Myanmar start-ups run into hurdles
Although start-ups in Myanmar aim high for rapid growth, they face hurdles such as difficult access to funding, low user education, and a lack of proper laws and regulations. Lwin Htoo Ko, chief technical officer of ezStay, a digital platform that provides temporary accommodation to local travellers, considers laws and regulations, culture, and e-payment and e-banking systems as the major obstacles start-ups face. He aims to work with the government and major service providers to overcome these and to grow dramatically. The start-up hopes to provide a platform that functions like Airbnb but initially focuses only on local travellers. Under Myanmar’s existing laws, foreigners are not allowed to stay at local people’s properties. “We provide accommodation in places where there is no hotel or guest house available or when all the rooms in hotels and guest houses are fully booked, and affordable accommodation where hotels and guest houses are expensive,” he said.
