Retail News CRM

Tag: asia

  • Grab partners Lippo Group for e-payment platform

    Grab partners Lippo Group for e-payment platform

    Southeast Asian ride-hailing app Grab has agreed to partner Indonesia’s Lippo Group to develop an e-money payments platform within its operations in the country.

    The partnership is an extension of a strategic deal signed between the two companies in March this year.

    According to the agreement, Lippo Group will develop a universal payments platform that enables Indonesians to top-up an e-money account and use it to pay digitally at Lippo companies.

    Grab will then integrate the payments platform into the Grab app as a mobile wallet option within GrabPay, enabling any mobile user to use the Grab app to pay for not only their daily transport needs, but also other lifestyle services.

    “We commend the government’s efforts to push Indonesia towards a cashless society and look forward to contributing towards this goal. Grab’s partnership with the Lippo Group to develop a universal payments platform will be a leap forward for e-money in Indonesia,” said Grab Group CEO and co-founder Anthony Tan.

    “With a rapidly growing middle class, people will want to have a mobile wallet option in the Grab app, which they can use every day, whether for transport, or payments for basic transactions,” he added.

    Tan believed that the potential of developing a mobile payments platform in Southeast Asia is “limitless”. The majority in Southeast Asia are unbanked but are armed with mobile phones. Thus, the only way forward is to find a cashless solution that will help customers manage their money and mobile wallets.

    “We will work with local partners to make cashless transactions a reality for the majority in Southeast Asia,” he concluded.

    The universal platform will be rolled out in the fourth quarter this year.

    With that, over 50 million existing customers from the Lippo and Grab will be able to pay via their mobile phones or use their Grab App to pay for a full suite of services from Lippo’s retail companies, including department stores, hypermarts, cinemas, coffee shops and e-commerce.

    Lippo Group director Adrian Suherman said his company will introduce more partner merchants in unrelenting efforts to push cashless transactions.

    “Lippo Group is committed to transforming lives in Indonesia, and we want to work with partners like Grab that have this common vision,” Suherman said in a statement.

    “Indonesians can enjoy the convenience of using their mobile phones and the Grab app to top-up and pay, as well as better manage their cash flow,” he added.

    Grab is determined to expand new services specifically for Indonesian preferences, as the country is Grab’s largest market. Nearly 95 per cent of Indonesians do not use credit cards. Grab said it will continue to partner with leading companies to launch innovative services to cope with these challenges.

    Began as a taxi-hailing app in 2012, Grab has expanded its core product platform to include private cars and motorbikes. The region’s largest transport network is now testing new services such as social carpooling, as well as last mile and food deliveries.

    Grab currently offers services in Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam.

    Meanwhile its partner Lippo Group is a pan-Asian investment holding company with investments in real estate, department stores, retailing, financial services, telecommunications, hospitality, healthcare, news media, and IT services.

    With Riady family’s second generation at the helm, Lippo Group has been increasing its presence in the digital scope through aggressive investments in technology, media and online platforms.

    Its latest and largest investment is through Mataharimall.com, an online marketplace, which has pledged $500 million of funds for the platform.

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  • Pokemon no-go for Indonesian civil servants

    Pokemon no-go for Indonesian civil servants

    Indonesian civil servants have been ordered not to play Pokemon Go at work in a bid to protect “state secrets”, the latest sign of a growing backlash in the country against the smartphone game.

    Resistance is mounting in official circles to Pokemon Go, with the military and police already having banned their personnel from seeking to catch virtual monsters while on duty, and the Jakarta presidential palace prohibiting the game around its premises.

    The top echelons of the security establishment have expressed fears that the game’s hi-tech capabilities could be used by foreign spies to access sensitive data-although security experts are sceptical there is any danger.

    A Frenchman was briefly detained this week after accidentally wandering onto an Indonesian military base as he hunted for monsters.

    Yuddy Chrisnandi, the minister for bureaucratic reform, has now sent a letter to all government departments across the archipelago, from ministries to the intelligence agency and local leaders, calling on them to ban staff from playing Pokemon Go.

    “We are taking preventative measures to maintain the state’s security and state secrets,” he said in a statement posted on his ministry’s website yesterday, addressed to the country’s approximately 4.5 million civil servants.

    “We cannot endanger the stability of the country.”

    Indonesians have been swept up in the frenzy for Pokemon Go, which has been a worldwide hit since its launch two weeks ago among hordes of users who have taken to the streets with their smartphones.

