Yangon Bakehouse

The Yangon Bakehouse is a social enterprise dedicated “to working with disadvantaged women in need of a second chance, providing them with skills to earn a livelihood and them placing them in a restaurant/café or domestic culinary employment.” The Bakehouse employs around 65 people, including a set of apprentices who are engaged in a 10-month training program. Other employees work at the restaurant/coffee shop in Yangon; the baking and cooking facility, which also provides catering services; spaces used for classroom training; and certain on-site locations, such as the Coca Cola company’s lunch canteen. The Bakehouse identifies potential participants for its programs through its relationships with other organizations that serve vulnerable women, including PACT, the YWCA, Akhaya, and others. Participants in the program generally must be 18-45 and may not be HIV-positive.