IFISE Magazine - August 2017 FED Report

FED REPORT August 2017
From the desk of Vice President (Bhutan)
ENTREPRENEURSHIP in BHUTAN
A. COUNTRY BACKGROUND
Bhutan is a small country with a population of about 0.8 million and a land area of 38,
394 sq.km. It has a forest cover of about 71% and the Constitution of Bhutan states that
Bhutan shall maintain forest cover of 60% for all times in the future. About 51.40 % of
the land areas constitute protected and biological corridors. At present, Bhutan is a
carbon negative country.
The GDP Per Capita(2015) is US$ 2718.00. However, 70% of the population still depend
on agriculture. Bhutan is still classified under LDC and it is expected to graduate from
these states by 2020. The real economic development started in the 1960s. In the past
2 decades, Bhutan has progressed so much in terms of economy and development of
various infrastructures. The domestic revenues at present meet up only about 60% of
the programmed plans and activities.
B. ENTREPRENEURSHIP SITUATION & CHALLENGES
In terms of entrepreneurship development, the country is still at an infant stage. Due
to the small size of population, business sustainability is a major issue. Over the last
5 years, hundreds of small and micro business has come up. However, the Bhutanese
people in general lack the true spirit of entrepreneurship owing to many reasons.
Most of the big businesses are still run by old-timers and lack proper educational
background.
In general, the following are the major challenges faced by the
entrepreneurs of Bhutan:
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