No reason to write too much about it. The decision has been executed and it was a tough one for us

First to accept that we didn’t make it after spending 2 years of work, energy and a lot of money in Yangon. Second to give up after having had ‘it’ in our hands – properties we thought we ‘had’ and were ready to take over. Third to realize that people we have trusted and thought were serious and reliable turned out not to be so.

“Rising costs in Myanmar put strain on UNICEF’s resources in Yangon.” “Escalating costs have meant new challenges in meeting the needs of the population….” Quotes from a news note about UNICEF’s 87,000 US$ house lease in UNICEF –  East Asia.

The way all the international charity organizations like UNICEF rush to Yangon and spend surreal amounts of money on HQ that in principle could be placed everywhere – makes it impossible to start up small and medium sized projects like Tings. They not only create an extremely expensive real estate market. They also confuse people so much that they become unreliable and impossible to work with.

Unlike what you read in the press about the large increase of foreign investment in Myanmar, we have experienced another reality

We have experienced a lot of talk, heard about a lot of project and read about the progress everywhere. But when we ask lawyers, accountants and other ‘institutions’ who should know about projects, about their experience in working with the New Foreign Direct Investment Law we were met with roaring silence. To us it seems that these projects – at the time being – don’t exist. All existing projects are by the Multinational Companies who operated before (and during) the regime and now wants to get ‘back’ to normal/legal. We have traveled in Myanmar for 20 years. We have been almost everywhere and we love the country. We don’t want to give up. We ‘just’ put Myanmar on hold. When things change to something normal we will reconsider. Until then we look into other places to start up new Tings. Right now we have fallen in love with Lisbon. So who knows… Annette & Thomas

PS: If you have plans to invest in projects in Myanmar and want to hear about our experience do not hesitate to call us.