Building a business in uncertain times: Lessons from experienced investor Hitoshi Ikeya

Hitoshi Ikeya, founding partner of EME Myanmar and director of UMJ Ikeya Investment

Many young people dream of building something of their own instead of following a traditional corporate career. Around the world, more young people are choosing entrepreneurship to create meaningful work and gain greater control over their future.

According to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), people aged 18 to 24 now have the world's highest rate of entrepreneurial activity. Nearly one in four young adults is starting a business. For many of them, entrepreneurship is about more than making money. It is about solving real problems, creating positive impact, and building a career with purpose.

Students at Parami University—and many young people across Myanmar—share this same ambition. Despite economic hardship, the World Bank's MINGALA Panel Survey found that more than half of Myanmar's tertiary-educated youth see entrepreneurship as their preferred career path. The desire to create change is strong.

However, can you start a business when everything feels unstable?

On June 20, as part of the Dwight Clark Cross-Cultural Program 2026, Parami University students explored this question during a dialogue with Hitoshi Ikeya, a longtime supporter of Parami University and a highly experienced investor who has invested in Myanmar since 2012. As co-founder of Emerging Markets Entrepreneurs (EME Myanmar), an early-stage venture capital firm, and founding partner and director of UMJ Ikeya Investment, an investment fund focused on Myanmar, Ikeya shared insights on what it takes to build a business in an uncertain environment and how today's challenges can also create unique opportunities for entrepreneurs. 

The Reality of Starting a Business in Myanmar

Starting a business is never easy, but the challenges in Myanmar are especially difficult. Young entrepreneurs must deal with inflation, conflict, frequent power outages, banking restrictions, and disrupted infrastructure.

When everyday life is unpredictable, it is natural to wonder: How can I build a business when everything around me is uncertain?

Rather than seeing instability only as a disadvantage, Ikeya offered a different perspective, which can be described as the “empathy advantage.”

The Empathy Advantage

Throughout his years of investing, Ikeya noticed that his most successful founders were not always those with the best academic records or prestigious international backgrounds.

Instead, they were people who had experienced hardship themselves.

As he explained: "When you understand the daily struggles of ordinary people, you don't need a spreadsheet to tell you what the market needs. You already know what your customers are facing, what they can afford, and what problems actually matter."

Living through the same challenges as your community gives you a deeper understanding of their needs. That understanding can become one of your greatest strengths as an entrepreneur.

Four Lessons for Young Entrepreneurs

1. Understand People's Problems First

In an uncertain environment, market research is not always found in reports or spreadsheets. Sometimes it comes from your own daily experience.

If you face the same power cuts, rising prices, and transportation problems as your customers, you are more likely to notice opportunities others miss.

Being close to the problem helps you design better solutions.

2. Build Smart, Not Big

Many young entrepreneurs worry about not having enough money to start a business.

Ikeya encourages founders to focus on asset-light businesses—businesses that rely more on ideas, technology, strong execution, and customer relationships than on expensive equipment or large investments.

Limited resources can become an advantage because they encourage creativity, efficiency, and innovation.

3. Use Your Local Knowledge

One example comes from Bagan Innovation Technology (BIT), one of Ikeya's early investments.

When the company launched the Wun Zinn e-book app in 2014, it could not compete with global technology companies by relying on expensive advertising.

Instead, the team focused on something unique: their understanding of Myanmar's culture.

They filled the app with free Buddhist texts and invited respected monks to introduce it to their communities. Because people trusted their local monasteries, the app spread naturally through these networks.

Today, the company's digital platforms serve more than 25 million users.

The lesson is simple: your understanding of your own community can become a powerful competitive advantage.

4. Profit Makes Long-Term Impact Possible

Some young entrepreneurs feel uncomfortable about making a profit, especially during difficult times.

Ikeya challenged this idea. He argued that profit is not the opposite of social impact—it is what allows a business to continue creating it. Ethical profitability, he noted, is especially important in contexts where donor funding or NGO support may be unstable or temporary.

He also emphasized that whether a business is for-profit or non-profit, the shared mission is often the same: building an inclusive economy and contributing to society. The key question is not the label, but whether the business can last, generate income, create jobs, and serve the community meaningfully.

As he explained: “Most of the businesses that last, it's because there is real profit... If you can accumulate and grow your profit, you actually use that profit to reinvest in your people.”

A financially healthy business can pay employees fairly, invest in growth, and continue serving its community even when external funding becomes uncertain.

A Final Thought

The challenges in Myanmar are real, but they do not make entrepreneurship impossible. In fact, many strong businesses are built by people who understand difficult problems because they live through them.

Your experiences can help you see needs others miss, your local knowledge can inspire solutions outsiders cannot easily copy, and your resilience can become a key strength.

In uncertain times, success depends less on resources and more on adaptability, deep understanding of the community, and solving problems that truly matter.

Hitoshi Ikeya also encouraged Parami students to take their ideas seriously and consider turning them into real ventures. He welcomed opportunities to support and engage with young entrepreneurs in any way he could, reinforcing his belief that local founders play a key role in shaping Myanmar’s future.