    While it is not available officially in Indonesia, gamers have managed to download unauthorised copies and have set out to hunt for virtual monsters everywhere from shopping malls to mosques.

    Some local leaders were already heeding Chrisnandi’s order, with the mayor of Bandar Lampung city on western Sumatra island threatening to fire civil servants caught playing the game.

    However there appeared to be resistance in other areas-the governor of Central Java province suggested the game could be used to attract more tourists.

    Pokemon Go uses smartphone satellite location, graphics and camera capabilities to overlay cartoon monsters on real-world settings, challenging players to capture and train the creatures for battles.

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  • Yamaha, Honda, Suspected of Cartel Practice

    Yamaha, Honda, Suspected of Cartel Practice

    PT Yamaha Indonesia Motor Manufacturing (YIMM) and PT Astra Honda Motor (AHM) have been suspected of involved in motorcycle cartel practice. The suspicion was raised after an investigation conducted by the Commission for the Supervision of Business Competition (KPPU). Both companies are suspected of controlling prices of 110 to 125cc Automatic Scooter products.

    KPPU’s investigation team, led by Frans Adiyatma, explained that they have found an electronic mail sent by YIMM President Director Yoichiro Kojima to Yamaha Indonesia marketing team.

    “Kojima instructed the marketing team to adjust their prices in accordance with Honda motorcycle price increase,” Frans said on Tuesday.

    The price fixing was suspected to occur following an agreement made between Kojima and Mr. Inuma, President Director of Astra Honda Motor. An email dedicated to YIMM Vice President Dyonisius Beti mentioned that “President Kojima-san has requested us to follow Honda price increase many times since January 2014, because of his promise with Mr Inuma, president of AHM at a golf course.”

    KPPU Chief Syarkawi Rauf said that the investigation was carried out to protect consumers and to allow consumers to purchase motorcycles at competitive prices.

    In response to the allegation, Yamaha General Manager M. Masykur argued that his company had never been involved in cartel practices. “Yamaha has been doing business in Indonesia for 42 years, the company will certainly comply with Indonesian laws,” Masykur stated.

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  • Indonesia the most favorite destination for Australian tourists

    Indonesia the most favorite destination for Australian tourists

    Indonesia has so far proven to be the most favorite destination for Australian tourists, overtaking New Zealand, Indonesian Ambassador to Australia Nadjib Riphat Kesoema said.

    “The variety of natural wealth and beauty, culture and world-class tourist facilities that the Indonesian government offers to tourists have become special attractions for Australian tourists,” he stated in a press statement released on Saturday.

    His remarks came when the Indonesian Tourism Ministry and the Indonesian Embassy in Australia were conducting a promotional activity at Hotel Hyatt in Canberra recently.

    Besides helping promote mutual understanding between the peoples of the two countries, the tourism sector can also create jobs in Indonesia, he added.

    He underlined that he supported the program to conduct tourism promotion in several Australian cities such as Canberra, Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

    The program will serve as a venue for a meeting between Australian travel agents and their Indonesian counterparts directly, he said.

    The ambassador has called on Australian tourism companies to encourage Australian citizens to visit other Indonesian tourist destinations than Bali.

    Data from the Indonesian Embassy in Canberra showed that almost 85 percent of 1.2 million Australian tourists visited Bali in 2015.

    Nadjib offered potential visitors from Australia other tourist destinations such Toraja, Lake Toba, Raja Ampat, Labuhan Bajo, Tanjung Kalayang, Seribu Islands, Borobudur Temple, Mount Bromo, Wakatobi and Morotai Island.

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  • Large customer base benefits RI start-ups

    Large customer base benefits RI start-ups

    Indonesia’s mushrooming start-up companies have the potential to boost the country’s economy, thanks to their large customer base.

    According to Sillicon Valley-based Fenox Venture Capital, the movement could drive the Indonesian economy to expand faster than its Southeast Asian neighbors.

    “Indonesian start-ups are very powerful, in the sense that Indonesia has a very big consumer base. There are actually a lot of customers who can give feedback,” president and CEO Anis Uzzaman said on Friday.

    He said they had the advantage of endorsement from President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s administration, resulting in supportive regulations.

