Building Markets Connects SMEs to New Heineken Brewery

On July 13th, Heineken opened the doors of its new brewery in Hmawbi Township, Myanmar, just outside of the capital, Yangon. The world’s third largest brewer is committed to having a positive social and economic impact, which will include creating 200 local jobs. At their inaugural event, Heineken’s CEO spoke about the importance of leveraging the company’s resources to engage the local market and develop a strong workforce.

Building Markets is very pleased to announce that we are assisting Heineken in these efforts. Through a new partnership, our Sustainable Marketplace Myanmar is working with the company’s procurement team to facilitate relationships with local small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) that can be integrated into Heineken’s supply chains. Led by Business Matchmaking Manager, Moung Kee Aung, Building Markets spearheaded the search for qualified SMEs that met Heineken’s needs in service side sectors and shared the company’s goal of developing the local community. Bid financials were evaluated, but the technical and social aspects of the proposals, such as the SMEs level of local recruitment and integration of corporate social responsibility policies, were given more weight.

Heineken is now close to finalizing offers to two local SMEs, one catering company and one cleaning company. Both businesses indicated in their proposals that over 50% of the staff recruited for the work would be from the area surrounding the factory and that they are prepared to adhere to the health, safety, and environmental standards the brewery demands.

Building Markets will work closely with these two companies to build their capacity through a variety of training and mentorship activities. The core objective will be to bolster the technical and managerial skills of the SMEs’ upper management to help ensure the company’s can deliver and are in a position to achieve sustainable growth.

We applaud Heineken for taking concrete steps to engage Myanmar businesses in a way that enables their success – it’s a win-win. In addition to fulfilling the brewery’s supply side needs, it will position these local companies to expand and compete for new contracts, which will create much needed jobs and growth.

Cheers to Heineken – may others follow your lead!