The Labour Ministry is helping aspiring entrepreneurs materialize business ideas into reality through their Bhutan New Venture Challenge. The programme that looks at the practicality and sustainability of the ideas provides financial support in the form of cash prizes for the best business ideas.
An aspiring entrepreneur since his college days, 25-year-old Durgay Ghalley never stopped pursuing what he loves doing. After his Diploma in electrical engineering, today, he has come up with the business idea to manufacture different watts and sizes of LED lighting products.
The light-emitting diode (LED) is believed to use less energy than conventional bulbs. LED is energy efficient and more durable.
Durgay says he will import the raw materials and assemble the parts which can reduce the price of the finished products. His ingenuity was recognised today. He received a cash price of Nu 250,000 for standing first in the general category of the Bhutan New Venture Challenge.
“It is important to establish a Lighting plant in the country and substitute old lighting products like incandescent and CFL with LED. This can greatly save the energy consumption in the country,” he said.
The challenge program received 40 entries with different business ideas like edible oils, turnip chips, and dairy farms among others. The theme for the general category was “Business for a Greener Tomorrow.” In the student category, there were nine entries with the theme “Business for a better community.”
Karma Yeshi, the winner of the Student Category says his business idea will cater to students. “Jahoen GunHoen CNR service shop collects fresh produce from the farmers and we deliver it to our customers. This is important as about 80 per cent of the students are staying as self-catering and they need fresh nutritious vegetables,” he added.
According to the ministry, 10 winners of the Bhutan New venture challenge 2020 have already started their businesses and are doing well.
“Earlier, we recognized the novelty of ideas but we never looked at the aspect where the idea can be materialized into an actual venture. The Bhutan Venture Challenge stands out because this is a programme where we identify genuine aspiring entrepreneurs and this is a program, which focuses on the novelty of the idea,” said Sangay Wangchuk, the Program Officer with the Department of Employment and Entrepreneurship.
The second and the third prize recipient of the general category also got a cash prize of Nu 175,000 and Nu 125,000 respectively. The top two entries in the student category also received a cash price of Nu 100,000 each.
The ministry is planning to further increase the cash prize amount to Nu 500,000 and one million depending on the success of the challenge programme.
Kinley Dem
Edited by Sonam
