Making it happen in the world of business

Jul 6 2009 by Chris Knox, The Journal

Nynzi Maung is dedicated to helping women find the confidence to launch a business. Christopher Knox learns why.

Nynzi Maung is pretty down to earth for a high flying executive who was heavily involved in enhancing international relations between some of the biggest economies in the world.

The multi-lingual business consultant who runs the Maung Consultancy from her Tyneside home is focused on helping those with the ambition to go it alone.

She is also involved with the Encouraging Women into Enterprise (EWE) initiative, which is a local Government partnership which works with North East Women from diverse backgrounds to help them see self-employment as a viable option.

The initiative, which is funded by One North East and is managed from the Innovation Centre in Hartlepool, is held in community venues throughout the region and offers a range of training sessions.

Nynzi says: “It seems that many women in the North East just need a bit more self belief, encouragement or practical advice to help them put their plans into action.

“Self esteem seems to be a really big issue for a lot of women in the North East, and this is something we try to address and then get them thinking about the kind of skills they have and how these can be translated into a business.

“For example we had a group of Iranian women who all had skills. One baked these fantastic cakes while one wanted to start up her own virtual PA business. However, they just didn’t have the belief to make it happen, which is where we were able to help.”

Now working from her home in Heaton, Newcastle, Maung does not regret taking a step back from the heady world of international trade and for the first time feels in complete control of her destiny.

“This is the first time that I have been in a role that I actively went for rather than falling into. Although I went to some amazing places during my career, I was never heading up my own business, which is something I always wanted to do.”

Mrs Maung, who is quick to point out that her name derives from a Spanish mother and a Burmese father, is respected for her can-do attitude.

It’s this attitude that saw her recently brought in by Wansbeck Enterprise Centre in Ashington to write them a report which would eventually see them secure £250,000 worth of funding for a much needed expansion.

With such a large investment at stake, it is clear how much importance is placed on Maung’s powers of persuasion as well as her linguistic capabilities, qualities that certainly did the trick with the Local Enterprise Growth Initiative (LEGI) team in Northumberland who approved the funding.

It is her expertise in linguistics that are key to her impressive career and were developed while she was studying for her degree in history and German at the University of East Anglia.

She says: “Spending a year in Germany at such a young age really opened my eyes to different cultures and provided me with the kind of skills that would be pivotal to my career.

“I was staying in what was West Germany at the time and made sure that I took full advantage of my time there, from absorbing the local culture to learning the language.”

Originally bought up in Portobello Road in London’s Notting Hill, Maung would found herself travelling the world as west European executive in the International Division of the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Between 1989 and 1993 she was responsible for developing a long-term strategy to enhance the chambers' EU profile by developing a number of international visits and conferences, as well as developing a private sponsorship programme to gradually replace DTI support.

Although she admits that she fell into the job rather than actively pursuing it, her linguistic range, which also included fluent Spanish, ensured that she was a big hit at the chamber. She says: “I was certainly put in at the deep end and, to be honest I became pretty geeky pretty quickly. I was dealing with a range of companies ranging from those that made plastic bins to throat lozenges and organising visits around the world to promote the EU’s role in fostering international trade.

“However, back then the EU wasn't really the flavour of the month and many countries were sceptical about us getting involved, which made things a little tricky at times.”

Her experience and developing range of languages, which by then included French and a passable Italian, saw Maung move to the heart of European politics in Brussels to take up the position of European project manager at Eurochambres.

Created in 1958, Eurochambres is also known as the European Association of Chambers of Commerce and Industry and forms one of the key pillars of business representation to the European institutions and voices the interests of over 19 million members in 45 European countries.

Much of Maung’s role was working on the European Commission’s largest export promotion campaign 'Gateway to Japan'. Worth £8m, it saw her recruiting European small to medium sized firms from nine industrial sectors attend seminars, trade missions and trade fairs in Japan.

No pressure then. Not that pressure seems to be something that causes Maung much alarm as she was more than happy to work in such an exotic location and was shown enough belief by Eurochambres to be allowed to devise and write the successful bid for the European Commission’s third export campaign to Japan worth £11m.

“My job was to make sure that as many European countries attended Japanese trade fairs as possible, which was very fresh and interesting as Japan was welcoming European trade with open arms,” she says.

“However, initially it was just like the Bill Murray film Lost in Translation, everything was just completely bizarre, from choosing from the menu to trying to give directions. Everywhere you went just looked light years ahead of anything in the West.

“My first reaction was definitely wow!” It took a while to adjust but it soon became one of the most exciting places to trade in. Besides, when I was working for the London Chamber I was holding events in around 15 EU member states, so having to deal with just one was a bit of a relief.”

However, cultural differences would prove tricky once again for Maung, with some countries wanting detailed plans years in advance while some took a more relaxed approach.

She says: “The German chamber was always wanting to know what was happening three years in advance and always requested a full itinerary. However, we would call Spain up and try to talk to them about events that we were organising for the next year and they would say “relax, that’s way off in the future.

“So having to make each member state agree and play ball was sometimes frustrating.” It was in 1996 that she met her then partner who was originally from the North East, and was persuaded to make the trip over to the region to start a family.

It was her project management skills and ability to get everyone singing from the same hymn sheet that landed her the job as a lead officer at Blyth Valley Borough Council.

Here she was responsible for the co-ordination of £1.3m worth of funding as part of a PPI scheme to construct and manage the Blyth Community Enterprise Centre on Blyth Quayside, which includes workshops, offices and meeting rooms for hire and is central to council’s attempts to create a thriving enterprise culture.

She says: “Although it was very different from the work I had previously been involved with, it still involved organising a project and ensuring that everyone was in complete agreement as to how that project should be handled.

“It was a very hectic three years, but the project turned out to be a huge success as we had expected the centre to be 75% full in three years, but it was 90% full after only two years.”

The project gave Nynzi a new found passion for ground level entrepreneurship and which helped give her the drive which she is so enthusiastic to pass on to others.

Initially it was just like the film Lost in Translation, everything was just completely bizarre

I was certainly put in at the deep end and, to be honest, I became pretty geeky pretty quickly.