The Department of Cottage and Small Industry (DCSI) under the Ministry of Economic Affairs organized the 3rd Annual Cottage and Small Industries (CSI) Fair from November 22-24, 2019 coinciding with the Global Entrepreneurship Week. H.E. Yeshey Penjor, Minister for Agriculture and Forests graced the opening of three days annual CSI Fair at Changlimithang. The main objectives of the fair were to display CSI products, exchange ideas and to bring about inter-business network and cooperation amongst the CSIs for their growth and development.
The Annual CSI Fair is expected to become one of the most significant events for our cottage and small industry entrepreneurs in not only selling their products and earning income, but also in bringing many startups and CSI entrepreneurs together, so that they get to develop inter-business networks among themselves. This would enable them to further diversify and intensify their business ideas, products and services, thus contributing towards the economic growth of the nation and more so towards economic diversification of the country.
During the CSI fair, the winners of Bhutan Enterprise Award 2019 were announced in the following different categories:
- Yeshi Yangden Dorji – Cottage Scale Entrepreneur of the year
- Dolay Tshering – Small Scale Entrepreneur of the year
- Rinzin Wangchuk & Wangchuk Kuenga – Rural Entrepreneur of the year
- Dema Tshering – Woman Entrepreneur of the year
- Kamal Raj Gurung – IT or IT enabled Service Entrepreneur of the year
The objective of the award is to increase awareness and appreciation of the role of entrepreneurship in our society, so that we can encourage people to look beyond the common trend of getting employed rather than “Safe Employment”. Therefore, to recognize and reward the contribution of cottage and small industries to the socio-economic growth of the nation and to develop the culture of entrepreneurship at all levels of the society, the Bhutan Enterprise Award has been instituted in 2013.
Also, during the fair, the new CSI products were launched. The intention of the launch was to help the Startups and CSIs to gain better access to market and also help in promotion and introduction of new products to customers. These new CSI products are introduced to the market with the hope that it will reach to every one of us and beyond. The ultimate goal of such production and launching is to strive towards import reduction and self-sufficiency and ultimately achieve economic reliance in our country.