Page 88 - myanmar

SPOTLIGHT ON
HITTING THE GROUND RUNNING
One of WPP’s operating companies, the retail solutions specialist Smollan, entered the Myanmar market less than a year ago. The Smollan growth story demonstrates the opportunities – and challenges – of working in one of the world’s fastest-growing markets.
Smollan’s entry into Myanmar was at the request of clients in existing markets, as well as from DKSH, their joint-venture partner in South East Asia. DKSH has helped companies enter and grow in Myanmar for 20 years through marketing, sales, distribution, logistics and after-sales services. “There was a real demand to further professionalize the execution at retail in this market to meet
the growing needs of existing DKSH clients, and we’d been getting calls from our clients in other markets about Myanmar for a few years,” said Sean Leas, executive director at Smollan Group, and managing director of DKSH Smollan Field Marketing.
Parag Wasnik took on the role of country general manager for Myanmar in February 2015, having previously been a senior manager for Smollan in India. Wasnik was quickly inundated with requests from multiple brand owners, looking for go-to- market solutions that were appropriate for Myanmar. “In March and April I was all alone and now we have a full time team of over 500 people, including nine management heads,” he said.
NATIONAL COVERAGE
Smollan is an international retail solutions company. Focused on perfecting retail and shopper experiences, it works to deliver growth for retailers and brand owners through field sales, retail execution, activation and information at the point where retailer, brand owner and shopper meet.
The company has extensive experience in emerging markets and already had a presence in markets such as Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, India and China, as well as fast-growing African markets such as Botswana, Ethiopia, Kenya and Zambia.
“There was some apprehension going into Myanmar, especially in our first year,” said Wasnik. “We were concerned about the volatility of the currency, potential difficulties in getting supplies of product and the availability of talent in our field of expertise. However, the environment is friendlier for international organizations to work in than we had anticipated.”
From one man to a team of 500 in six months
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