December 3, 2020 Tha Bar Wa Project organised an online workshop called “Sustainable Production and Responsible Business” for food and beverage (F&B) businesses, in collaboration with the Ministry of Planning, Finance, and Industry, the SME Development Department, Tha Bar Wa’s partners: Myanmar Food Exporter and Processor Association (MFPEA), Savings Banks Foundation for International Cooperation (SBFIC), and Responsible Business Fund RBF-Myanmar.

The workshop presented ways to implement sustainable production, wastewater treatment plants, energy efficiency, and green finance for F&B businesses by experts. 129 businesses from food and beverage sector attended this online session. Questions related to green finance were answered and explained by experts from SBFIC.

Marking their fifth call for Myanmar businesses, the Responsible Business Fund shared details to participating SMEs (the fund provides up to 30% - 40% of total investment in green/responsible business practices). SMEs showed interest, as investment and access to finance is a common challenge when they want to start applying cleaner production practices in their businesses.

Tha Bar Wa project is funded by the European Union under the SWITCH-Asia Programme. It promotes cleaner production within the food and beverage industry by promoting wastewater treatment plants, energy efficiency, and renewable energy. It supports financial institutions to offer banking products designed specifically for cleaner production.