In this week we have chosen Hillary @ Su Wai Yee for interview. She is CEO in Cici Clothing. Our good client, and one of the female Entrepreneur in Myanmar
I am just a woman trying to discover my passion and my dreams. Along the way of finding my lifelong passion, I am also trying to make positive changes in my life, family, and community, by becoming an entrepreneur.
I came back to Yangon from the US after college to work for my family business in January 2014. My family has been in the garment and fashion industry in Myanmar for more than 20 years. Six months into my new job, I found that I have actually ran out of appropriate things to wear to work. I wonder where people do their shopping here, and I really could not find things I would like to buy at the mall nor had the patience to get them tailor-made. So I thought my friends would have the same problem too. Then, I said, ‘Sure, why not start my own fashion line since my parents have a garment factory anyway?’
Fashion is a highly competitive industry since the barriers to entry are quite low compared to more technical industries. However, it is in the DNA of Cici to continue to adapt and change according to the demands of our customers without losing our sense of originality. I am proud of our young and passionate team and believe that we would face up the challenges of competition.
Again, it is our team and passion that matters. We are all individuals who love to create clothes that modern Myanmar women would love to wear on a daily basis. We want to make these women be confident and feel good about themselves in our clothes.
The only requirement is your own commitment and drive (1) to actually start turning ideas into concrete actions, and setting the wheels in motion; (2) to pushing through challenges and keeping the company running.
To get people on board and on the team. It is very difficult to find talented individuals, who care enough to share my vision of Cici. There are also not many institutions and resources to draw seed capital from, other than friends and families.
There are still so many ways we could improve. One of the ways we are looking into now is to use branding and technology more effectively in our marketing activities.
Running a start-up isn’t really easy since the unexpected ups-and-downs happen on a daily basis. But everyday, I take a step back and reflected upon the day’s happening and found that I learned more than I could every in such a day than a year’s worth of college. Start-up life and entrepreneurship isn’t for everyone, but if you’re a thrill-seeker, a geek, or an adrenaline-junkie, I’d say ‘just do it’. Hah.