    Indonesia’s current rules are quite liberal in terms of supporting start-ups, compared to several other countries, particularly in the field of financing. For instance, Indonesia allows venture capital firms to invest with convertible notes, which are banned in many countries, said Uzzaman.

    A convertible note is a short-term debt that converts into equity. Under the scheme, investors can lend money to a start-up during the first round of funding and receive shares of preferred stock, rather than getting a payback loan plus interest rates.

    “Regulation issues are a common problem across the world, but the current Indonesian government is willing to make changes. It is a good thing,” he said.

    The Jokowi administration expressed its seriousness in expanding into the digital economy when the President visited Silicon Valley, the world’s center of technological innovation, during a working visit to the US in February.

    Envisioning the birth of 1,000 technopreneurs in the country, the administration allows foreign e-commerce players valued over Rp 100 billion (US$7.62 million) to open businesses and team up with financial authorities to support funding for IT companies and small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

    Several start-ups in Indonesia have gained prominence, such as Go-Jek, a motorcycle taxi service application.

    However, Uzzaman claimed that Indonesia often thwarted the efforts of venture capitalists and investors to reach out to start-ups in regions beyond Java.

    In an effort to provide business opportunities for start-ups across the country, Fenox Venture Capital, a Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm, plans to hold a global contest called the Startup World Cup 2017, in partnership with the government’s Creative Economy Agency (Bekraf).

    The event will comprise a start-up conference and competition with participants coming from 15 countries, including Indonesia.

    The countries will hold their own regional qualifications to select the top 10 participants to present their ideas in front of international judges, as well as world investors and tech company CEOs.

    The regional winners will compete to win a $1 million prize in the grand finale, which will be held in Silicon Valley on March 24 next year. Part of the prize will take the form of investments in the winning start-up.

    Fenox expects to see at least 750 startup entrepreneurs from the ASEAN region apply for the competition.

    In Indonesia, the company is conducting road shows in six cities to ensure that start-ups in the region take part in the event.

    “The start-ups should be a PT and we prefer those that already obtained financing, whether from institutional or individual investors,” said Aldi Adrian Hartanto, an associate member at the firm’s Jakarta branch office.

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  • BCA records profit of Rp9.6 trillion

    BCA records profit of Rp9.6 trillion

    PT Bank Central Asia Tbk. (BCA) made a net profit of Rp9.6 trillion in the first semester of this year, reflecting a growth of 12.1 percent year-on-year, mostly from interest income following the bright growth of corporate credits.

    BCA President Director Jahja Setiaatmadja said here on Wednesday that although domestic economic condition was still in the process of recovering, corporate credits had contributed the highest to the growth reaching 19.6 percent year-on-year or Rp135.4 trillion.

    Commercial and small and medium credits on the other hand have been the biggest portfolio but their growth was only recorded at 6.5 percent or Rp146.5 trillion while consumer credits were up 9.1 percent year-on-year, reaching Rp105.2 trillion.

    “We indeed saw that demand is still slow, but thanks to our efficiency and growth of transaction accounts, the business has registered a boost,” he added.

    In the consumer line, housing credits rose by 8.5 percent to Rp61.7 trillion and motor-vehicle credits were up 11.4 percent to reach Rp34.0 trillion.

    The BCA credits in all segments grew 11.5 percent to Rp387 trillion, year-on-year.

    According to Jahja, the efficiency attained through reduction of cost of funds has contributed to the growth of profit and revenues.

    “Before the monetary easing effected by Bank Indonesia since 2015, we have been able to lower the interest rates of deposits and, in turn, reduce the cost of funds. In February, we also reduced the loan interest,” he explained.

    BCAs operational income in the first semester this year rose 15.5 percent to Rp26.1 trillion while operational burden also increased by 7.3 percent, failing to reach double digits, and touching Rp12.07 trillion.

    The compensation of growth in credit distribution was seen in the hike of non-performing loan ratio to 1.4 percent by the end of June 2016 from 0.7 percent in June last year. Jahja, however, saw the trend of NPL hike would weaken.

    “The NPL is indeed predicted to rise until September but the rise will not be drastic and may have a tendency of slowing seeing the start of improvement in the economy,” he underlined.

    To anticipate problem credits, the BCA has set up an additional reserve fund worth Rp2 trillion. In June, the ratio of the reserve to total problem credits reached 193 percent.

    The BCAs liquidity condition seemed to be easing continuously. Although the credit growth reached double digits, the ratio of funds to lending (LFR) was recorded at only 77.9 percent.

