value of US$ 80-100 million,’’ he added.

According to the CEO, the second factory will be set up after the first factory and it will produce  construction materials.

“When we met with the minister of industry of Myanmar, he recommended a few locations for the factories, and now we are considering this,” Nguyen Canh Hong added.

A joint stock company Eurowindow Holding has been offering a wide range of products including PVC doors with reinforced steel core, wooden doors, aluminum doors, aluminum and large glass walls with many unique features.

“Right now, we are using very high standard raw materials from our partner countries such as Europe and other Asian countries and we will also use these materials to produce in Myanmar when the factories will be run here,” the CEO said.

For jobs opportunities, Eurowindow Holding aims to employ over 4,000 workers in their Myanmar factories.

“For the first factory, we plan to offer nearly 1,000 workers and we also target around 700 workers to be appointed for the second factory. At the moment, we plan over 2,000 employees to be set up, but it also depends on the demand. We could employ more than 1,500 workers, and we think it could be over 4,000 workers in total for these two factories,” he said.

Nguyen Canh Hong  said every investor wants to be successful when they enter a foreign market. “I believe that with our fifteen years’ experience, strategies and resources, we will be able to be successful in this market because the demands of Myanmar people are very high, so we want to improve the quality of their lives. Therefore, we hope to be able to have a win-win situation in Myanmar and we will supply very good quality products in this market.”

At the seminar, Eurowindow signed the first contract in Myanmar with HTE Integrated (Myanmar) Limited for the supply of wooden door products, aluminum doors and large aluminum glass walls for the Super Hotel project at Thilawa special economic zone in Yangon Region.

Ms. Vo Thi Ngoc Diep, trade counselor at the Vietnamese embassy said, “We highly appreciate that Eurowindow has decided to expand to Myanmar at a time when Myanmar’s construction industry is growing at an average of 30 percent per year.’’

Given the high interest in Vietnam’s investment in Myanmar, Vietnam’s foreign direct investment into Myanmar until 2017 is US$ 1.38 billion with 70 licensed projects, and it placed the second biggest investor in Myanmar after Singapore.

Additionally, Myanmar’s government trade statistics show a rapid growth in the two countries’ bilateral trade from over US$ 494 million in 2016 to over US$ 592 million in 2017-18 fiscal year.

A new car tire shop has opened in Yangon providing the growing ranks of car owners quality tires and upmarket sporty wheel hubs with the accent on safety.

Michelin Innovative Shop opened on 16 March in Yankin Township, Yangon.

The tire shop is run by Michelin and Myanmar Eaik Sar Tha Ya Co., Ltd with the prime products being Michelin, BF Goodrich tires and wheel hubs.

As the company says, with Michelin Innovative Shop, the quality standard of tire products, as well as car maintenance services in Myanmar, will be raised to another level.  

With Michelin technologies, innovations and training schemes, not only will Michelin Shop be able provide vehicles in this market with the best tire products and services, but local employees will be able to likewise improve their technical knowledge and skills as Michelin Shop technicians – thus, leveraging the industry in Myanmar to meet international standards.

The company says Michelin Innovative shop will deliver to Myanmar drivers the best products, services and advice for a safe drive.

"By opening MI Shops, we will not only be able to provide good services for motor vehicles but also can boost the capacities of local skilled workers so that they will become international-level skilled workers. The main strength is that we will be able to provide services for replacing tires within a short time by using latest modern equipment so that we can avoid delaying in replacing tires," said director Kyaw Soe Thein, Myanmar Eaik Sar Tha Ya Co.,Ltd.

In a clean and tidy environment, with the best tools and equipment, a highly skilled and trained staff will conduct full safety checks of the customer’s vehicle to ensure they deliver the best advice, product and services to maximize mobility and safety. This will include wheel balancing to ensure a safe ride. 

Michelin Innovative Shop ensures a safer and more pleasant drive for everyone in Myanmar, the company says. 

Cooperation between India and Myanmar in the railways sector will reach an important landmark today, 19 March, when the visiting Indian Minister of State of Railways, His Excellency Mr. Rajen Gohain, will hand over the last of the 18 locomotives being procured under an Indian Line of Credit to His Excellency U Thant Sin Maung, Minister of Transport and Communications of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, at a ceremony in Naypyitaw, according to a statement.

India and Myanmar have long enjoyed close cooperation in the railways sector. Over the last two decades, a large quantity of railways rolling stock consisting of 78 locomotives, 56 coaches and 250 wagons, besides assorted equipment and machinery, has been supplied by Indian entities to Myanmar Railways. These supplies have also been backed up by close maintenance and rigorous training support to help build capacity and develop skills.

Most of these supplies in the railways sector, as well as rehabilitation of the Myanmar railways infrastructure, have been carried out under Indian lines of credit amounting to over $200 million. From the Indian side, RITES Ltd., a Government of India enterprise, has been a principal partner of Myanmar Railways and is currently involved in the supply of the 18 microprocessor controlled locomotives, which have been manufactured at DLW in Varanasi, India.

Today’s ceremony will be yet another significant milestone in the journey of India-Myanmar railways sector cooperation and enable both sides to look forward confidently to a future of ever closer engagement on other ambitious projects in developing connectivity, upgrading skills and promoting trade and commerce between the two countries, the statement said.