He said at a press conference on Tuesday the partnership with IFC and Norfund marks a huge show of confidence in the viability of the project.

“Electricity can improve livelihoods of the people. So, we believe these solar plants and mini-grids can be a very strong complement to the national grid, as it will provide much better access to electricity to the people of Myanmar,” he said.

He said the recent success of the 10-site pilot scheme in Sagaing Region demonstrates the reliability of the project, and all the partners are eager to roll out quickly to build scale. He added the firm looks forward to working closely with the government, telecom companies and the rural community.

Having invested $2 million since last year, the Sagaing pilot has provided reliable electricity to 10 telecommunications towers, four villages and 700,000 people. The project will be expanded to other regions in the Dry Zone, including Magwe and Mandalay, this year. Coverage would then be expanded to the whole country over the longer term.

“It is very important for us to discuss with the local community, understand what their needs are, and who has the highest demand for power. This is an area in which we want to make we have sure strong partnerships with many local companies,” he said.

According to Pun, YSH will hold 35 per cent, while Norfund and IFC will hold 30 per cent each in Yoma Micro Power. The remaining 5 per cent will be held by Alakesh Chetia, who leads the initiative.

Chetia, CEO of Yoma Micro Power, said a few hundred solar plants would be built in rural areas with no access to the national grid by next year, and thousands of plants would be built over the next few years.

“Due to the rapid reduction in the cost of solar panels and batteries, solar-powered mini-grids have emerged as a viable alternative for rural electrification which can be deployed rapidly and financed with private capital,” he said.

“Our mini-grids offer an efficient pathway to rural electrification as we are able to provide an on-grid experience to rural villages that may otherwise have to wait 10 or more years to obtain grid electricity.”

Currently, 70 per cent of Myanmar’s population is not connected to the national electricity grid. The demand for power far exceeds the available production capacity, resulting in regular blackouts, according to the World Bank.

Chetia also revealed the firm’s business model in which solar plants provide electricity to telecommunications towers and the mini-grid provides electricity to the surrounding communities, including households, schools, shops and businesses.

He said the minimum package for household use would be charged at 5,000 kyats per month, and customers can pay for the electricity service by cash or via Wave Money, the nation’s leading mobile financial services provider.

The firm aims to electrify hundreds of telecommunications towers and rural communities across Myanmar this year, with the potential to scale up to more than 2,000 micro power plants by 2022.

“As the coverage and the number of solar plants expand, the number of people we cover will keep growing in the future,” said Chetia.

“We are trying to make sure that our project really benefits the rural community. It is a very robust and sustainable infrastructure. We will keep on expanding in the next three to five years.”

Vikram Kumar, IFC country manager for Myanmar, said the approach fits with IFC’s efforts to promote social inclusion through the provision of basic infrastructure to underserved segments of the rural population.

“We believe the business model presents great opportunity to provide clean and dependable electricity to a large number of rural citizens, with the scale-up of the business approach going forward,” he said.

The IFC has pledged to invest US$13 million in the project – US$7 million in equity and the rest through a concessional loan.

“Although this investment looks small, it is important to us because this project has meaningful impacts on the livelihoods of Myanmar people,” said Kumar.

He said IFC would focus on improving access to finance and access to electricity, considered as the biggest challenges of small and medium-sized enterprises in Myanmar.

Fay Chetnakarnkul, investment director and head of Asia at Norfund, shared this view. She believes the organisation’s investment in the project will result in improving rural education and SMEs’ development in Myanmar. She said Norfund would also invest in two microfinance companies to boost financial inclusion.

“With respect to energy, we really believe that it should be clean energy, and we really like their business model,” she said.

Based on the draft TOR, the private sector would invest about Bt120 billion in the infrastructure and the government would share the cost of the Bt220-billion project which would connect Don Mueang, Suvarnabhumi and U-Tapao international airports, he said. In the future, if the private sector generated higher-than-expected income from the high-speed train, Airport Rail Link and transit-oriented developments, it would be required to share profits with the government, he said. Minor TOR issues, such as guarantees for decision-making, remained to be agreed, he said.

