Myanmar is a very young country. The median age of Myanmar's population as of 2018 is 27.9, which is more than 10 years younger than 41.3 of Korea. According to the census in 2014, the largest age group in Myanmar is between 10 and 14. The population under 15 accounts for 28.6% of the country's total population, while only 5.8% is above 65. As the total population and economically active population will continue to rise, the market size of Myanmar is expected to grow as well.

 The reason why we should pay attention to the young generation of Myanmar is because of their potential. Their parents' generation, who are now in their 40s and 50s, had to focus on survival as the main economic agents of the then-impoverished country. However, the young people in Myanmar now are leading a life for development. Since the opening of the market in 2011, Myanmar is posting a rapid economic growth and the young generation is the direct recipients of the benefits. For example, the young people nowadays get education in a proper condition for a sufficient period of time unlike their parents' generation. There are 22 international schools in Yangon alone along with numerous private educational institutes, which shows the parents' passion for educating their children just as in Korea. In addition, mobile-based life has become common thanks to the fast 4G internet and it allows easy access to global knowledge and trends. The young generation in Myanmar who receive proper education will be the driving force of the country who will transform Myanmar into a more developed nation in the future.

 In November 2015, the National League for Democracy (NLD) led by Aung San Suu Kyi had a sweeping victory, winning 387 (59%) out of 657 total parliament seats at Myanmar's general election. NDL, after securing a majority of parliamentary seats, appointed a presidential candidate and established a single government after the candidate was elected. It is the first civilian government in the history of Myanmar and it was a historic moment that finally concluded its previous military regime of 53 years that started in 1962. Although the regime has been changed and a new civilian government has been established on the surface, the military still holds a great power in Myanmar. The most notable powers of the military in Myanmar are its political influence and ownership of national assets.

 First of all, for political power, under the constitution of Myanmar, the military has a right to hold 25% of the parliamentary seats. In other words, the military has a privilege to get 25% of the seats without any effort. Also, out of around 20 governmental organizations in Myanmar, the staff members for the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Border Affairs are appointed not by the current government but by the military. As a result, everyone working at the three ministries wear military uniforms at work. The military also has an authority to appoint one out of two vice presidents of the country. The military in Myanmar still has a mighty power and influence in the politics.

 Moreover, a significant part of Myanmar's state land is owned by the military and the country's mines are administered by the military as well. Based on the ownership of the land and economic power, the military finances its own budget, which is one of the major reasons why the current government cannot interfere with the military. In fact, the most luxurious shopping mall in Yangon, Myanmar Plaza, is built on a piece of land owned by the military and the shopping mall could be built under the permission of the military. Lotte Hotel, the top-class 5-star hotel run by a Korean company, is also built on the military-owned land. For reference, as long as the military has granted a permission to run a business on military-owned land, the government cannot reject it. It shows the strong economic power of the military.

 Myanmar is bordering India to the west and China to the northeast, so it has been culturally influenced by the two countries for a long time. One of the examples is its traditional costume. The jacket for men is affected by the Chinese culture while 'longyi', men's pants, is from India. The food culture is largely influenced by India. Myanmar's foods consist of rice as a staple and side dishes similar to Korean foods and the main dish is curry. Myanmarese curry is called 'hin' which is a version of Indian curry with available ingredients and preference in Myanmar. Lapaet-yeah, Myanmar's traditional tea, looks and tastes similar to India's Chai tea.

 Thailand, neighboring to the southeast of Myanmar, affected the country significantly as well and Thai cosmetics is one of the examples. The Thai have a similar skin color and tone to the Burmese, which accounts for 70% of the total population in Myanmar, and Thai makeup brands such as Mistine and BSC are popular among Myanmarese women. Most of Thai brands are fairly inexpensive and women in Myanmar can easily afford these brands' items. Nevertheless, the preference for Thai cosmetic products is declining due to recurring quality issues.

 Myanmar is the world's representative Buddhist country and 90% of the population are Buddhists. As such, it is easy to spot Buddhist temples called pagoda. One notable characteristic of pagodas is their glamorous stupas covered with gold. Yangon's most famous pagoda, Shwedagon Pagoda, is covered with 60,000kg gold and all kinds of jewels. Wherever you are in Yangon, you can see the golden and shiny Shwedagon Pagoda. Even small pagodas in a village have stupas decorated with gold.

