Kuzu zangpo la
Sometimes you have a heart felt country connection and for us Bhutan is one of those.
Recently at the Business Acceleration for Entrepreneurs (Bhutan) program Graduation Ceremony, guests included Kunzang Ihamu, Officiating Secretary, Director General for Entrepreneurship Division of MOLHR; Karma Tenzin and Australia Awards colleagues; Rikesh and Regita from AB Ventures; QUT colleagues Nelson Salangsang, Karen Lawrence and Graham Poon, participants and guests.
Arriving at the end of the program it is important to look back and see how far participants have come.
When we began the course back in November 2021 participants may have been unsure as to where you might take your business, how you and your team would benefit, and how COVID-19 could still have an impact on what you are working on.
Back then we asked you to bring your energy and enthusiasm, be involved, share your experience, ask questions and help the training team and mentors, to help you to make the most of this opportunity.
For some of you the pandemic has meant that you’ve needed to change what you are doing, discover new products and services, improve your online presence and branding, and find new ways of working. So, you could think that doing this course at that time would be even more challenging… but it is evident that this course came at exactly the right time for you.
And as entrepreneurs we are used to solving problems… because we must and also because we look for them. Having a fallback plan, alongside a fresh vision and mission, knowing your strengths and weaknesses, where you can expand into global markets, was all part of this program.
It is unique to have the opportunity to really do things differently, to try out new products, reach out to partners, mentors and speakers in Australia and Bhutan.
You pulled together your BHAG sometimes after much rewriting, your strategy, approaches to managing your team, cash and resources, applying Scaling Up Growth Tools.
Core learning covered scaling up people, strategy, execution and cash, with the part of execution ongoing and never ending.
- Module 1: The Leaders; The Team: The Managers; Mentoring Culture & GNH Values; GEDSI
- Module 2: The Core & GNH Values; The 7 Strata of Strategy; The One Page Strategic Plan
- Module 3: The Priority; The Data; The Meeting Rhythm
- Module 4: The Cash; The Accounting; The Power of One
- Module 5: Growth, Innovation, Diversification
You assessed your habits as leaders and entrepreneurs, developed knowledge in business operations, explored growth and diversification, and essential skills of leaders and scale ups of management, negotiation, marketing and promotion, financial planning and business planning relevant to your business. Developing networks with Australians, adopting innovative practices, encouraging business development, and strengthening sustainability.
And it important to remember that many entrepreneurs and founders do not get to the stage of scaling up – which we know from working with 1000’s of Australian entrepreneurs.
Hearing your progress and implementation of your Return-to-Work Plans is inspiring as for some of you there have been some big changes, for others smaller steps, but all of you have made a difference to your business and yourself.
This short course was designed with you front of mind, understanding the Bhutanese context and by people who care deeply about the country. Meeting people from Australia who did not have any idea where Bhutan is… but now they know. So aside from being a representative of your organisation, you are an Ambassador for Bhutan.
The QUT team introduced you to mentors and people in their networks, and it was important for you to search and seek out those people that you’d like to be connected with.
Thank you to all participants, you have been wonderful to work with and congratulations on your graduation day. Tashi Delek.
And it is wonderful to see participants and the program profiled in Bhutan including:
Australia Awards trains 20 Bhutanese entrepreneurs
𝟏𝟖 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐁𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐀𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐄𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐮𝐫𝐬