Starbucks has cancelled a major investment in Myanmar that would have brought its first outlet to the country, a spokesperson for the American coffee company announced today.
“Even though our company is avidly trying to break into the international market, we haven’t decided on establishing a business in Myanmar just yet,” the company’s Asia-Pacific public relations director Marianne Duong told 7Day.
Myanmar’s Directorate of Investment and Company Administration (DICA) approved a US$6 million investment from the company in May. Through its licensed partner Coffee Concepts (Myanmar) Limited, a subsidiary of Hong Kong’s Maxim’s Group, Starbucks had planned to open 20 outlets across Myanmar, starting with one in Yangon’s Sule Square shopping mall.
Starbucks’s plans to open in Myanmar were first hatched in 2013, when CEO Howard Schultz visited Thailand and said the company would expand to Myanmar “within the next couple of years”.
Duong explained that the cancellation of Starbucks’s investment was related to tedious and lengthy procedures required by Myanmar’s investment regulation authorities.
However, others speculate that it is a response by the American company to Myanmar’s human rights record. The country’s military leaders were recently accused of genocide against the Rohingya and other crimes against other ethnic minority groups by UN investigators.
Free Rohingya Coalition coordinator Nay San Lwin told Coconuts: “They shouldn’t invest in Myanmar, where genocide is ongoing. Now Myanmar will feel more that it is affecting their business.”
He added: “Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and many other global brands that have invested in Myanmar should also consider divesting.”
On Sept. 6, travel guide company Travelfish.org announced that it would suspend its research on Myanmar in response to the sentencing of Reuters reporters Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo to seven years in prison over their reporting on the crimes against the Rohingya.
The company also pledged to commit all of its revenue from Myanmar bookings to the families of the two reporters.
Meanwhile, American donut company Krispy Kreme will open its first Myanmar outlet on Sept. 16.
https://coconuts.co/yangon/news/starbucks-backtracks-myanmar-investment-deal/
“Even though our company is avidly trying to break into the international market, we haven’t decided on establishing a business in Myanmar just yet,” the company’s Asia-Pacific public relations director Marianne Duong told 7Day.
Myanmar’s Directorate of Investment and Company Administration (DICA) approved a US$6 million investment from the company in May. Through its licensed partner Coffee Concepts (Myanmar) Limited, a subsidiary of Hong Kong’s Maxim’s Group, Starbucks had planned to open 20 outlets across Myanmar, starting with one in Yangon’s Sule Square shopping mall.
Starbucks’s plans to open in Myanmar were first hatched in 2013, when CEO Howard Schultz visited Thailand and said the company would expand to Myanmar “within the next couple of years”.
Duong explained that the cancellation of Starbucks’s investment was related to tedious and lengthy procedures required by Myanmar’s investment regulation authorities.
However, others speculate that it is a response by the American company to Myanmar’s human rights record. The country’s military leaders were recently accused of genocide against the Rohingya and other crimes against other ethnic minority groups by UN investigators.
Free Rohingya Coalition coordinator Nay San Lwin told Coconuts: “They shouldn’t invest in Myanmar, where genocide is ongoing. Now Myanmar will feel more that it is affecting their business.”
He added: “Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and many other global brands that have invested in Myanmar should also consider divesting.”
On Sept. 6, travel guide company Travelfish.org announced that it would suspend its research on Myanmar in response to the sentencing of Reuters reporters Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo to seven years in prison over their reporting on the crimes against the Rohingya.
The company also pledged to commit all of its revenue from Myanmar bookings to the families of the two reporters.
Meanwhile, American donut company Krispy Kreme will open its first Myanmar outlet on Sept. 16.
https://coconuts.co/yangon/news/starbucks-backtracks-myanmar-investment-deal/
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