Behind here is a Myanmar-language answer to Google; an anywhere-anytime mobile top-up service; and the country’s first social-media focused PR company.
Along with a Myanmar business magazine and a luxury palm sugar candy line, these ventures are among the entrepreneurial projects finding their feet at Project Hub in Yangon.
A first of its kind, the five-month-old collective space aims to give momentum to a burgeoning start-up scene in Myanmar.
Allison Morris and Pete Silvester opened Project Hub in June as a unique working space for entrepreneurs.
Set in an open-plan, renovated office space in the centrally located United Condo, with hipster artwork and furnishings and a retro-feel cement floor, Project Hub feels like an import direct from LA or London.
Kitted out with fibre optic and Redlink internet, the collective working space is open to both Myanmar and foreign members to use as an office and meeting space.
“We probably have about 60 percent foreign members and 40pc Myanmar,” Ms Morris said of the fledgling space’s popularity.
Project Hub has also piloted a fellowship program.
Seven fellows are working on five projects over a five-month fellowship sponsored by Project Hub and Swiss media group Ringier.
“By encouraging an entrepreneurial way of thinking outside the box, problem-solving and a customer care mindset” the country can see a boom in small-medium enterprises, the foundation of a strong economy, Ms Morris said.
As part of the fellowship program, the budding entrepreneurs have access to Project Hub’s workspace and regular training on all aspects of setting up a business, from how to register to pitching to investors.
“This has been really hands-on,” Erik Oo, who plans to launch a social-media based PR firm, said of his fellowship.
“There are a lot of things that we needed more practice at, like how to pitch to investors.”
Apart from some technical know-how, Myanmar entrepreneurs have an uphill battle to get their projects off the ground as they face skyrocketing rental prices, prohibitive loan arrangements and unreliable internet, electricity and infrastructure.
One of the biggest barriers for budding entrepreneurs is the non-transparency of business start-up requirements, Ms Morris said.
“People have no idea how to register a business. There’s not one website where people can go to find information about registration and licensing,” she said.
The company that operates Project Hub, Morris & Silvester, will coordinate Myanmar’s second-ever Global Entrepreneur’s Week from November 16-22. Launched by the duo in 2012, the sequel event promises more presentations, workshops and networking opportunities for aspiring entrepreneurs.
source: The Myanmar Times
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