U Aung Ko Win, Founder & Chairman of the KBZ Bank, was awarded the ASEAN Business Award on 6 September in Manila, Philippines.

KBZ Bank, established in 1994, is the largest privately owned bank in Myanmar and the first to have expanded internationally, with representative offices in Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia.

With 18,000 staff, more than 485 branches nationwide and 40% market share of both Retail and Commercial Banking, KBZ is leading the way for Myanmar's repidly developing financial services industry through an approach that understands the unique context of the country's economy as it transitions towards a digital future.

As Myanmar's economy expands and opens up, KBZ sees an exciting opportunity to work with further international investors, providing a critical bridge to Myanmar's fast-growing cities, entrepreneurs and local communities.

The new Lotte Hotel Yangon was opened in Yangon on 1 September 2017 with beautiful views of Inya Lake, and luxurious rooms with international facilities.

Located next to the lake in the centre of Yangon, the well-furnished hotel boasts spacious rooms with a total of 343 Guest Rooms and 315 Serviced Apartments, as well as 7 restaurants and bars, 11 Banquet Rooms suited for large-scale international events, an indoor pool and fitness centre. Other outdoor amenities such as cabanas, an infinity pool and pool bars provide families and couples with an extraordinary travel experience.

With 658 rooms, Lotte Hotel Yangon is the largest hotel in the city.

General Manager, David Shim shares his challenges in hiring, training and retaining talent, “It took six months of hiring before the opening to amass the current workforce. We have a total of 650 staff and almost 50 per cent are Myanmar nationals who were working abroad.”

“The good thing about Myanmar is its people. They are ready to learn and follow instructions. They respond well to training. It is not easy to find a workforce with similar attitudes in a large hotel with 650 living and working together,” said Shim.

“The hotel industry here is not as mature as other countries. We had to look overseas for locals with international experience to make up half the workforce. Then, we sent the managers to South Korea for training and also brought in trainers to train the rest of our team,” said Hla Hla Tun, Director of Human Resources.

Michael Moe Myint is a Burmese business tycoon, who founded and runs 2 major companies in the country's petroleum industry, Myint & Associates, a service provider and MPRL E&P, a gas extraction company.

The charismatic Tay Za is chief executive of the Htoo Group of Companies, a business empire founded during Myanmar’s era of democratic rule, and spanning logging, gems and jade, palm oil, construction, hotels and tourism, mobile phone services, an airline and more. At 46, he is widely believed to be Myanmar’s first billionaire.

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Tay Za is a high-profile figure in Asia, with business ties in Singapore, Thailand and elsewhere — even more so since the U.S. and EU levied sanctions against him for his relationship with Myanmar’s ruling generals. Yet he remains largely unknown in the West, and has received remarkably little press attention.

Serge Pun & Associates (also SPA Group) is a major Myanmar-based conglomerates, engaged in 8 core sectors with 25 subsidiaries, involved in automobiles, real estate, retail, luxury tourism, agriculture and financial services.

Its flagship company, First Myanmar International (FMI), was established in 1992 as one of Myanmar's first publicly traded companies.

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SPA Group was founded by Serge Pun, a Sino-Burmese, in Hong Kong in 1983 as an investment holding and operating company. The company was registered in Myanmar in 1991.

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Ko Ko Gyi is the Group Managing Director of Capital Diamond Star Group Co. Ltd., (“CDSG”).

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Born in Mandalay, Myanmar, he entered the family business in 1993 as the Managing Director of Diamond Star Co. Ltd., a flour-milling business started by his parents. Under his leadership, the business grew into a successful multifaceted group of companies under CDSG. CDSG has businesses across the Food value chain, Retail, Real Estate, Construction, Healthcare/Pharmaceuticals, Financial Services and others.

Ko Ko Gyi is currently the Chairman of the Myanmar-Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industries (Upper Myanmar) (“MCCI”).

