The first Loden Entrepreneurship Training Programme in Mongar a success
Coinciding with the 55th birth anniversary of the fourth king of Bhutan, Loden conducted its first entrepreneurship workshop in the eastern region of the country with 54 aspiring entrepreneurs gatheringin Mongar for the event. Loden has been conducting entrepreneurship training workshops annually in Thimphu since 2008 free of cost for thebenefit of young Bhutanese men and women. Based on its success, the Loden entrepreneurship programme in Thimphu is now biannual and an annual entrepreneurship training programme in the eastern part of Bhutan has been initiated. Loden decided to expand its efforts to the eastern region to provide equal opportunity to the young entrepreneurs from throughout Bhutan. In addition to providing interest-freecapital seed money to the aspiring entrepreneurs, Loden gives significant importance to the educational aspect of entrepreneurship both before and after providing financial support.
The training workshop was attended by 26 male and 28 female participants coming from a wide range of educational backgrounds and involved in all types of businesses. The profile of the participants reveal that some of them travelled from other dzongkhags to participate, some all the way from Tashi Yangtse, Tashi Gang, Lhuntse and Pema Gatsel districts. The participants were trained by international and local business professionals including Norbu Wangchuk from IMS on how to write business proposals, marketing and competition, etc. In order to ensure that all participants had full access to the training materials, presentations by international experts were delivered, as far as possible, in national language and local dialect, making the whole workshop highly interactive.
The representative of Mongar Municipality said, "The training workshop is significantly useful for both those who are already into business and also for potential entrepreneurs. We are extremely thankful for the Loden Foundation for bringing the opportunity to our door steps. Besides, we are excited to know that Loden provides interest-free capital seed money to young aspiring entrepreneurs and we are very much hopeful that today's participants will be fortunate enough to be one of the beneficiaries of the LEP (Loden Entrepreneurship Programme)". Another participant added, "there are many youngBhutanese people who would have started businesses but were limited in accessing finance due to the high interest rate and collateral requirements. With the interest and collateral free loan from the Loden Foundation, we are pretty hopeful that whoever benefits from theLEP scheme can run innovative business and help create employment opportunities for the younger generations ".
From 2008 to 2010 , 28 young entrepreneurs have received loans from Loden and it is expected that 15 new entrepreneurs will be selected in 2011.