    The LFR position was still below the central banks existing standard, which is at 78 to 92 percent. The newest standard is at 80-92 percent.

    In the first half of this year, the BCA collected Rp490.6 trillion in third-party funds, reflecting a growth of 7.8 percent.

    With the credit achievement and the third party funds, BCA assets in the period were recorded at Rp626.1 trillion.

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  • BNI reports healthy growth with profit up 79.9 percent

    BNI reports healthy growth with profit up 79.9 percent

    State lender PT. Bank Negara Indonesia Persero Tbk (BNI) reported a strong growth of 79.9 percent year-on-year in profit to Rp4.37 trillion in the second quarter of 2016 despite a decline in credit quality.

    President Director of the countrys fourth largest bank in assets Achmad Baiquni attributed the rise in profit to high growth in credits and fee based income, and efficiency in cost of fund.

    “Our cost of funds dropped to 3.1 percent from 3.2 percent,” Baiquni said here on Friday.

    BNI outstanding credit grew in two digit by 23.7 percent year on year (yoy) to Rp288.7 trillion.

    However, the non performing loan (NPL) of the bank also rose from 2.7 percent to 3 percent gross by the end of the first half of this year.

    He acknowledged the quality of credit assets became a problem shadowing the performance of the bank in the first six months of the year.

    Therefore, BNI has to increase its reserve funds from 138.8 percent in the second quarter 2015 to 142.8 percent in the same period in 2016.

    The increase in the credit of the publicly listed bank resulted in a rose in its net interest income to Rp13.91 trillion or an increase of 11.7 percent yoy.

    Its non interest income including fee based income grew 28.7 percent to Rp4.43 trillion.

    Baiquni said business credit disbursements sustained credit portfolio as high as 73 percent with annual growth of 25.6 percent to Rp260.7 trillion.

    Corporate credits accounted for 25.1 percent of its business credits.

    The bank also recorded a soaring growth of 331 percent or Rp7.3 trillion in low interest Peoples Business Credit (KUR) pushing up KUR contribution to outstanding credit to 19.9 percent from 5.6 percent earlier.

    Baiquni attributed the high growth to facility of guarantee and subsidy on interest offered by the government.

    “Speaking about target, we prefer the government to set target for us,” he said.

    The bank holds Rp391.4 trillion in third party funds or an increase of 19.6 percent yoy, dominated by cheap funds (current account saving account (CASA) making up 60.4 percent and deposits making up the rest, he said.

    With the outstanding credits and third party funds, BNI has assets valued at Rp539.1 trillion by the end of he second quarter of 2016.

  • Epicentre Asia raises cash for expansion

    Epicentre Asia raises cash for expansion

    Apple products retailer Epicentre Asia plans to raise S$11.45 million (US$8.44 million) by issuing 45.8 million private shares to new buyers.

    KGI Fraser Securities is the placement agent for the issue, with the price being not be less than 25 cents per new share. These placement shares represent 49.1 per cent of the current
    share capital of Epicentre.

    Epicentre has five stores in Singapore, including two on Orchard Rd which could be expected to take a big hit in turnover terms when Singapore’s first Apple Store opens later this year. It has six stores in Malaysia and also sells online.

    Half of the net proceeds raised by the share issue will be used to support business development and provide liquidity for expansion. The rest will be deployed for general working capital purposes, the company says.

    Earlier this year, Epicentre raised $1 million on debt crowd-finance platform MoolahSense, and the company says this debt will be repaid through the sale of merchandise.

  • 3 HK unveils new roaming services

    3 HK unveils new roaming services

    3 Hong Kong, the mobile division of Hutchison Telecommunications Hong Kong Holdings Limited (HTHKH), has introduced new monthly plans and roaming passes, enabling customers to use mobile services in Macau and six European countries.

    HTHKH chief operating officer Jennifer Tan said the monthly 3Like Home plans and two types of roaming pass are tailored to the needs of frequent leisure and business travelers traversing Macau and Europe.

    The monthly “3LikeHome” plans, which start at HK$168/month ($21.66) (HK and Macau) and HK$508 (HK, Macau and six European countries), will offer equal local and roaming data usage entitlements, plus a quota of voice minutes to be shared between local use and when roaming.

    Devices will be automatically connected to 3 Group networks when in Austria, Denmark, Ireland, Italy, Sweden and the UK, as well as Macau.

