The first step that I took towards working on my business after graduating — The Startupreneur Venturer Program
Phuntshok Dechen Yangchen, Founder Guram
Phuntshok recently Graduated from the Royal Thimphu College and embarked on her journey of Entrepreneurship through a small candy business venture, Guram, that she started 2 years prior to joining the program.
Though this was a small-scale business, Phuntshok noticed the demand for her candy products, especially among tourists in Bhutan. As the unprecedented situation of Covid19 put a stop to Tourism — which was a major customer segment for Phuntshok — her business was put on a standstill. Phuntshok at the time even considered winding up her business.
Her experience with the Startupreneur Venturer Program brought to light certain aspects that revived her belief in her business and has now empowered her to take it to the next level.
Phuntshok started Guram, a candy business, where she along with two other business partners made traditional and authentic candies with Bhutanese Ingredients. Though Phuntshok did not have the slightest idea of making candies initially, she set up Guram with the intention of reducing the number of candy imports in Bhutan.
Despite the Bhutanese market having a high demand for candies, they lacked candy suppliers. This sparked a Business idea for Phuntshok and her teammates. They brought together spices and herbs, native to Bhutan and made candies! At the time GURAM garnered a lot of attention. Though her business initially focused on a niche segment of customers, especially tourists, hotels and the likes, Phuntshok’s future objectives are to make sure GURAM’s candies reach every Bhutanese.
Though Phuntshok did not have the slightest idea of making candies initially, she set up Guram with the intention of reducing the number of candy imports in Bhutan.
In 2019 Phuntshok won the Student Entrepreneurship Award in Bhutan, after which she had been given the opportunity to be at CapeTown but the Covid19 situation led to the event getting cancelled. Following the pandemic a lot of Phuntshok’s plans were at a halt, even her former partners phased out of the business. Guram also required a lot of capital and it was getting harder to sustain it. To add to the whole situation, her investor presentation meeting was also postponed around the same time and this is when she started to consider winding it up.
Phuntshok’s involvement in the Startupreneur Venturer Program gave her a new perspective for her business. The activities Phuntshok part-took in helped her clarify doubts and refine her Business Model to fit the current scenario.
Following the program, Phuntshok has a plan in place to revive her business. Her future plans include getting back on the Investor call and presenting her business idea to potential customers. She even utilised her quarantine period experimenting with some candy recipes and varieties she plans to introduce to her menu. Phuntshok is also looking to scale her business and has listed down the resources she will require to get her business back on track.
She also utilised activity templates in the modules of the platform, which have come to help her write better proposals for her future business endeavours, as she strings together the learnings from the modules. According to her, the write-ups can now be brought together to come up with a solid proposal, that she plans on distributing for further editing until she has a completely furnished proposal at hand.
The program acquainted Phuntshok to a lot of aspects of Entrepreneurship that she missed initially and has also given her a clear picture of how a professional business should look like. She can not only recollect but also apply in real-time the activities and concepts from the experiential program as an aspiring full-time entrepreneur and has also come to solidify her faith in the viability of her product.
The blend of theory and videos kept Phuntshok engaged throughout the course and has now made her even more confident about the concepts that she will be applying as she takes GURAM to a bigger platform.
As a part of the participant feedback activity, Ms. Phuntshok shared her experience on the Startupreneur Venturer platform.
This is a case study of a student participant in the Startupreneur Venturer program.
