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Alisher Ali knew on the morning of his second day in Myanmar that the long-closed country was a risk worth taking. Less than two months later he moved his wife and four children to crumbling, tree-lined Yangon and opened Myanmar’s first-ever investment bank with $1 million of his own money.
This places him in sparse company. While many chatter about the economic potential of one of the world’s last frontier markets, very few foreigners have actually set up shop. The first thing Ali had to do was explain to people in Myanmar, including some of his new employees, what an investment bank is.
AP