Myanmar’s Mr Clean
Speaker Series: Serge Pun,
Founder, Serge Pun & Associates
Founder, Yoma Strategic Holdings (SGX-listed)
Founder, First Myanmar Investments Public Co (Yangon SE-listed)
Breakfast, Friday, 8 March 2019, 08:00-10:00 am, The Hong Kong Club
“I Felt I Had Done a Good Job Selling the Ideology”
From a Chinese Re-Education Camp at Age 12 to Penniless in Hong Kong to Founding Myanmar’s Leading Conglomerate at the Peak of Sanctions, Serge Pun Has Spent a Lifetime Going Where Others Fear to Tread….
Event Details:
Mr. Richard Hext on behalf of The Stanford GSB Chapter of Hong Kong is pleased to invite you a special breakfast with Serge Pun, founder of Myanmar’s leading group of companies and its first locally (Yangon-stock exchange) and international (Singapore stock exchange) listed entities.
In good times and bad, under peak sanctions and not, Serge’s companies have held to global standards of transparency and governance, even when facing near ruin. And they have managed to attract world-class talent to one of the world’s most challenging frontier economies. It is not by accident that Serge is know as Myanmar’s “Mr. Clean.”
Yet, Serge’s path began as a 12-year old building dams in rural Yunnan province with his bare hands.
Today, Serge Pun overseas more than 40 companies and 7,200 employees, with a combined public market cap of more than USD 500 MM. The Group partners with some of the world’s most trusted names – including Peninsula Hotels, KFC/Yum! Brands, Norway’s Telenor, Italy’s Exor/Holland Agriculture, Volkswagen, Bridgestone, Bouygues, Mitsubishi Corp, Jebsen & Jessen, the World Bank/International Finance Corp – as well as some of its most innovative, including Singapore’s Grab for local ride-hailing. The Group’s operations span banking, education, F&B and food distribution, health & medical, vehicle distribution/leasing, real estate and travel/hospitality/leisure (including the iconic Balloons over Bagan).
Yet none of this was obvious when Serge arrived in Hong Kong in 1973 with just HKD 5 in his pocket.
His family had fled Burma’s socialist revolution in 1962 just in time to land in the middle of the Cultural Revolution, with the not-yet teenager immediately being sent to reeducation camp. He learnt selling as a Red Guard – in his words, “I Felt I Had Done a Good Job Selling the Ideology” – and took these skills to becoming the best (and youngest) salesman for a HK air sanitation company after only one month. A subsequent job in real estate exposed him to property and the creation of a successful regional syndicated investment/development platform.
A 1989 visit to Myanmar created a personal calling to return permanently and contribute to the country he had known so prosperous as a boy, and seen so destitute as an adult. By 1991, he had returned permanently to the country and by 1993, had already established the country’s second private bank, Yoma Bank.
From his unique position, Serge has seen Myanmar go from the darkest days of corrupt junta, to democratic elections, to wild optimism, to today’s selected clouds on the horizon, be it slowing down of FDI, or global tension between China and the USA particularly impacting the most fragile of nations.
Where does Serge see Myanmar’s future going? What lessons does he have for would-be frontier market entrepreneurs? With next generation members of his family in the Company, how does he see the particular challenges of a family group in a frontier economy?
The Stanford GSB Chapter of Hong Kong could not be more pleased to have you join us for this event and to hear directly from one of the region’s great pioneers his story and insights. We look forward to seeing you there.
Speaker’s Bio: Serge Pun
Serge Pun, 66, is the founder of Serge Pun & Associates and the head of Myanmar’s largest locally listed conglomerate, First Myanmar Investments, and of its largest internationally listed entity, Yoma Strategic Holdings. In a pro-bono capacity, Serge is also CEO of Yangon New City Development, which will create a USD 1.5 billion industrial zone west of the historic city.
He was born in Yangon, and was commandeered, during the Cultural Revolution, to a rural re-educaiton camp, eventually serving as a battalion leader. He began his career, first in product sales, then in real estate, eventually leading a regional real estate enterprise before returning to Myanmar in 1991 to invest in the country.
Serge is one of only 65 Overseas Chinese in the world to be featured on a series of commenorative postage stamps issued on the 65th anniversary of the founding the People’s Republic of China. He was a member of the World Economic Forum (WEF) Global Agenda Council for Transparency and Anti-Corruption and is currently a member of WEF ASEAN Business Council. He is also a standing member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference of Dalian and a member of the Asia Business Council. He attended Yangon’s St. Paul’s Catholic School and is married, with 4 sons.