    The new plans will allow customers to make calls to numbers in the locality where they are present, and Hong Kong, or receive calls from any region without incurring additional charges. The roaming data element of usage allows customers making frequent business trips to access the internet in Macau and the six designated European countries as if they were in Hong Kong, the operator said.

    To meet demand at this busy travel time of the year, 3 Hong Kong has also launched one-off roaming plans including a 3-day ‘3 Macau Roaming Pass’ and a 10-day ‘3 Europe Roaming Pass’, which will provide free-to-use voice and data entitlements in Macau and six European countries for families and frequent leisure travelers.

    In addition, 3 HK is offering 90-minutes free daily WiFi service to all mobile users in the city, as the number of its hotspots exceeding 20,000 across the city.

    Until the end of September, any mobile user in Hong Kong can access WiFi service for three sessions to a total of 90 minutes a day using a smartphone, tablet or laptop at more than 20,000 WiFi hotspots run by 3HK.

    Tan said 3 HK will build 3,000 more WiFi hotspots in the second half of this year, bringing the total number to more than 23,000.

  • Aussie ISP takes on NBN with microwave broadband

    Aussie ISP takes on NBN with microwave broadband

    Lightning Broadband is offering fiber connectivity in parts of Melbourne and plans to guide its roll out plans based on demand. Potential customers are able to register for interest on the website.

    The ISP is offering 100Mbps symmetrical plans with unlimited data for A$120 ($90) per month on a 24-month contract. The NBN’s 100Mbps downlink plans offer only 25Mbps uplink.

    Lightning Broadband is also offering 25Mbps, 50Mbps and 75Mbps plans, starting from A$75.

    For business customers, Lighting Broadband will offer dedicated 1000Mbps symmetrical microwave links that will not share equipment with other users.

    Founder Jeremy Rich told that the company believes that many Australians are sick of waiting for the NBN to arrive in their area, and are interested in adopting high-speed broadband today.

    The NBN’s ambitious rollout plans have been delayed repeatedly since the project was announced.

    The project has also been scaled back under the recently re-elected government – the NBN was originally intended to deliver FTTH providing wholesale speeds of up to 100Mbps to 93% of the population, but has since been redesigned to use a mix of access technologies, including FTTN, HFC and fixed wireless.

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  • Huawei grows 1H16 revenue by 40%

    Huawei grows 1H16 revenue by 40%

    Huawei grew its sales revenues for the first half of the year by 40% to 245.5 billion yuan ($36.6 billion), despite a decline in its operating margin.

    The vendor reported an operating margin of 12%, down from 18% in the same period last year, partly as a result of increased investment in the company’s smartphone business as part of an aggressive push to become the market leader in 4-5 years.

    “We achieved steady growth across all three of our business groups, thanks to a well-balanced global presence and an unwavering focus on our pipe strategy,” Huawei’s CFO Sabrina Meng commented.

    “We are confident that Huawei will maintain its current momentum, and round out the full year in a positive financial position backed by sound ongoing operations.”

    Huawei has not yet disclosed its profit for the half-year period. Looking ahead, the company said it plans to continue to adhere to its pipe strategy, and invest heavily in R&D in areas including 5G and the IoT.

    In the carrier business, Huawei said it is focusing its attention on supporting operators’ digital transformation in four core areas – business, operations, architecture, and networks.

  • Google rolls out Accelerated Mobile Pages for ads

    Google rolls out Accelerated Mobile Pages for ads

    Google first unveiled and rolled out its Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) project in October last year in a bid to allow content to load faster on mobile devices. Last week the company announced a solution designed to address the problem of slow loading ads.

    For the uninitiated, AMP is an open-source project that allows a mobile browser to load web pages much faster by simplifying the underlying HTML code for faster loading. In a way, the new AMP for ads (A4A) does the same by allowing marketers to create optimized ads that will load as fast as AMP-formatted content.

    “With AMP for Ads, we’re bringing everything that’s good and fast about AMP to ads. Unfortunately, most advertisers’ campaign creatives are not fully optimized for mobile experiences,” wrote Paul Muret, the vice president of Display, Video and Analytics at Google in a blog entry.

    “AMP for Ads allows advertisers to build beautifully-designed ads in AMP HTML so that the entire AMP experience, both the publisher’s content and the advertiser’s creative, load simultaneously at AMP-speed,” he wrote.