The positive growth projection comes in line with the trend of economic recovery and the increasing purchasing power from an ageing society and health-conscious consumers.

Health products were projected to contribute around 45 per cent of total direct sales. Women were now taking the direct selling model as a serious career, not just to earn extra income, the association said.

Suchada Theeravachirakul, the association’s president, said: “Last year Thai direct sales business showed growth of 1.4 per cent compared to 2016. For this year, we expect the growth of 5 per cent due to several factors, including the economic recovery, the strategy for building digital platforms to fully engaged consumers, including the website, Facebook, Instagram, Line, mobile applications etc. Around 52 per cent of e-commerce consumers have bought products via smartphones.”

Furthermore, Thailand’s population is ageing and by 2022 there was projected to be 13 million over-60s, making up 20 per cent of the population. The ageing population would spend more on health, boosting that sector, the association predicted.

The direct sales business also attracts Generation Y, those born in the 1980s and 1990s, who will play a part in driving the sector’s growth. Generation Y often prefer entrepreneurship over being salaried employees and regularly see direct sales as a suitable career.

Members of Generation Y represent 15 per cent of total direct sellers.

European markets, in their first session since the Easter holiday break, took their cues from Monday’s US session, when major indices fell sharply on worries about trade and technology sector problems.

But the partial rebound in American stocks, sparked by bargain-hunting, helped lift European bourses off their worst levels, traders said.

“Europe is out of the firing line for Trump’s tariffs for now and has a lower weighting in technology companies compared to the US,” said Jasper Lawler at the London Capital Group. “Both factors make Europe a relative haven from the current negative news flow.”

Besides trade and technology, US investors have also been fixated on the prospect that the Federal Reserve will accelerate its pace of interest rate increases due to inflation. On Tuesday, Fed Governor Lael Brainard warned that valuations in several markets “appear elevated relative to historic norms.”

After major US indices lost about two percent on Monday, US stocks pivoted and finished a volatile session solidly higher. The broad-based S&P 500 gained 1.3 percent.

Markets need a ‘catalyst’

Analysts hope the upcoming earnings period will shake the market out of its current anxiety over trade policy and technology industry problems — though Washington on Tuesday unveiled a list of $50 billion in Chinese imports that US officials intend to hit with steep tariffs.

Quincy Krosby, chief market strategist at Prudential Annuities, said that during the next earnings period investors would be looking not only at financial performance but at how executives gauge the odds of a trade war.

“The market does need a catalyst to regain its footing,” she said.

Technology companies led the advance, with Tesla Motors surging 6.0 percent after reporting that it reached weekly production of about 2,000 Model 3 sedans at the end of the first quarter — still below its 2,500 target, but “exponentially” better than prior levels, the company said.

Amazon also pushed higher, winning 1.5 percent as investors greeted headlines that suggested President Donald Trump did not plan to follow up a series of irate tweets with concrete action against the company.

Other large technology companies that have been slumping also enjoyed gains, including Facebook, Google parent Alphabet and Intel.

Key figures around 2100 GMT

New York – Dow: UP 1.7 percent at 24,033.36 (close)

New York – S&P 500: UP 1.3 percent at 2,614.45 (close)

New York – Nasdaq: UP 1.0 percent at 6,941.28 (close)

London – FTSE 100: DOWN 0.4 percent at 7,030.46 points (close)

Frankfurt – DAX 30: DOWN 0.8 percent at 12,002.45 (close)

Paris – CAC 40: DOWN 0.3 percent at 5,152.12 (close)

EURO STOXX 50: DOWN 0.3 percent at 3,351.87 (close)

Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.5 percent at 21,292.29 (close)

Hong Kong – Hang Seng: UP 0.3 percent at 30,180.10 (close)

Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 0.8 percent at 3,136.63 (close)

Dollar/yen: UP at 106.60 yen from 105.89 yen at 2100 GMT Monday

Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.2271 from $1.2302

Pound/dollar: UP at $1.4057 from $1.4044

Oil – Brent North Sea: UP 48 cents at $68.12 per barrel

Oil – West Texas Intermediate: UP 50 cents at $63.51 per barrel