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MCRB chairs panel discussion at Yangon Institute of Economics
Vicky Bowman, MCRB Director chaired a panel discussion on ‘Building Corporate Capacities for Responsible Investment and Responsible Business Practices in Myanmar’ at Yangon Institute of Economics on 9 December to discuss how companies in Myanmar were adopting responsible business practices.
Included on the panel were Professor Dr Moe Moe Khaing, Head of the Department of Management Studies MBA programme at YIE, Martin Pun, founder and chair of the Myanmar Business Coalition on Aid, as well as the Director of the Union of Myanmar Chamber of Commerce’s CSR Unit and the head of the Myanmar UN Global Compact local network secretariat, and head of CSR Division at Yoma Strategic Holdings; Zaw Myo Hlaing, Country Manager for Unilever; and Thuta Aung, founder and CEO of Hamsa Hub, a Yangon-based sustainability consultancy.
Zaw Myo Hlaing shared Unilever’s approach known as the ‘Sustainable Living Plan’ and talked of the opportunities and challenges of ‘creating shared value’ by working with some of Myanmar’s poorest populations in toddy palm districts in the dry zone to source jaggery for export for soy sauce production in Indonesia. Dr Moe Moe Khaing shared findings from her research on Buddhist ethics and business, and also on her research on the attitude of SMEs towards adopting more responsible behaviour in areas like pollution control and the need to present the business case for responsible business to SMEs; and Martin Pun and Thuta Aung built on that by sharing experience of their work with SMEs in the garment and other sectors throughout Myanmar. The panel discussed how such practices related to Myanmar culture and Buddhist philosophy. The panel and the audience also discussed the importance of government promoting an enabling environment for responsible business, through transparently adopted and enforced regulations, and by creating an enabling environment for the media and civil society organisations to hold businesses to account.
The audience included Dr Khin Naing Oo, Rector of YIE, keynote speaker Prof Dr Aung Tun Thet, economic adviser to the President, invited guests, and students attending the Centre of Excellence for Business Skills development (CEBSD), a training institute of YIE born from a public private partnership between Pepsi Co, the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and the Ministry of Education to develop vocational training initiatives. The Centre strives to respond to the educational needs of Myanmar youth by targeted training in business and employability skills, helping to pave their way into the world of work through career counselling, seminars and talks, networking opportunities and internship programmes.
