Employment: A second year student of Gaeddu College of Business (GCBS) is putting his theoretical knowledge on entrepreneurship to good use.

Dorji Tshering, who is currently pursuing  his business degree in entrepreneurship, is also successfully running a printing and photocopy business at his college.

The 25-year-old is making an average of Nu 35,000 monthly from his business.

To address the shortage of printing facilities at the college, Dorji Tshering decided to open a shop last year. “There were only two such facilities in the college where students could complete their assignments,” he said. “The shortage became grave when submission dates collided among different courses.”

Dorji Tshering’s printing shop along with two privately owned photocopy and printing facilities are catering their services to some 1,500 students at the college.

“Completing assignments on time is one thing, printing it and giving the finishing touches at the last moment is one of the biggest challenges faced by students at colleges,” said Dorji Tshering. “I wanted to ease this pressure with my business idea and deliver effective services to the students here, including myself.”

But before his idea to start a printing business at the college, Dorji Tshering had also opened a TashiCell extension outlet in 2014 at the college. Along with some of his college friends, Dorji Tshering sold SIM and data cards and helped students and locals fix their mobile and network problems at the outlet.

Dorji Tshering always wanted to venture into business even before he decided to study the subject in college.

In 2012, after completing class XI from Mongar Higher Secondary School, Dorji Tshering opened the first general shop in his village Waringla.

Considered to be one of the remotest villages in Mongar dzongkhag, Waringla had no shops until Dorji Tshering decided to come up with one.    “It was difficult setting up a shop with not much investment in hand,” he said. “But maybe because it’s the only shop in the village, the business is great and today it is still operating under my sister.”

Today Dorji Tshering is a successful entrepreneur. With an investment of about Nu 300,000 he makes a minimum of Nu 1,000 everyday from his business. Apart from earning an average of Nu 35,000 every month, he has also employed one of his cousins at his printing shop. Dorji Tshering provides his employee with a salary of around Nu 4,500.

Started with only one machine, today Dorji Tshering has two large printing and photocopy machines, and a binding and lamination machine each.

In 2015, Dorji Tshering was the recipient of the Loden SEED (Student Empowerment through Entrepreneurship Development) programme of Loden Foundation. The programme focused on providing entrepreneurial education to college and school students.

In the same year he was also declared the winner of the first Bhutan Student Entrepreneurship Award in Thimphu.

Along with his profitable photocopy business, Dorji Tshering also runs “Dorji Souvenir”, where he sells gifts and other stationeries.

“I’ve couple of more business ideas that I would like to develop once I complete my college,” said Dorji Tshering. “Extraction of oil from plastic waste and mass organic farming are some of the few ideas I’ve in the pipeline currently.”

Younten Tshedup