Entrepreneurs' Guide to Myanmar
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ENTREPRENEURS’ GUIDE TO MYANMAR 2019 ©Zarni Myo Win Photography About CCI France Myanmar 4 Need a team? 28 CCI France Myanmar Editorial 5 General overview 29 About MYEA 6 How to find a team? 30 MYEA Editorial 7 What will it cost me? 31 Myanmar General Overview 8 Compliance 32 Taxes 33 What should I know before coming in Law considerations 34 Myanmar? 10 Economy 11 Doing business in Myanmar 36 Infrastructures 12 Myanmar business culture 37 Visa and permit 14 How to prospect? 38 Local authorities 16 Managing daily life 39 How to set up a company? 18 Going international 40 What activity? 19 Find investors 41 What status and how to register? 20 Licenses and how to get them? 21 Contacts 42 Business incubators & accelerators 43 How to settle down? 22 Contributors 44 Find an office space 23 Connectivity 25 Equipment and IT Tools 26 2 3 Guillaume Rebiere The French Business Association in Myanmar companies who want to enter the Myanmar mar- Executive Director (Association Franco-Myanmar des Affaires), was ket and/or operate in the country. In addition to CCI France Myanmar founded in 1996, making it the first Western missions, delegations and market studies, it offers Chamber of Commerce in Myanmar. It officially wage portage services as well as office space for became CCI France Myanmar in 2013, two years rent, in all-inclusive attractive packages for new- after the country started its democratic transi- comers. After successfully developing its Business Being an entrepreneur is a challenge of every “Makers” who are creating the Myanmar of to- tion, and grew from 33 to 170 Members in only 5 Centre in Yangon, it has even opened a second instant. It is not a career but a way of life. morrow, who are working against all odds to years, bringing together 15 nationalities (45% Business Centre in Mandalay, in 2018, the first For many, it means starting a company with just bring about a better future. French, 40% Myanmar, 15% others). Western Chamber to ever do so in the country. an idea and few resources to see this fragile First, we have created our Young Entrepreneurs During that time it developed a large scope of In addition to that, CCI France Myanmar offers a seed grow It means working 24/7 on their pro- Committee, which brings together the young en- services, which makes it the most dynamic and wide range of human resources services, starting jects, forsaking nights, weekends and holidays, trepreneurs among our Members, so that they diversified foreign Chamber in Myanmar, leading with recruitment services and training programs family life even, without being able to perceive a can share information and good practices based to two international awards in 2017 from the In- targeting employees and professionals who wish salary for months. It means having to struggle, on their experiences. This is that knowledge and ternational Chamber of Commerce and CCI to improve their skills. very often in isolation, to find the information, these experiences that they now share with eve- France International. CCI France Myanmar now Finally, CCI France Myanmar is a key actor for the the financial or material means, the support ryone in this guide. organizes more than 40 events every year and development of the French-Myanmar relations. It needed to see their idea flourish. Many times, it In addition to that, we have also launched our also regularly releases publications providing works in close partnership with Business France, also means failing and then starting all over Young Entrepreneurs Awards, which reward business intelligence. with the French Embassy and with the French again, while learning hard but useful lessons startups in Myanmar, which deserve a special But what makes CCI France Myanmar truly Foreign Trade Advisors. from previous mistakes, like swimming against recognition for their excellence and/or for their unique is, above all, the services it provides to the current. Trial and error. Work, work, work. positive impact. Some would say this is not a life. But for them, Finally, we are publishing this Entrepreneurs’ this is all their life. And they endure, persist, go Guide to Myanmar, in partnership with MYEA on, because they believe in their ideas, because (Myanmar Young Entrepreneurs Association), in they believe in themselves, and because they order to help all the entrepreneurs operating in believe that they can make a difference. Just like the country. This document aims at offering all some of their role models, who started in their the information they will need to create and de- garages, before making their start-ups become velop their company: a summary of the legal successful international groups: Bill Gates, Steve framework, advice from those who were con- Jobs, Elon Musk, Jack Ma, Jeff Bezos. Some of Myanmar offers many opportunities for entre- Myanmar and identify actions and projects which fronted to the same challenges, and tips on how them changed the world forever, like Thomas