Section 4 | HERE AND NOW 4.2 Oligarchs & Entrepreneurs CHAMPIONS Many ICT industry multinational and national firms are solid supporters of equitable access to the internet, ICT equipment, and digital skills across Myanmar. For the most part, IREX INSIGHT this is driven by their business models, apart from Telenor and Ooredoo activity in less While anticipated champions profitable rural areas, which is required under the rollout terms of their licenses. Drawing among female officials and CSOs upon the talents of business as well as corporate social responsibility principles and staff, international firms such as Telenor, Ooredoo, Ericcson, Qualcomm, Microsoft, and Intel have sponsored events like hackathons and sustainability press conferences, co-funded locally -led development of new products and services (like the maternal health app maymay and are relatively disempowered as a legacy of the military regime, rent-seeking related a pre-loaded tablet with secondary-school curriculum and digital and life skills exercises), to liberalization of the telecom shared data with GSMA and other researchers seeking to understand the nuances of digital sector may inadvertently divides, and coordinated with donors and INGOs to support innovation. Local firms have incentivize support from designed and delivered training for rural teachers and the MoE, co-designed apps, and led otherwise agnostic stakeholders usability studies to ensure relevant local content, products, and services. According to a case study on the evolution of maymay, the primary motivation of the private-sector/INGO consortium involved was expanding market share and increasing profits, with maternal to close all digital gaps, including gender. health outcomes a secondary consideration (the fact that 32 percent of registered users of the app were male was seen as a new market rather than a potential design or usability flaw).263 The Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI) Myanmar coalition has many members that have devoted time to ensure equitable ICT access and are likely champions of efforts to close the gender digital divide. For example, Cindy Chaw Khin Khin is the Group CEO of MCC Group, which offers education and ICT services. She is also involved with CSOs such as Geek Girls (see section 4.4 below), the Myanmar Women Entrepreneurs Association, and the Asian Institute of Technology’s eWomen Project.264 The motivations of professional women in the ICT industry include business advantages, but also extend to serving as role models for other women to expand access at the top of the digital skills pyramid as well as the satisfaction of creating digital products for underserved women and girls at the bottom of the skills pyramid. Key informants very eloquently described how gender norms at work—from decision-making to business travel—shape access to and control of ICT jobs to create glass ceilings within the industry. SPOILERS Individuals and groups who have leveraged ties with the military and government officials to enrich themselves, their families, and their political interests are adept at operating in the shadows of Myanmar’s political economy. Oligarchs with vested interests in the telecommunications sector are potential spoilers for further liberalization, particularly for transparent and competitive tenders in the future that will affect key gender-digital-divide issues identified earlier, such as affordable data-plan pricing for individuals and reliable high-speed connectivity for institutions like schools and libraries. They could conceivably GSMA, Case Study, Ooredoo Myanmar: Myanmar, Mobile and Maternal Health, March 2015. Sarina Thapa, “Dr. Ram C. Bhujel Highlighted the AIT’s eWomen Project During Myanmar Economic Forum in Yangon, 11-12 January 2016,” Asian Institute of Technology, January 18, 2016. 263 264 Ending the Gender Digital Divide in Myanmar: A Problem-Driven Political Economy Assessment | 81