 In Yangon, gems and jewelry shops are commonly found in large shopping malls and Bogyoke Aung San Market, a traditional market. It is because the people in Myanmar love gold. It is a tradition in Myanmar to give a small piece of gold to a new-born baby so that the baby can wear the gold and use it when he or she faces a difficulty in life. For this reason, gems and jewelry shops in Myanmar are also pawn shops that loan money with gold as collateral. There was a bank crisis in Myanmar in 2003 when people could not withdraw their deposits which made people rely on cash and commodity even more.

 The Myanmar market is a land of opportunity to many Korean companies including Amorepacific. As mentioned in the beginning, people in Myanmar feel close to Korea thanks to Hallyu (Korean Wave) and they trust Korean products that boast outstanding quality. In particular, the excellence of Korean cosmetic products is well known to the people in Myanmar. In fact, the most preferred gift in a high-level governmental meeting is a set of Amorepacific's Sulwhasoo products and Myanmarese people always ask their friends who go to Korea for traveling or business trip to buy Korean cosmetics for them.

 Another reason why Myanmar is a land of opportunity is because of its cheap labor. In March this year, the minimum wage was set at 4,800MMK (about $3.6) which is an increase of 33% compared to the previous year but still extremely low. For reference, the minimum wage in Myanmar is required to be raised every two years by law. The majority of Myanmar's workers have no proper educational backgrounds, so training is a must which is an additional cost. Still, Myanmar's labor force with affordable cost and hard-working and diligent people like Koreans are definitely attractive to many companies.

 Lastly, the government's active efforts and willingness to attract foreign capital. The government of Myanmar enacted a new investment law in April last year and is to apply the Companies Law that has been newly revised after 100 years. This will allow foreign companies to hold stakes in joint ventures. In addition, the government is running 3 Special Economic Zones (SEZ) to offer great benefits to foreign companies including corporate tax exemption for 7 years and 50% corporate tax cut for additional 5 years.

 Many people who run a business in Myanmar say that although Myanmar is a land of opportunity with infinite potential, the condition is often not on par with the potential. In fact, Myanmar ranked 171 out of 190 countries in World Bank's survey on business friendliness. The reasons including the followings.

 First, insufficient basic infrastructure such as electricity and road. During my stay in Yangon for 3 months, a 5-star hotel had 2~3 times blackout per day on average and Myanmar Plaza, the best shopping mall in Myanmar, would have blackout 1~2 times a day on average. Also, the old roads in Yangon causes serious traffic. This leads to huge inconvenience in logistics and delivery or customers' visit to stores. The drainage system is also extremely poor and lowland regions are mostly flooded during the monsoon season which causes a huge difficulty in running a shop.

 Second, sky-high rent. The rent for house and store was as expensive as in Manhattan, New York until 2~3 years ago. It has gone down a bit compared to then, but it is still expensive considering the surrounding conditions. In the house or office rental market, owners have an absolute upper hand as there are not that many proper facilities or well-managed shopping malls. As the majority of main areas is owned by the rich or the military, owners would rather have empty spaces vacant than rent them out at a lower price.

 Lastly, political risk. The democratization of Myanmar is still taking an initial step with a history of less than 10 years. The current government is making a great effort to develop the country in the right direction after the democratization, but if the NLD led by Aung San Suu Kyi loses at the election in 2020, Myanmar's democratization can always regress.

 As I conclude the column, I would like to give some advice for the people planning on a trip to Yangon, Myanmar. Do not believe guide books. Myanmar is now changing so fast and it means that the information in guide books is often past stories. For example, before coming to Myanmar, I read in a guidebook published in 2018 that I should have as much cash as possible because the use of credit card or ATM is difficult. However, as soon as I passed the custom at the airport, I saw ATMs lined up. ATMs were easily spotted at hotels and major shopping malls. Even until 2~3 years ago, the internet was so slow that using wireless was almost impossible. Now, 4G wireless internet is available anywhere in Yangon.

 Looking down crane towers across the city from the sky lounge of Yangon's Sakura Tower, you can see in one look how fast Yangon is developing. It is exciting to imagine how different Yangon would be in a year, and I hope the city has a bright future like gold. Thank you.