ADEPT Quarterly Report October 2013-December 2013

The alliance aims to strengthen micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and improve higher education institutional effectiveness in Burma. During the quarter October 2013 to December 2013, IIB completed the setup of financial accounts and submitted the final project work plans and branding and marking plan. The project team conducted a visit to Yangon in mid-November, where they met with USAID, the Yangon Institute of Economics (YECO), Myanmar Business Executives Association (MBE), Hewlett Packard (HP) distributor Royal Smart, Project Hub Yangon (PHY), and the Myanmar Computer Federation. A significant achievement during the quarter was the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Indiana University and the Yangon Institute of Economics on November 18th. This MOU enables the implementation of activities with YECO, which is an extension of the Ministry of Education (MoE). The signing of the MOU represents a remarkable achievement, considering the bureaucratic steps involved. The project team also provided YECO with an electronic copy of a curriculum on entrepreneurship, which was successfully used to develop an MBA with a focus on entrepreneurship for a partner university in Barbados. IIB contracted with Yangon-based business incubator Project Hub Yangon to provide student and faculty training seminars and events for ADEPT, with YECO. The seminars will focus on business incubation and idea generation, tied to a Business Idea Competition for YECO MBA students. Indiana University completed a grant application with HP for the cash leverage portions of HP support toward furnishing HP LIFE computer centers, supporting BSR-implemented pilot issue-education workshops, and supporting data collection and HP LIFE facilitator training for SMEs. HP released the $85,000 in leverage grant funds to IU during December. Lotus Impact, the social investment fund of the VinaCapital Foundation in partnership with ADEPT, opened their Yangon offices and began establishing the access to finance component, more than $280,000 for small business loans to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to spur social impact as well as affordable student loans for qualified students. Lotus Impact also began investigating partnerships for SME mapping, with an approach to combine organization work and avoid duplication, while focusing on SMEs and increasing inclusive growth in Myanmar. The ADEPT partnership has made significant progress toward its objectives, including the signing of the MOU between Indiana University and YECO, the provision of entrepreneurship curriculum to YECO, and the establishment of the access to finance component by Lotus Impact. The partnership continues to work towards its objectives, including the implementation of activities with YECO, the development of an MBA with a focus on entrepreneurship, and the SME mapping initiative. The project team has also made progress in the technical area, including the completion of the setup of financial accounts, the submission of the final project work plans and branding and marking plan, and the provision of student and faculty training seminars and events for ADEPT, with YECO. The project team has also made progress in the implementation area, including the signing of the MOU between Indiana University and YECO, the provision of entrepreneurship curriculum to YECO, and the establishment of the access to finance component by Lotus Impact. The ADEPT partnership has also made progress in the recommendations area, including the provision of entrepreneurship curriculum to YECO, the establishment of the access to finance component by Lotus Impact, and the SME mapping initiative. The project team has also made progress in the implementation area, including the signing of the MOU between Indiana University and YECO, the provision of student and faculty training seminars and events for ADEPT, with YECO, and the establishment of the access to finance component by Lotus Impact.