Come next year, entrepreneurs in the country will have an online entrepreneur mentoring programme. “Star Mentor” a group of youth has won the first-ever design challenge to develop a prototype of an online platform. Four teams participated in the challenge which was organized by YDF Innovate Bhutan with support from UNICEF to create online platforms for entrepreneurship mentoring.
“Star Mentor” team comprising four participants with IT background were thrilled to have their hard work of five days win the first prize. They received a cash prize of Nu 30,000.
The team said, for now, the country doesn’t have any online platform for entrepreneurship mentoring. So, before innovating this prototype, the team talked with entrepreneurs to understand the reality.
“So, when we interviewed both the mentors and mentees, they shared their concerns and the challenges they have faced during their journey towards mentorship. From that, we tried to gather the requirements and the solutions. Most of them have mentioned that there is a lack of certified and qualified mentors. And there is no platform where they can interact with each other. So, these are the two main concerns,” said Yeshi Tshomo, a member of the Team.
She added that if their prototype gets developed into a website, it will be user-friendly.
“The unique feature is that, first of all, there are tutorial videos where people can watch and understand how to use it. There is also a special tutorial for persons with disabilities and another unique feature is the audio feature. It is useful for people who don’t know how to read both Dzongkha and English. And one last unique feature is that a mentee can become a mentor through this innovation and also a mentee can interact with another mentee.”
InnoMento team won the second prize.
Officials from Innovate Bhutan said that IT professionals will develop the prototype into a website by January next year.
Namgay Dema
Edited by Tshering Zam
