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A GenTLeman’S A TRIP TO GUIDE TO STYLE LIFE DOWNTOWN KyaUkme Page 14 Page 24 Page 25 MYANMAR INSIDER THIS MONTH’S INSIDER NEWS ON BUSINESS, LUXURY, REAL ESTATE, LIFESTYLE & LEISURE Volume 1 • Issue 5 • April 2014 1200 KYATS INSIDE INSIDER Make way for the ASEAN Economic Community p.23 By late next year, the Myanmese will wake up to a new Asian economic order - and most of them won’t even realise it. The much anticipated (or dreaded) “ASEAN Economic Community”, or the AEC, is scheduled to come into existence on December 31st, 2015. The AEC is the first step to achieving full regional economic and financial integration among the ten member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) by 2015. It’s ASEAN’s version of the European Common Market. Ngapali Beach p.27 The plane to Ngapali Beach pretty much lands on the beach itself, so maybe think twice about going if you’re a nervous flyer. From the cabin window it looked as though we were about to land on water, then a short, dusty runway appeared from nowhere just before we hit it. Baggage claim took place in the carpark outside the tiny airport’s main entrance. EXPAT INSIDER Sport in Yangon p.31 There’s been a remarkable emergence of sports clubs in Yangon within the past two years. The great thing about living in a city that has relatively few activities available is that it’s relatively easy to start one of your own. If you are enthusiastic about a sport or activity, the chances are that someone else is, too, and all it takes is a few emails, one or SUNIL SETH two conversations, and you’ll have an activity of some sort COUNTRY HEAD - TATA INTERNATIONAL up and running. Cover story, P.4 www.myanmarinsider.com www.facebook.com/TheMyanmarInsider www.twitter.com/MyanmarInsider INSIDER INFO 2 WWW.MYANMARINSIDER.COM THE MYANMAR INSIDER www.myanmarinsider.com THE MYANMAR INSIDER Volume 1 • Issue 5 • April 2014 Welcome back to another great issue of the Myanmar Insider. This month we obviously have Thingyan, or the Myanmese New Year, to enjoy and celebrate to with a splash - quite literally… EDITOR IN CHIEF CREATIVE DESIGN & Victor Jeffery LAYOUT Looking forward to April 13th to the 16th, the country is gearing up for the increasingly famous Water Email: [email protected] Global Integrated Media (HK) Ltd Festival, in which what seems like the entire country gets soaked through to the bone, and has a fine time www.globalintmedia.com doing so. DEPUTY EDITOR Daw Khin Thu Zar Aung ADVERTISING MANAGER As you know, we like to improve on what we have done in the previous issue and continually strive to do Myo Lin just that, so we’re very happy with the widest range of top quality articles that we have compiled for you to SUB EDITORS 0973224726 date. We are sure you will agree. Kyaw Zaw Shwe [email protected] Mark Wayne As always, happy reading. ADVERTISING EXECUTIVES STAFF WRITERS Travis Vic Jeffery Naw Thee Zun 09448537776 Charles Greene [email protected] Isaac Malone Harry Hein Htet Zaw 09421157842 COLUMNISTS [email protected] Jeremy Kloiser-Jones Seamus Donoghue TRAFFIC MANAGER MYANMar’S Cristy Villarosa CONTRIBUTORS Myint Thandar Kyan DIGITAL MANAGER Jonathan Aye Arnel Mojica Maxwell Myint Lisa Wong MARKET RESEARCH BEST Oliver Slow MANAGER BUSINESS READ Mae Anacay Aung Soe San Mark Wayne Jacob A. Clere CIRCULATION Malcolm Macpherson Dorman Thuta Adam McBeth 0943207314 Anthony Parker [email protected] Shwe Sin Hnin Josh Carroll PUBLISHER Dr Tin Maung Thu MEDIA DIRECTOR Stephen Jeffery YANGON OFFICE 15-B, Dharma Zedi Road PHOTO EDITOR Dagon Township Alistair Kleine Yangon Tel:(+951) 526 165 PRODUCTION MANAGER Email: [email protected] Sam Nguyen www.myanmarinsider.com ART DIRECTOR REGISTRATION NO: 04771 Timmy Wong Get more information on this issue online www.facebook.com/TheMyanmarInsider www.twitter.com/MyanmarInsider www.myanmarinsider.com Free website advertising links to your home page TO SUBSCRIBE 6 Issues 6,800 Kyats 12 Issues 14,000 Kyats WWW.MYANMARINSIDER.COM INSIDER LUXURY 3 WWW.MYANMARINSIDER.COM Luxurious Indulgence By Lisa Wong Cartier Ballon Bleu Large 18k Yellow Gold Mens Watch Samo Limited Edition Samo is the newest Omas limited edition, which represents a tribute between the cultures of the East and West. It celebrates the origin of ideas from the 6th century BC when the island of Samos was at the peak of its role as a point of exchange of goods. Samo, a fountain pen by Omas, underlines the first steps of the visual signs left by the Floating like a balloon and as blue as the sapphire safely nestled in Hellenic civilisation combining luxury, culture and design. The clip, its side, the Ballon Bleu watch by Cartier adds a dash of elegance elongated beyond the cap and bearing the engravings of Omas