Who We Are
A mixed team of leadership, change management and design professionals
After several years of working as advisors in international cooperation projects in Myanmar, we were deeply impressed by the motivation and commitment of the agents of change we met – leaders, managers and advisors. We wanted to contribute with our professional skills to the challenging transformation process the country is undergoing and were looking for ways of doing so.
Responding to the strong demand for new knowledge and skills in the field of management we encountered in the organisations we worked with, we developed an approach to enhance the respective competences. In 2018, a first batch of change agents participated in a year-long, intensive training course that culminated in the “Leading in Change” dialogue event hosted by Goethe Institut Yangon.
Dialogue with and learning from our change agents about culture-specific values and attitudes was extremely important to us. Too often, this essential base for connecting is lost in administrative processes, the application of “tools” or the “roll-out” of approaches.
“In sameness we connect. In differences we grow.” – Virginia Satir
For us joint ownership, mutual learning, meeting the other on eye-level are key for fruitful relationships with our clients. Bringing these principles to life in trainings, consultancies, coaching and events made our experience truly rewarding. We re-learned to interpret the ways of thinking and acting we encountered and to create bridges that make new concepts and practices meaningful and applicable in the Myanmar context.
Christian Koch, advisor, facilitator and social entrepreneur. His main field of work are strategy, organisational development and cooperation management. His clients include start-ups, companies, ministries, social sector organisations and foundations, in Germany and worldwide. Since 2013, he is working regularly in Myanmar and follows the transformation of the country with great interest.
For him, advisors need to respect the autonomy of their clients and work on eye-level to establish helpful relationships that can support change processes in organisations and teams.
Dr. Birgit Kerstan, organisational development specialist, advisor and coach. After leading teams of the German International Cooperation (GIZ) in Indonesia and Sri Lanka from 1996 until 2005, Birgit decided to step out of her role as a project manager and to advise and coach leaders and managers instead. Since more than 12 years she has been supporting individuals and teams in strategic planning, multi-stakeholder collaboration, project design and implementation, mainly in Asian countries.
Birgit considers high self-awareness and sensitivity for the culture-specific, often hidden dynamics of organisations and teams as most important for supporting them in their change processes.
Thet Su is an international trade and management specialist whose passion is sustainable development and the growth of people and organisations. During 15 years of consultancy for international companies and government agencies, she helped to improve the performance and productivity of local teams. Since 2013, Su supported the promotion of MSMEs in Myanmar in cooperation with the Chamber of Commerce, associations and government agencies. A special aspect in this field was the promotion of female entrepreneurs.
Since 2016, Su collaborated with international consultants in training courses, conferences and workshops. By connecting internationally acknowledged concepts to the local context she acts as a bridge between cultures.
Lenya Bass is a strategic and graphic designer engaged in projects ranging from social innovation and development to sophisticated graphic design and layout. She utilises human-centred Design as strategic resource for any creative requirements at My-CAN. This entails the layout of visual appearances on the one side, while facilitating creative thinking on the other. With a B.A. in Communication Design and an M.A. in Strategic Design and Creative Direction, Lenya is primarily based in Berlin.
Christoph has managed and advised teams and projects for over 30 years, mostly in Asia and Germany. As a team leader he managed projects of the German International Cooperation (GIZ) in Thailand, Sri Lanka and Cambodia. In the civil society sector he was involved in-house curriculum development and leadership training for a large international NGO in Cambodia. His particular interest is the challenge to create healthy and fruitful work environments and to manage change processes in a way that all stakeholders take ownership for them and their outcomes.
Wolfgang is working since 25 years in organisational development, coaching and supervision – and he has been so kind to support us in developing our concepts and in our 2018 training. In his publications, he reflects about leadership, human resource development and the role of the advisor. For him, consultancy is not so much about concepts, tools and methods, but rather: care, loyalty, reliability, craft, clarity, getting to the heart of the matter, balance between reflection and doing, humbleness. He has trained and inspired many advisors and consultants with his ideas.
Sagawa is a leading private consultancy company in Myanmar established in April 2012 by a group of experts who have different skills and experiences in the area of management, organisational development, community development, and economic development with tangible experiences in both profit and non-profit organisations.
Sagawa is a collaborator in trainings ane events and a co-creator and partner in developing the Change Forum Yangon in December 2019.
Bridge is an independent creative agency based in Yangon. Their work is about refining complex ideas into meaningful messages that understand Myanmar but speak to the world.
Bridge is a co-creator and partner in developing the Change Forum Yangon in December 2019.
On behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the European Commission and others, GIZ is supporting the Myanmar’s reform efforts for an inclusive and sustainable transformation process. Priority areas are (1) sustainable economic development and (2) rural development.
GIZ has supported MyCAN training participants through scholarships and has co-hosted events, like the “Leading in Change” Dialogue event in December 2018.
