Myanmar goes west

April 2, 2016

Former Brumby’s chief Michael Sherlock has just returned from a whirlwind visit to Myanmar and he tells us that signs of western commercial life are starting to sprout in the once hermetically-sealed nation formerly known as Burma.

“The most prominent is a multi-storey KFC right in the main part of Yangon,” the retail guru said. “I also spotted a Gloria Jeans on the way from the airport and visited a number of shopping centres, but only came across one outlet from Taiwan tea franchise Chatime.

“The local newspaper was full of franchise trademark notices for quick service restaurant chains so there must also be a lot of happening behind the scenes.”

Back in Brisbane, Sherlock divides his time these days between working as marketing chief for Warren Ebert’s Sentinel Property Group and teaching at Griffith University’s Asia-Pacific Centre for Franchising Excellence.