Our founder & MD Andrew Tan (陈顺华）has worked in various regional marketing roles with MNCs such as Kodak, Black & Decker and Siemens Mobile. A Singaporean who graduated in Business Administration from the National University of Singapore, Andrew has lived and worked in Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing and Munich.
A chance trip to Yangon to attend a Burmese friend’s wedding in 2012 led Andrew to discover the opportunity in the new Myanmar. Andrew started Consult-Myanmar Co Ltd in Yangon after Myanmar Parliament passed the Foreign Investment Law Act in November 2012. Consult-Myanmar is a 100% foreign owned company registered under the Myanmar Companies Act and the leading business consultancy.
Many investors visiting Myanmar for the first time say that Myanmar is very mystical and opaque – as it is hard to get reliable information necessary to make an informed business decision. Myanmar is like the maiden you met on your first trip to an exotic country – she is charming, beautiful and cultured but yet she is hard to understand and even harder to get close to. We intend to lift the veil of mystics hanging over Myanmar and help foreign investors find the true beauty and opportunity in the new Myanmar!
Our MD was interviewed on 7/11/2020 via ZOOM on Channel News Asia on his view on what are the gripes of the business community with regard to the NLD government in the run-up to the 2020 Election:
(Click on image to view YouTube recording of interview)
If you want to hear our founder’s views on some of the challenges of doing business in Myanmar see the interviews or talks that he has given below:
In this “live” video from TEDx Yangon on 21st May 2017 at the Rose Garden Hotel Yangon – Andrew tells the story about his “first blackout in Yangon” when he came to Myanmar in 2012 and what he learned from it.- In this “live” Skype interview on Philippines’s ABS-CBN News Channel on 21st March 2017 as part of the coverage for President Duterte’s visit to Myanmar. Andrew talked about why some of the Filipino early movers such as Unilab’s Enervon-C multi-vitamins and Liwayway’s Oishi Snack are successful in Myanmar. Andrew also spoke about what are the challenges and the business opportunity in Myanmar. To watch the YouTube video of the interview go to https://youtu.be/HGRoQsMYYbk.
- In this interview with Vietnam’s Thanhnien News on 28th October 2016 – Andrew spoke about the importance of building trust of the Myanmar people in the banking system and the Myanmar Kyat as currently only 23% of the population have a bank account and most business people still prefer to hold their excess cash in US Dollar or to invest in hard assets such as real estate, gold or precious stones. If you read Vietnamese you can read the article at Investment heating up in Myanmar. This was a special feature covering the Bank for Investment & Development of Vietnam JSC (BIDV)’s Yangon Branch opening.
- In this interview with Lloyd’s Loading List – Maritime Intelligence on 11th October 2016 – Andrew spoke about the importance of the major sanctioned Burmese conglomerates as business partners for foreign investors for big infrastructure projects in Myanmar. To read the article go to US revokes Myanmar sanctions in historic move.
- In this interview with Agence France-Presse (AFP) on 14th September 2016 – Andrew spoke about how the economic sanction on Myanmar affects the ability of foreign investors to remit US Dollars into their bank account in Myanmar and thereby making it more difficult to do business in Myanmar. To read the article go to The sanctions game: US mulls rewriting Myanmar blacklist .
- In this interview with the Bangkok Post newspaper on 7th March 2016 – Andrew spoke about the challenges the property market in Yangon faces after 3 years of speculative investment. To read the article go to Yangon’s real estate challenge
- In this interview with Global Trade Review magazine on 11th November 2015 – Andrew gave his view about how difficult it is to live and operate in Myanmar without doing business with tycoons on the US sanction list as the tycoons’ business empire stretch from airlines to banks to hotels. To read the article go to Myanmar vote raises hopes for sanctions removal.
- In this interview with UK’s Daily Mail newspaper on 25th June 2015 – Andrew gave his view about development of hotel and tourism in the Mergui Archipelago and the impact it has on the local economy and why the Mergui Archipelago will become the “New Phuket of the East” in 10 years’ time. To read the article go to End of a way of life: Burmese islands that are home to 2,000 sea gipsies set to be turned into ‘new Phuket’ with 30 hotels and a casino.
- In this interview with Japan’s Nikkei Asian Review on 10th November 2014 – Andrew gave his view on the challenges KFC faced in finding a business partner in Myanmar as it is an American company and cannot do business with Burmese businessman who are on the US SDN List. To read the article go to Myanmar smells fast food success as KFC heads for Yangon.
- What are the challenges that Viber faced in an Emerging Market like Myanmar? What factors contributed to their strong subscriber base in Myanmar versus WhatsApp? Our founder who was invited to their media event answered this question in an article published on 1st August 2014 in Myanmar Business Today Journal entitled Viber Focuses on Myanmar As User Base Shoots Up to 5 Million in Three Years.
- How can the Myanmar tycoons who are under US sanction get off the US SDN List? Our founder answered this question in an article published on 10th July 2014 in Myanmar Business Today Journal entitled How does one get off the US Sanction List?.
- Our founder talks about the challenges he faced as a foreigner when starting Consult-Myanmar in an interview with Myanmore Magazine on the company’s first anniversary on 4th April 2014. You can read the complete interview at “Foreigners starting a business in Myanmar: What you should know”.
- To learn about the challenges of starting a business in Myanmar see our founder explain in this YouTube video to the MBA students from the National University of Singapore’s Business School on 24th September 2013 about Doing Business in Myanmar – what you need to know as an entrepreneur from Singapore.
In this “live” video from TEDx Yangon on 21st May 2017 at the Rose Garden Hotel Yangon – Andrew tells the story about his “first blackout in Yangon” when he came to Myanmar in 2012 and what he learned from it.
Consult-Myanmar Company Limited is a Yangon-based Singapore-owned company. We are a legally registered service company here in Myanmar and the leading business consultancy. Our Myanmar company registration number is 100066009 – you can see our company registration at DICA by clicking here. We are a testament of how easy it is to incorporate a 100% foreign owned limited liability company in Myanmar.
