The short course helps participants scale up their products

Thukten Zangpo

Twenty Bhutanese start-ups and established business owners participated in the Australia Awards’ short course on business acceleration for entrepreneurs.

Started from November last year to April 22 this year, entrepreneurs learnt business expansion strategies and diversification skills.

Participants also conducted mentoring conversations with 20 successful Australian entrepreneurs, including women-owned, disability-focused, and indigenous entrepreneurs.

The course also facilitated participants to develop linkages online.




The participants also practised the use of practical scaling up tools like the one-page strategic plan, vision statement, and team performance sheet.

They also developed their vision statements, their unique selling propositions, strategic goals and key performance indicators, cash flow strategy, and strategies for their businesses linking their return to work plans (RWPs) to their strategic goals.

The course coordinator from Queensland University of Technology, Nelson Salangsang, said, the participant’s RWPs reflect how they applied their knowledge and skills gained from the course.




A participant, Jigme Tenzin, who is the founder of housing.bt, said the course would help them scale up their businesses, re-strategize long-term goals and diversify their products.

He said although there are initial funding supports for start-ups in the country, there is a lack of support on how to sustain and thrive the businesses after availing of funding which could have led to the non-performing loans.

Jigme Tenzin also said that diversifying the products requires market research, testing, trying the products, and industrial experts.




Another participant, Karma Chime, who is the founder of Bhutan Mountain Coffee,  said that the course has given them the motivation to expand their business and they now have sound knowledge on cash management, maintaining human resources, checking the goals, coffee branding, packaging, and meeting the international standards while exporting the product.

The Australian government, in partnership with the Ministry of Labour and Human Resources, supported the programme. Queensland University of Technology, in cooperation with AB Ventures and Royal Institute for Management Studies, delivered the programme.