preneurs, whatever the sector in which they could be implemented by CCI France Myanmar to overcome them, based on personal experi- Edison, who famously said after finally making work. But as in any other country, entrepreneurs and its Members to tackle these issues. ences. the first light bulb work: “I have not failed. I have to face challenges which constitute threats to This Committee has now decided to publish its have just found 10,000 ways that won’t work. This guide is of course a work in progress and we their businesses, while often feeling isolated. first Entrepreneurs’ guide to Myanmar to provide Many of life’s failures are people who did not invite all of you to join our Young Entrepreneurs In this context, CCI France Myanmar has decided you with insights and practical advice. realize how close they were to success when Committee, so that you can share your own ex- to create a Young Entrepreneurs Committee for they gave up”. pertise with the community. its members. The main objective of this com- Because of all that, CCI France Myanmar has de- Finally, I would like to thank MYEA for their sup- mittee is to discuss the challenges faced by port and their contribution to this guide. young entrepreneurs Members of CCI France cided to dedicate resources to support these 44 5 The Myanmar Young Entrepreneurs Asso- For our members, we provide a wide spec- ciation (MYEA) has in the last years trum of services to meet the specific Dr. Aung Thura become one of the leading organizations needs for any stage of an entrepreneur’s President to foster the development of entrepre- lifecycle. We offer seminars, pitching MYEA neurship in Myanmar. Established as an events, mentorship programs, networking informal group in 2008 and formally regis- parties, excursions, business matching tered in 2012, the association now has events, etc. As an association of volun- over 1800 members across the country. teers, our members can be both beneficia- With Myanmar ranking low in almost was written with the contribution of en- We are embedded in a wider network of ries and active contributors of the associa- every cross-country comparison, it is one trepreneurs and passes knowledge from international entrepreneurship-related or- tion at the same time. of the hardest places to start and suc- entrepreneurs to entrepreneurs. ganizations. MYEA is the Myanmar mem- cessfully grow a business. Therefore, en- ber of the ASEAN Young Entrepreneurs As- We truly believe that regional challenges trepreneurs in Myanmar count among I would like to thank CCI France Myanmar sociations (AYEA), and through its affilia- are best addressed by entrepreneurs living the most adaptable and resilient business for their leadership in developing this tion with the Global Entrepreneurship Net- in that region. Therefore, instead of servi- people in the world. While entrepreneurs guide and the volunteers of MYEA for cing our members through a centralized work (GEN) in charge of carrying out the in other countries can focus on their core contributing their knowledge and in- Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) eve- structure, we set up regional young entre- business, entrepreneurs in Myanmar sights. We hope that with the help of this ry year in November. preneurs associations and empower them need to cope with a lack of human re- by the transferring knowledge, formats sources, overarching bureaucracy, high guide, entrepreneurs can find solutions Every two years, our members elect 70 and processes to them so that they can costs of doing business, missing access to and avoid mistakes in order to set their members to the Executive Committee, best assist their regional entrepreneurs in capital, weaknesses in the supply chain businesses on a strong growth trajectory. which in return appoints 30 members to return. So far, we have established five re- and infrastructure as well as lack of ac- the Central Executive Committee. A Mana- gional associations: Yangon Region, Man- cess to international markets. gement Committee of 14 persons together dalay Region, Shan State, Ayeyarwady Re- with the office team runs the day to day gion and Mon State. Improving the entrepreneurial ecosystem operations of the association. is one of the key mandates of MYEA. We MYEA strives to be the leading, recognized do this by guiding entrepreneurs through In all its activities, MYEA focuses on three organization for the empowerment of different stages of their lifecycle. When key aspects: Ecosystem development, young entrepreneurs in Myanmar. For CCI France Myanmar approached us with member services, empowerment of regio- anyone, who is not an entrepreneur yet, the idea to jointly develop this Entrepre- nal associations. neur’s Guide, we immediately loved the. but who is planning to set up an own busi- This hands-on guide gives practical in- Through our close working relationship ness in future, we offer an active participa- sights on what entrepreneurs will face with the government, we provide va- tion in MYEA as an Associate Member.