Pearl Pyae's community contributions and entrepreneurial leadership

Edith Cowan University (ECU) School of Business and Law student, Pearl Pyae is studying a Master of Business Administration (MBA) International full-time, owns and manages a successful e-commerce store, works part-time, and volunteers her efforts and expertise to several committees and organisations.

Her outstanding contributions and efforts were recently recognised with a Zonta Area 3 Jane M. Klausman (JMK) Women in Business Scholarship.

The JMK Scholarships ultimately seeks to influence business decisions that positively affect women by increasing the number of women in executive positions in the field of business management.

Linda Tinning, District 23 JMK Scholarships Coordinator spoke highly of Pearl saying she demonstrated an understanding of Zonta International’s goals of supporting women.

"Pearl demonstrated a high academic standing, outstanding community involvement in Myanmar and Western Australia, strong entrepreneurial and business skills, and contributed to the lives of women through creating business opportunities, making her a worthy winner of the Scholarship." Ms Tinning said.

Pearl said that winning the Scholarship has been a significant turning point in her academic and professional journey.

"It has provided me with a newfound confidence in my abilities, a crucial source of financial support, and has also empowered me to pursue my academic and career goals with a greater sense of self-assuredness." Pearl said.

From Myanmar to Perth

Pearl grew up in Yangon, Myanmar and studied Computer Science at university. After graduation, she started up an e-commerce clothing store that continues to grow successes in the Yangon market.

To help expand and strengthen her business, she decided to seek further education by enrolling in an MBA International at ECU.

"Currently, I'm juggling remotely managing my e-commerce store, working part-time as an e-commerce assistant at a local motorcycle dealership and studying the MBA full-time," Pearl said.

"The MBA has really affected me a lot, it helps with communicating with people, it has shaped my personality and helped me improve so much."

ECU School of Business and Law's MBA Director, Dr Judy Lundy said that Pearl’s commitment to making a positive impact in her home and host countries through volunteering and growing her business with beneficial societal impacts in mind is commendable.

"These impacts, combined with her excellent academic results make her a worthy winner of the Area 3 Jane M. Klausman Women in Business Scholarship and we are very proud of her achievement." Dr Lundy said.

Contributing to the community through volunteering

Pearl is involved as a mentee in the Student Mentoring program at ECU and it was through this program, under the guidance of ECU MBA alumnus Martina Sarkoski, that she started volunteering as a Project Assistant at the Association for Culturally Appropriate Services (AfCAS).

"My role is to support the Volunteer Visiting Scheme, which helps provide companionship to elderly people from different cultures," Pearl said.

"As a Myanmar national, and being able to speak both Burmese and English, I was matched with an elderly woman from Myanmar living in aged care who was seeking companionship and wanting to speak in her mother tongue.

"I love doing volunteer work as I like to give back to the community. I’ve met some really amazing people through volunteering, and as I've come from a different country with a different culture on my own here, volunteering gives me the opportunity to meet with like-minded people, make friends and build a support network." Pearl said.

AfCAS Chair, Mary Gurgone said Pearl struck her as both hard-working and compassionate, bringing a positive attitude and sound computer and strategic skills to AfCAS.

"She made a positive difference to our website development and our recruitment. Best of all, she is willing to be a volunteer visitor to bring companionship to an isolated aged person from Myanmar who is so looking forward to her visits." Ms Gurgone said.

Overcoming gender barriers

The JMK Scholarship helps women pursue undergraduate and master's degrees in business management and overcome gender barriers from the classroom to the boardroom.

Reflecting on the JMK Scholarship, Pearl shares that leaders and organisations can do more to contribute to overcoming gender barriers.

"We need more recognition of women in business and encouragement from organisations," Pearl said.

"Training decision makers on unconscious bias to help promote inclusion and equal opportunity as well as offering flexible working arrangements are some examples that leaders and organisations can do to overcome gender barriers."

Pearl's contribution to breaking down gender barriers is also funnelled into her role as Marketing Director at ECU Women in Business.

"We are a supportive network within ECU's School of Business and Law, we create and promote opportunities for students in professional industries via professional events and mentoring programs," Pearl said.

"We also strive to eliminate gender inequality and discrimination in workplaces and plan to expand our focus to other diversity groups in the future."

Striving forward to your goals

With her excellent work ethic and hard work, there is no doubt Pearl is going from strength to strength.

Upon winning the Scholarship, Pearl shares that she feels more empowered and encouraged to pursue what she wants in business.

"After I graduate, I hope to join a multinational company here in Perth to gain some industry experience and apply my MBA learning into practice.

"I also want to apply my learnings to grow and expand my e-commerce store to create more jobs and employment opportunities back in Myanmar." Pearl said.

Find out more about the Zonta Jane M. Klausman Scholarship and ECU's MBA International.