Thu Zar’s story

Thu Zar is a graduate of our Mentoring Women in Business Programme, who started her mentoring year in November 2018. Here’s an overview of her experiences as a mentee, and what sort of impact the programme had on her and her business.

Thu Zar Win Thu, a businesswoman from Myanmar, is the founder and president of OHIO Myanmar International, a business that provides education services for youths in Myanmar, such as IT and engineering training, a Japanese language course and overseas employment services.  As an engineer, she was inspired to launch a business that will train more youths for employment within her country and overseas.

Thu Zar faced challenges as a leader because she was unable to manage her employees effectively, and was experiencing financial problems as well.  She was not confident in herself to run and manage her business well. As a result, Thu Zar was encouraged by one of the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women’s local partners in Myanmar to apply for the Mentoring Women in Business Programme as a mentee. When she applied, Thu Zar did not comprehend yet that having a mentor would be such a change in direction for her!

The Foundation matched Thu Zar with Salam, a Sustainable Business Consultant based in Mauritius, and they worked together for one fruitful year. Salam’s expertise in business strategy, marketing, branding, communication and product development, made him a great strategic match for Thu Zar and her needs.

Relationship focus

When Thu Zar joined the programme, she was struggling with her business and she informed her mentor that she wanted to give up. Thu Zar was encouraged by Salam to continue with her business, advising her that “each problem has a solution and she should not be disappointed as she has been selected to be on the Mentoring Programme where she has a chance to improve her business flaws”. With this newly instilled motivation, Thu Zar and Salam went on to build a strong mentoring relationship. Together the pair worked on creating a new business plan, developing a business model to focus on business-to-business distribution, and finding investors. The pair then began to determine the gaps in the market, discussing marketing tactics and effective pitching techniques for investors.

Halfway through the programme, with a stronger understanding of her new business strategy, Thu Zar went on a business trip to Japan. While there, Thu Zar managed to pitch her business plan to Japanese investors who were interested in Myanmar’s labour contract.  As Thu Zar’s business proposal aimed to train youths for overseas employment, the investors were sold on her proposal and decided to invest in her business.

Because of working with Salam, Thu Zar was able to attract more customers and her revenue increased massively. She also managed to hire ten new employees, seven of whom work full-time. She now feels more confident in her ability to manage her team effectively.