Last August 1, Su Myat Sandi Oo received the prestigious 2024 ASEAN Outstanding Women Entrepreneur Award, presented by the ASEAN Women Entrepreneur Network (AWEN) in Phnom Penh. It was a crowning moment for Sandi, whose eventful 13 years in the Myanmar tourism industry has seen her profile rise as a tourism authority in Myanmar and in the Greater Mekong Sub-Region.
Sandi works with both government and private sector bodies to build Myanmar’s tourism capacity – even as she serves as CEO of Mira Travels, she holds leadership posts in both the Myanmar Tourism Federation (MTF) and the Myanmar Tourism Development Institute.
We talked to Sandi and asked her about the growing profile of women entrepreneurs in Myanmar and promoting sustainable tourism practices in her home country.
You have many roles in the tourism industry in Myanmar, apart from your role in Mira Travels. Can you tell us about the projects you are currently working on?
I am an executive member and secretary for the International Relations and Investment Committee of the Myanmar Tourism Federation (MTF). So, I am involved in engagement of tourism stakeholders and communities. I am also helping to strengthen relationships between the MTF and foreign embassies, associations, business chambers and NGOs.
As ASEAN national trainer for tourism and consultant at Myanmar Tourism Development Institute, I have been mentoring the youths and organizing trainings for some time. At the moment, I am focusing on capacity building in tourism and planning to do series of trainings on digital transformation and sustainable development.
And as CEO of Mira Travels, I am thinking about a wellness tourism project in Myanmar. People these days are suffering from burnout – they need soul healing, and create a mind-body connection.
Myanmar has meditation centers, yoga instructors and wellness practitioners. In a nutshell, I want to help promote Myanmar as wellness tourism destination.
I am focusing more on niche tourism products in Myanmar as I did with accessible tourism and educational travel in the past. Let’s see how it goes.
Congratulations on being awarded the 2024 Outstanding ASEAN Women Entrepreneur Award! How has this recognition impacted your business and your advocacy efforts?
Thank you for the acknowledgment! The award is a remarkable personal achievement for me, and validates my 13 years of professional work as a tourism entrepreneur. I feel that it is a testament for my efforts on tourism entrepreneurship, sustainable development and women empowerment.
Personally, this award raises my self-confidence and motivates me to strive for even greater challenges. I hope that this award will boost trust in Mira Travels and also shine a light on the role and endeavors of women entrepreneurs in the Myanmar tourism industry.
Can you share any specific opportunities or partnerships that have arisen as a result of receiving this award?
I am currently involved with some women’s advocacy organizations in Myanmar. I believe I will get more chances to participate in local, regional and international women empowerment opportunities and sustainable tourism development initiatives. Along the way, I hope to expand my businesses to other countries and thus, I would like to meet like-minded professionals from the rest of the world and seek partnerships.
How does your work contribute to sustainable tourism practices in Myanmar and the greater Mekong region?
Nowadays, there are challenging situations for Myanmar tourism industry to properly execute sustainable tourism practices. The key is to find a way to keep our core values alive during crisis.
Mira Travels has a responsible travel policy for our own operations, which covers contributing to local value chains, reducing carbon footprints, promoting child safe tourism and so on. We will continue to implement that policy and distribute it to suppliers, partners and tourists.
I hope to share my knowledge about sustainability to various destination management organizations that are formed in Myanmar. I am also actively participating in development of sustainable tourism criteria in Greater Mekong and Asia.
What do you believe are the key elements of sustainable tourism, and how can they be effectively implemented in Myanmar?
The sustainable tourism is a very broad field; its three main principles are social sustainability, environmental sustainability and economic sustainability.
For the planning process, we can start with situational analysis on where we are now. Then, we can define where we want to go and how we are going to achieve it. For instance, Myanmar needs a sustainable tourism policy with well-defined goals.
After that, we develop strategic action plans to achieve the corresponding goals. Strategic pillars should have quick fix, mid-term and long-term visions. We have to encourage inclusiveness from grass root level communities, to mid-level professionals, associations, DMOs, NGOs to top level tourism ministry, tourism committees and other authorities.
For effective implementation, we will need to setup a communication and coordination, operating, risk management, monitoring and evaluation mechanisms as well as certification and accreditation bodies.
Some basic strategies we could pursue: increase awareness level of stakeholders, provide capacity building to workforce, and set responsible tourism guidelines for operators and self-assessment tools. There’s still a long way to go before we finalize these processes, but if we simplify our thinking and the way of doing things, it is achievable.
What is your perspective on the role of women entrepreneurs in driving the growth of Myanmar’s tourism industry?
I think in a patriarchal society, men mostly take over the higher positions in the corporate world, private businesses, or associations. There are few females who can climb up the top position due to the glass ceiling.
However, in Myanmar, there are more and more women professionals, businesswomen and entrepreneurs in various industry. There are female seniors and colleagues in private tourism sector as well as in tourism ministry whom I respect as key opinion leaders.
Promoting roles of women in Myanmar tourism industry, both professionals and entrepreneurs must be initiated. I think women entrepreneurs bring fresh and innovative perspectives with quick action while in problem-solving approaches. The more the women professionals and entrepreneurs, the more jobs are created, the more revenue is generated, thus bringing up service export earnings and growing the tourism industry as a whole.
Can you share any experiences or challenges you have faced as a woman entrepreneur in tourism and how you have overcome them?
I have a vision of tourism business that can help both travelers and local communities in Myanmar, and that is why, I started Mira Travels in 2011. I came from a medical and media background.
To be frank, I did not know how difficult it would be to start and manage a tourism business in Myanmar. Despite no prior knowledge, experience or support network in Myanmar’s highly turbulent tourism industry, I simply threaded my way by creativity, hard work, dedication and effective management. Looking backwards, I was fortunate to receive invaluable capacity building trainings from international organizations.
With resources constrained, there were times where we could only afford one shot to see if things were going to be better. There were lots of trials and errors before getting achievements in male-dominating tourism industry. I also have to make work-life balance with three sons.
The critical skill I picked up was knowing where, when and how to pivot to be resilient. Entrepreneurship is not like inheriting a successful family business which is more rewarding for a woman’s life.
What advice would you give to aspiring women entrepreneurs looking to make their mark in the tourism industry?
All women entrepreneurs should set the clear vision and goals when they start the journey and believe in it. I have my own mantra called “5Ps of resilience”, which I will share with you now.
First, be passionate: you must love what you are doing. You must like the tasks that you are carried out daily. Since traveling is my hobby, I find that I am lucky enough to work in the tourism field.
Second, be professional: you must become a professional in your field and not just an entrepreneur. Investing yourself in capacity development will pave the easier way to become an entrepreneur. It also means to provide professionalism when conducting your business.
Third, be prepared: when you are well prepared in advance, it is a powerful tool to perform better, boost the confidence and calm down while responding the unexpected problems. Get yourself a mentor who will help reduce trials and errors.
Fourth, be pivotal: you should know when to start and when to stop something. Know what to keep and what to discard. Don’t be afraid to change and be flexible and adaptable.
Fifth, be positive: we are living in a VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous) world. Seeing the world as it is and responding to the happenings with positive thinking will make you less stressful and more peaceful. With this growth mindset, you will see the opportunities among the threats.
