Tharay Sithu Aung Ko Win ( my, အောင်ကိုဝင်း; also known as Saya Kyaung) is a Burmese business tycoon and former school teacher. He owns several businesses in Myanmar under the Kanbawza (KBZ) brand in the finance, agriculture, aviation, manufacturing and tourism sectors.

Education

He graduated with BSc in Chemistry from

Mandalay University Mandalay University (also translated as University of Mandalay; my, မန္တလေးတက္ကသိုလ် ) is a public liberal arts and science university located in Mandalay, Myanmar and one of the sixteen autonomous universities un ...

Career

Aung Ko Win was a teacher, then he switched to tutoring before going into trading and mining. He has close connections to General

Maung Aye Vice Senior General Maung Aye ( my, မောင်အေး ; born 25 December 1937) is a Burmese military official who was Vice Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), the ruling military junta of Myanmar, from July 1993 to ...

, the second in command of the former military junta, the

State Peace and Development Council The State Peace and Development Council ( my, နိုင်ငံတော် အေးချမ်းသာယာရေး နှင့် ဖွံ့ဖြိုးရေး ကောင်စီ ; abbreviated SPDC or , ) was the offi ...

(SPDC). While Maung Aye was a commander in

jade Jade is a mineral used as jewellery or for ornaments. It is typically green, although may be yellow or white. Jade can refer to either of two different silicate minerals: nephrite (a silicate of calcium and magnesium in the amphibole group of ...

-mining region of

Shan State Shan State ( my, ရှမ်းပြည်နယ်, ; shn, မိူင်းတႆး, italics=no) also known by the Endonym and exonym, endonyms Shanland, Muang Tai, and Tailong, is a administrative divisions of Myanmar, state of Myanmar. ...

, Maung Aye offered Aung Ko Win jade and gem mining concessions. His trading and mining business prospered, and two years later, he bought the banking operation. Then he moved KBZ and his family to Yangon in the late 1990s, when there were only 4 branches. Now there are 485, and KBZ expects to reach 500 by the end of 2017. He has also served as the chairman of the Myanmar Jades, Gems & Jewellery Entrepreneurs, Republic of The Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce & Industry (UMFCCI),

Myanmar Football Federation The Myanmar Football Federation (MFF) ( my, မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ ဘောလုံး အဖွဲ့ချုပ်) is the governing body of football in Myanmar. The MFF oversees the Burmese men's national team, the women ...

, Myanmar Anti-Narcotics Association and Border Area Development Association, Myanmar.

Personal life

He is married to Nang Than Htwe, the niece of Win Myint, a former

official. He has 3 daughters. His wife is Deputy Chairman of KBZ, while his daughters serve as directors within the company. Two daughters are Deputy CEOs of KBZ Bank. His brother-in-law, Major-General Zaw Myint Naing was appointed vice-governor of the Central Bank of Myanmar in August 2022.

Awards and honours

Awards

On 4 January 2021, the

President of Myanmar The president of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar () is the head of state and constitutional head of government of Myanmar. The president leads the Cabinet of Myanmar, the executive branch of the Burmese government. The current presiden ...

awarded him the country's highest medal of honour and title " Tharay Sithu" in the category of "

Pyidaungsu Sithu Thingaha The Order of the Union of Myanmar ( my, ပြည်ထောင်စုစည်သူသင်္ဂဟ ) is the highest civilian decoration bestowed by the government of Myanmar (also known as Burma). The order was founded on 2 September 1 ...

" (Order of the Union of Myanmar). Aung Ko Win was awarded the "State Excellence Award" (2013, 2014, 2015) from the President of Myanmar for contributions to Myanmar and "Special Honorary State Excellence Award" 2014 and 2015 for the largest contribution to the Myanmar State Tax & Revenue Department and for community donations. In 2015, Aung Ko Win accepted "The Banker of the Year Award" in Asia 2015 award at a ceremony held at the London Stock Exchange on 3 December. In 2016, he accepted "The Banker Awards" (2016) ceremony held at the Hilton London Bankside Hotel in London on 7 December. In 2017, he was awarded with the ASEAN's "The Legacy Award" conferred on him by the ASEAN Business Advisory Council-ABAC on 6 September in

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

, Philippines.

Honours

Ordine dell'Unione Birmana - divisione civile (Birmania)

Tharay Sithu of the Pyidaungsu Sithu Thingaha Order of the Union of Myanmar

References

{{Authority control Burmese businesspeople Mandalay University alumni