    The performance speedup is achieved by separating ad requests from ad rendering. This allows for faster ad rendering at no impact to the client CPU or memory cost. AMP pages will continue to support non-AMP ads at the moment.

    “From the client’s perspective making the request itself is super cheap, but its side effect (the rendering of the ad) is expensive,” explained Malte Ubl, who is the tech lead for the AMP project in a lengthy update. “By separating the two, A4A achieves much faster ad rendering at no additional CPU and memory cost.”

    Speeding up the loading time aside, A4A will take advantage of AMP’s features by minimizing resource impact. This is achieved by only animating display elements that are only visible on the screen, and throttling refresh rates in cases where the device is unable to achieve a specified target.

    There is no question that slow load times can drive users away, and is especially important for mobile devices. Like AMP, there is no reason that A4A will not meet with similar levels of success with marketers.

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  • CapitaLand Mall Trust overcomes ‘soft’ retail market

    CapitaLand Mall Trust overcomes ‘soft’ retail market

    CapitaLand Mall Trust (CMT) has overcome what it describes as a “soft” Singapore retail market to increase its profit and distribution.

    A 3.7 per cent increase in distributable income to S$193.9 million (US$143 million) for the first half-year coincides with a second quarter distributable income of S$97.1 million, a 3.3 per cent increase over the $94 million for the same period last year.

    “Despite a soft retail market, CMT continued to produce steady operational results in the first half,” says CMTML CEO Wilson Tan. “Backed by our portfolio of well-located shopping malls and extensive network of retailers, CMT had year-on-year increases of 3.6 and 2.3 per cent in shopper traffic and tenants’ sales per square foot respectively.

    “As at June 30, portfolio occupancy remained high at 97.9 per cent.”

    CMT’s Funan DigitaLife Mall, which closed from July 1, will undergo a three year redevelopment to become a lifestyle destination in the revitalised Civic and Cultural District, says Tan. Scheduled to be ready in the fourth quarter of 2019, the integrated development will include retail, office and serviced residences. The mall redevelopment is expected to achieve a return on investment of 6.5 per cent.

    For the second quarter, CMT registered higher gross revenue and net property income (NPI) of 7.1 and 6 per cent respectively year-on-year, mainly through a contribution of $14.5 million to gross revenue from Bedok Mall, acquired on October 1, and higher rental revenue from IMM Building, Tampines Mall and Bukit Panjang Plaza after asset enhancement.

    This was partially offset by the divestment of Rivervale Mall in December and lower gross revenue from Funan DigitaLife Mall.

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  • Unilever buys Dollar Shave Club

    Unilever buys Dollar Shave Club

    Consumer products giant Unilever is to buy California-based Dollar Shave Club, an online razor delivery subscription business that has 3.2 million members.

    Terms of the transaction were not officially disclosed, but sources say the FMCG giant is paying the razor business US$1 billion in cash.

    “Dollar Shave Club is an innovative and disruptive male grooming brand with incredibly deep connections to its diverse and highly engaged consumers,” said Kees Kruythoff, president of Unilever North America.

    “In addition to its unique consumer and data insights, Dollar Shave Club is the category leader in its direct-to-consumer space. We plan to leverage the global strength of Unilever to support Dollar Shave Club in achieving its full potential in terms of offering and reach.”

    Michael Dubin, founder or Dollar Shave Club, will continue to serve as its CEO.

    “We have long admired Unilever’s purpose-driven business leadership and its category expertise is unmatched,” said Dubin. “We are excited to be part of the family.”

    Subject to regulatory approval, the transaction is expected to close during the third quarter.

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  • SMI helping launch Ippudo in Myanmar

    SMI helping launch Ippudo in Myanmar

    Singapore Myanmar Investco (SMI) will launch Japanese ramen restaurant chain Ippudo in Myanmar early next year.

    Brand owner Chikaranomoto Holdings will provide training programs for SMI to set up and run the Myanmar restaurants.

    ippudo outside

    “We see abundant growth opportunities within the F&B retail market in Myanmar, and the time is ripe for us to introduce the Ippudo brand and cuisine to the growing middle class,” says SMI president/CEO Mark Bedingham.

    SMI, which is involved in consumer products and services in Myanmar, is looking to invest in retail and F&B over the next three years. It has also signed a franchise agreement with restaurant group Crystal Jade and The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf.

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