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He is the Chairman of the Capital Diamond Star Foundation, a philanthropic organization dedicated to serving the people of Myanmar. He is also one of the founding patrons of the People’s Health Foundation, which provides access to primary healthcare in under-developed areas of Myanmar.

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Ko Ko Gyi was a member of the National Economic and Social Advisory Council (NESAC), which advised the former president of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, U Thein Sein.

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Between 1999 and 2005, Ko Ko Gyi served as a Central Executive Committee member of the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (“UMFCCI”). He was a founding member of ASEAN Business Advisory Council between 2002 and 2004.

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There are 3 phases to CDSG:

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From the 1960s to the 1990s, it grew from being a Mandalay trading company to expand through much of the country; from the mid-1990s - when U Ko Ko Gyi joined the firm - to about 2010, it branched out into industries like agrochemicals, wheat flour and pharmaceutical trading; and from about 2010 to the present, it has again expanded, but this time with more cooperation from international companies as Myanmar opened up.

Zaw Zaw is a Burmese business tycoon and chairman of Max Myanmar Group of Companies, a major conglomerate with former interests in gems and active interests in construction, mechanical engineering, transportation, hotel and tourism, rubber plantations, energy retail and banking industries.

“Ride hailing and using smartphones to book taxis is still a relatively new concept in Yangon. However, we see great potential for adoption of new technology here,” a Grab spokesman said. “Myanmar has the highest mobile adoption and internet usage growth in the region and we anticipate higher usage of apps in the coming months and years.”

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After the launch of telecommunications services in 2014 by Norway's Telenor and Qatar's Ooredoo, almost everyone in Myanmar is now connected.

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In 2015, Myanmar signed up more people for mobile phone service than any country in the world, except China and India, countries with much larger populations, according to the Asian Development Bank.

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In March 2017, GRAB launched a trial ahead of UBER.

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In July 2017, GRAB Co-Founder Ms Hooi Ling Tan told the launch ceremony in Yangon that Myanmar has become the seventh country to be covered by the company's ride-hailing platform.

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The ceremony was presided over by Yangon Region Chief Minister U Phyo Min Thein, who emphasised his commitment to improving public transport in the commercial capital.

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In August 2017, GRAB announced it will invest USD100M in Myanmar over the next 3 years.

CHASING THE MONEY

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According to FRONTIER MYANMAR, thousands were cheated and millions lost in a Ponzi scehme that flourished in rural Myanmar.

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Lured by the prospect of high returns on investment of up to 60%, many had invested US$1,000 to buy the shares of SCL Myanmar in December 2016. By mid-March, the SCL Myanmar office was closed and the directors disappeared.

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It is unfortunate but hopefully the Professionals in Myanmar will learn to invest in developing themselves instead of putting their money in some get-rich-quick scheme.

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U Chit Khine is the Managing Director of the Eden Group. He is one of Burma's richest business tycoons with an estimated net worth of US$3.2 billion.

Born in 1948, he started working in the Ministry of Energy after graduating from the University of Yangon. After retiring from the Ministry, he started the Eden Business Group which includes mining, restaurants, hotels, petrol stations, banking and agriculture.

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After gaining trust from the Government in agricultural sector, he served as the President of the Myanmar Agribusiness Public Corporation (MAPCO) to help the development of the agricultural business.

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To improve the Eden Group to international standard, he started joint ventures with Japanese companies such as the Resona Group, Mitsui, Marubeni and Daiwa Royal.

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"In 1990, we founded the construction business as the first business of Eden Group. In 2000, we invested in hotels and mining. Then we made an effort to invest in agricultural business in 2009 and banking services and Denko Oil and Petroleum Trading Business in 2010," said Mr Khine.

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"The reason why we started our first investment in construction sector was the needs in Myanmar's construction sector and there were many skillful construction partners cooperating with me."

"I invested in the agricultural business because our country is mainly based on agriculture and I wanted to support the low income families from this sector."