Interview Mr. Damien Boucard - General Manager of Yangon Property Management Co., Ltd : Parkside One Building

Interview Mr. Damien Boucard - General Manager of Yangon Property Management Co., Ltd : Parkside One Building

A FEW WORDS ABOUT YOUR BUSINESS IN MYANMAR AND THE SECTOR YOU ARE WORKING IN

Welcome to Parkside One office building!  We offer:

Smart office space and international standards in services and technologies;

Strategic location and breathtaking view of Shwedagon Pagoda;

Flexible layout to fit the specific needs of your company;

Qualified staff ready to assist you in anything you might need;

Find out more on www.parksideone.com or contact us directly at info@parksideone.com  

WHAT IS YOUR COMPANY’S STRATEGY IN MYANMAR

Yangon Property Management Co., Ltd is investing in people and equipment with the ambition to offer best value for money to our tenants at all time. We see Parkside One not just as a place where you merely rent an office space. It is more a vibrant business community that we aim at creating here!

HOW HAS YOUR COMPANY GROWN SINCE ITS ESTABLISHMENT IN MYANMAR?

Yangon Property Management Co., Ltd was established in 2013 and started renovating Parkside One building in 2013. Renovations were completed in 2014 with the first tenants welcomed in 2015. The FMCCI was actually one of them! Since 2017, Parkside One is full, with the exception of our brand new business centre that was inaugurated in January 2018. We welcome 14 companies from Myanmar, France, Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Spain and United States. This diversity is a valuable asset and we are very proud of it. We have 23 staff in total and except for me, all the staff is Burmese.

WHAT IMPROVEMENTS HAVE YOU SEEN IN YOUR INDUSTRY THERE LAST FEW MONTHS / YEARS?

Well, the sector is growing at a fast pace with new building coming on the market. The offer is growing which has an effect on the rates. In that context, it is crucial for us to invest in quality in order to maintain great value for money. Hence our abovementioned strategy which, so far, has proven to be accurate.

WHAT ARE THE KEY MESSAGES YOU WOULD LIKE TO SHARE WITH OUR MEMBERS REGARDING THE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT IN MYANMAR?

I hope I am not just stating the obvious. For the Myanmar members, my key message would be to seize every opportunity to engage with foreign members of the FMCCI. You will find great partners there. For the foreign investors I would say be ambitious yet realistic. Be patient, hard-worker and open-minded. Invest in people. To be successful in Myanmar, you need a long-term vision and the right network. Talking of which, you already made the smartest move by joining the FMCCI!

YOUR LIFE IN MYANMAR AND YOUR RELATIONS WITH FRANCE

Well I am French so France is obviously my homeland. However, I have spent 12 of the last 18 years working abroad in different European and South American countries so I guess that makes me an expatriate or a migrant, you name it! I have been working in Myanmar for the last 3 years and I love it even though I sometimes feel like a complete alien. In that regards, I very much depend on Parkside One staff to help me understand how things move here.

YOUR ADVICE FOR A NEWLY ARRIVED EXPAT IN MYANMAR

Take some Myanmar classes! Take the time to observe how business is done here. Remember that many Myanmar people live their daily lives in conditions that you would not survive a week! So try not to be judgmental. Actually, the best advice I would give is the one I was given when I was a young expat. That was too many years ago but the advice is still relevant: People will welcome you as long as you are able to remember that they did not ask you to come here…

YOUR FAVORITE PLACE IN MYANMAR

There are too many beautiful places like Bagan, Inle lake, Pa-An, the Shan hills…it is impossible to choose!