and to male and female wrists alike. Roman numerals are guided on Samo, represents the idealised bridge uniting East and West. Made their path by a sapphire cabochon winding mechanism protected in a numbered certified limited edition of 572 pieces in solid silver; by an arc of precious metal. With the convex curves of the case, 572 represents the birth year of the famous Samos son, Pythagoras. guilloché dial, sword shaped hands and polished or satin finish links Also available in solid Rose Gold with diamonds on the clip - 14 of the bracelet, the Ballon Bleu watch by Cartier floats through pieces. Price: US$3,400 the world of Cartier watchmaking. Cartier Ballon Bleu Large 18k Yellow Gold Mens Watch has 42mm case diameter, 11.9mm case thickness, 18k yellow gold case with 18k yellow gold bracelet, fixed 18k yellow gold bezel, silver dial with blue steel hands and Roman numeral hour markers, minute markers around the outer rim, date display at the 3 o’clock position. In addition, self winding automatic movement, scratch resistant sapphire crystal, 18k yellow gold crown, solid case back and water resistant at 30 meters/100 feet, functions give it more royal look. Price: US$39,800 EXPAT INSIDER 4 WWW.MYANMARINSIDER.COM A Unique Experience By Charlie Greene Name: Sunil Seth at implementation, but they will wait until the Nationality: Indian boss tells them what to do. Age: 53 Company: Tata International MI: What does doing business in Myanmar now Position: Country Head offer most for your company? Profession: Mechanical Engineer and MBA. SS: We have many SBUs (strategic business units) within the Tata Group: steel, power, construction, unil has been with the Tata Group for more housing, trading, hotels, chemicals, agro and than 30 years, spending more than 28 of automotive. Each SBU sees an opportunity in those years with Tata Steel. Sunil’s area of Myanmar. Myanmar needs good infrastructure, Sinterest and expertise has been the marketing good hotels, agro investments and reliable trading and sale of steel and international trading and he partners. has spent fifty percentage of his career working outside of India, having worked in Slovakia, MI: Which sectors do you believe offer the most Thailand, Singapore and now Myanmar. One in terms of business opportunities in Myanmar, of his main contributions to the Group includes and why? the successful launch of the Tata Tiscon brand of SS: My first choice would be power generation. reinforced steel bars in both India and Thailand. Only 26 percent of the country’s population has access to power. Next would be infrastructure The Myanmar Insider: When was the first time development; the country still needs lots of you visited Myanmar? bridges, roads and housing. The third would Sunil Seth: I visited Myanmar first when I was be agro business. Under the brand Rallis India, posted in Singapore. It was in 1996 while I was we produce the “cides” (insecticides, fungicides, working as a regional manager for exports. I was pesticides, etc.), food nutrients and seeds. We want looking into exporting steel bars to Myanmar at to market our products, increase productivity and that time from India, Russia and Turkey. yields and buy back the agro produce for exports. MI: What was your experience of the country MI: What effect do you think the sudden influx like back then? of foreign companies/nationals will have on the SS: The market had not evolved as yet compared country and its people/culture? to other ASEAN markets, even though it had SS: I see this from a positive viewpoint. The its own unique characteristics, even way back foreign companies would offer excellent job in 1996. I noticed significant limitations in opportunities. One of the important side effects of banking facilities and a lack of awareness on this would be getting an upgrade of workers’ skills quality. At the same time, businessmen were and knowledge, either through their own efforts very open to engaging with the outside world. or the company’s training programmes. Local They did bargain hard, but once the terms were workers will also experience international best agreed, they would honour the contracts. I also practices being deployed here by multinationals. experienced difficulties in shipping to Yangon There will also be competition amongst local staff port, as the port was very congested in those days. to get the best jobs. MI: What are your impressions of the country MI: If anything could be introduced quickly now, and what do you see in its future? - say over the next six months - to improve SS: During my visit in 2011, I was pleasantly doing business here, what measure(s) would surprised by the improvement of internet you implement? Conversely, what long term facilities, mobile phones and roaming facilities.