One aspect that has changed over the last decades as Bhutan becomes more developed is the unwillingness of the younger generation to inherit and work on the family farm. Instead, they prefer to go to college and get an education in a plethora of majors in order to find a job they want. Only to realize that finding that job can be more difficult than they realized since Bhutan has a small population and a uniform economy. Which is why the youth unemployment rate was 15.7% in 2018. Thankfully, the government has recognized this problem and is working on diversifying their economy in order to promote growth of the private sector and employment generation. While also decreasing it dependency of importing fossil fuels such as diesel and petrol.
However, the college students have also recognized this problem and are working on way to not only increase the diversity of Bhutan’s Economy but also seek entrepreneurship at the same time. The Mekong Business Challenge is an annual challenge that dares students pitch, market, produce, and sell their ideas in order to win the prize of attending the International Business Modeling College hosted in the U.S. We heard presentations from three groups that explained why they chose to create this product as well as opposition they faced along the way. The first group created a wine with a low alcohol content ranging from 1.8-3.2% that is made from fruits such as pineapples, plums, and pears. The second produced the first Bhutanese candy that is healthy because it is made with honey and an assortment of spices. The third group created a form of aquaponics, the combination of farming both fish and plants using the properties of both. Which happened to be the group that interested me the most because of my major in Animal Science. But I will admit, the candy from the second group was really good.
All in all, Bhutan is encouraging the assistance of the youth to seek out solutions in an overwhelming problem. This way, the youth can create jobs they will enjoy doing while benefiting the economic diversity they work diligently to achieve. Since economic vulnerability due to their reliance of hydropower is the only thing preventing them from becoming a developed country.
Richard K.
Comments