ABOUT US
The Shwe Yi Mon Story
The Shwe Yi Mon coffee journey started with our founders, Mr. Ye Myint and Mrs. Thin Thin Mar, and their joy of nature and plants. Ye’s joy began during his childhood exploring nature. Thin’s happiness and inspiration of nature comes from the tree of life.
Ye grew up in Mandalay city surrounded by the foothills of the Shan Plateau, reaching heights of over 2,000 MSLs. These mountainous landscapes are very beautiful. From Mandalay Hill, Ye as a child enjoyed magnificent views looking over the charming city built in 1857, over the Irrawaddy River to the west to the Shan Yoma mountain range. They link to the Himalayas, forests and rivers.
The splendour of red flowers of the flame tree and white blossoms of the Champac trees filled the air with fragrance. The wish to know the trees and plants grew strong in Ye.
He often would dream of the train from Mandalay that could transport him through the spectacular Gokteik Gorge to the tea and coffee lands and villages where the air is cool and the soils fertile. This was where Ye longed to live.
Ye’s thirst for knowledge led him to study a B.Sc. majoring in botany, followed by Master of Business Administration (MBA) at Yangon University (1997) The network and knowledge gained from his master’s pushed him to business in agriculture.
Then he met his wife, Mrs. Thin Thin Mar, who had a Master of Commerce and worked for the Education Department. She also had an MBA and Post Graduate Diploma in Development Studies from Japan. She specialised in Management and Finance and became a lecturer in Economics. They were married in 1998.
The Last 20 Years
While Ye enjoys studying plants, Thin likes growing them. Blessed with green fingers, her garden is a mix of vegetables, fruit trees and flowers.
These two branches overlap to grow and create the best plants they can. Together, over 20 years, they can see the results of their hard work.
In 1998, the government invited entrepreneurs to apply for state-owned land to grow coffee, especially in the highland area of Pyin Oo Lwin Township, Mandalay. Coffee is a global community with a lot of potential so it made economic sense. Ye’s desire to live in a forest and do agro-business prompted the couple to apply.
Since 1998, Mandalay division has worked to reforest 10,000 hectares (ha). Further reforestation plans to increase by 10,000 ha a year, all in coffee-growing areas in Shan state, Mandalay division, with a target of 80,000 ha.
When the opportunity came to help restore and reforest the mountains at the edge of Mandalay state, bordering onto Shan State, they did not hesitate. Ye was working in beans and pulses trading in Mandalay, Upper Myanmar. He switched from the hot, open central lands to establishing a farm in the forest, Shwe Yi Mon Coffee Farm. It was a dream come true.
This farm was not covered in lush, green, forest trees, or gnarly old trees as it had been deforested. Large swathes of thick native forest were long lost with patches of secondary forest. The heavy reliance on forests for firewood, housing and farmers clearing land to plant trees had accelerated deforestation.
The government, concerned about the deteriorating situation, invited coffee farmers to take up land to restore the forests and biodiversity.
Ye is a Managing Director at Shwe Yi Mon, and Thin is the Operating Director. She runs daily operations and Ye participates in important decision making.
Shwe means “gold” and Yi Mon is “very courteous”, so our name means “golden amiable character”. Whatever business we do, all customers are warmly welcomed, and we will always be pleasant to them as long time business partners.
Business
Shwe Yi Mon Manufacturing Co. Ltd.
Name of Farm
Shwe Yi Mon Coffee Farm
Location
Say Ta Lone Village, Pyin Oo Lwin, Mandalay, Myanmar