Housing.Bt Received Funding From An Investor Through The Jab-Chor Platform For Young Entrepreneurs In Bhutan

At 2,334 m above sea level, Thimphu is the fifth highest capital city by altitude, after La Paz in Bolivia (3,640m), Quito in Ecuador (2,850m), Bogota in Colombia (2,625) and Addis Ababa in Ethiopia (2,355). (Source: Vietravel)

By Phurpa Lhamo | Kuensel

Of the five business ideas pitched at the first Jab-Chor platform on December 24, housing.bt, by Jigme Tenzin received funding from an investor.

Jab-Chor is a platform for young Bhutanese entrepreneurs to nurture and grow their business ideas through access to finance. It is supported by legally executed business partnership deed that is recognised by the laws of Bhutan.

Why Housing.bt was selected

Housing.bt, a real estate agency market in Bhutan, received the funding required for further development of the business through the platform. It will use the capital for its fixed assets and working capital.

Photo: Yarkay Group

The Yarkay Group Private Limited supported Housing.bt with Nu 2 million. The managing director of Yarkay Group Private Limited, Phub Zam, said that setting an example for investors to support young entrepreneurs is important.

“Hearing the governor speaking about supporting youth with such passion, I also thought that we should do something for our youth,” she said.

“Housing.bt is a business where we don’t need to import much, where the market is within Bhutan and the service receivers are here.”

Other business ideas pitched include: Freelancer Bhutan—a freelance portal to provide services to the clients, Chechay Sanitary Pads which seeks to produce sanitary pads with comfortable features at a cheaper rate, Eco Waste Solution and Green Path, both with aims to manage waste efficiently.

Contributions from various institutions in Bhutan for this initiative

Various institutions were involved in the initiative. Thimphu TechPark Limited (TTPL) selects youth groups with potential ideas requiring equity as seed or start-up fund while the Bhutan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) provides a formal channel to coordinate the participation of investors through the registration process.

Photo: Thimphu Techpark

The company registry division facilitates the understandings of contract terms, business rules and mediate entrepreneurs with support from the Royal Monetary Authority (RMA) legal team.

In addition, the Royal Securities Exchange of Bhutan also helps entrepreneurs develop their offer documents and carry out the evaluation process to select the start-ups for the business pitching session.

The Deputy Governor, Yangchen Tshogyel, said that the BCCI will continue to seek investors for the four entrepreneurs who had also pitched their ideas at the platform.

Plans to institutionalise the platform - Jab-Chor

She added that the agencies would now work towards the institutionalisation of Jab-Chor for a more structured and sustainable firm.

“We started Jab-Chor as a pilot project. Now we have to talk with different partners to see who can carry it forward in a structured way. After institutionalisation, the agencies will look into new entrepreneurs. A competitive selection process will also be established.”

The agencies will also work with the stock exchange in coming up with a crowd-funding platform in future.

“We are looking at donations, rewards as well as equity. The beauty of crowd-funding is that it is about the distribution of risks and many people can participate in it. Crowd-funding could be an option for the remaining four entrepreneurs,” Yangchen Tshogyel said.

This article first appeared in kuensel  and has been edited for the new Bhutan Times.