"Myanmar-focused private equity firm Anthem Asia announced on Friday it invested over $1 million in an early-stage agri-business Shan Orchard Myanmar Ltd, the first investment from its $50-million Myanmar SME Venture Fund. Based close to Heho Airport located near the popular Inle Lake at Southern Shan State in Myanmar, Shan Orchard is an agriculture services business focusing on growing Hass avocados and processing avocado oil. It is led by seasoned agri-business entrepreneurs Nathan Naing Winn and Daniel Bennett, as well as local Myanmar female entrepreneur Thel Suu Thinzar Bo. The capital will be used for purchasing an avocado oil processing facility, support facilities, acquiring farmland and working capital. “The avocado oil processing will be running by the end of the year with supplies coming from dozens of local farmers. In future, we will also source international grade avocados from our own plantations,” said Shan Orchard co-founder Nathan Naing Winn, who has experiences in logistics, operations and finance. Shan Orchard is also leveraging its management expertise to add value with other higher-value crops: it is trialling higher-value rice types and plans to intercrop other high-value products with the avocado plant to maximise land use and improve seasonality..."