Business plan competition worth 1 Crore announced for aspiring Tibetan entrepreneurs

FInance Kalon Karma Yeshi, Secretary Yeshi Wangmo and Thubten Samdup, Director of Tibet Innovations at the launch event

DHARAMSALA, April 2, 2019: A business plan competition worth one crore rupees has been announced for aspiring Tibetan entrepreneurs who can generate employment opportunities for Tibetan youth living in the Tibetan settlements across India.

The Youth Employment for Tibetans Initiative (YETI), a business plan competition will offer one crore rupees to an aspiring Tibetan entrepreneur as it aims to find a Tibetan entrepreneur who has the vision and the skills to create a sustainable business that will employ youths (not less than 20) living in the Tibetan settlements across India.

YETI Grand Challenge was announced for aspiring Tibetan entrepreneurs by Tibet Innovations in collaboration with the Tibet House Trust, London and Tibetan Entrepreneurship Development (TED) of the Department of Finance, CTA at a press conference held earlier here at Gangchen Kyishong, the Tibetan Secretariat.

“The inspiration for the YETI competition comes from the expressed concerns of His Holiness the Dalai Lama about the outflow of young Tibetans from the settlement camps in South India and the adverse effects this was having on the culture and viability of these vulnerable communities,” Tibet Innovations who sponsored the prize money said in their press release.

The YETI Grand Challenge offers one crore rupees (equivalent to 10 million rupees), the largest cash prize ever offered to aspiring Tibetan entrepreneurs. The entry is open till August 1, 2019.

CTA’s Finance Kalon(Minister) Karma Yeshi and Director of Tibet Innovations and former Representative of the Office of Tibet in England, Thubten Samdup addressed the gathering at the launch event.

Kalon Karma Yeshi spoke highly of the initiative and said that it is in line with 15th Kashag’s 5-50 vision as it encourages self-reliance among Tibetans.

The initiative seeks to see a decline in the outflow of Tibetan youth from settlement camps in search of employment.

The competition is open to all aspiring Tibetan entrepreneurs with business ideas, provided they are above 18 years old, holds an updated green book and that their proposal fulfils all the law of the land.

While the applicants can be from any settlement camps but their proposals should be centred on a Tibetan settlement camp.

The prize money will be awarded to the winning proposal on Oct 25, 2019. This sum will be awarded in a series of grants that will cover business start-up costs and ongoing operations.

Tibet Innovations launched a dedicated website for the YETI Grand Challenge; it was created along with the CTA’s TED.

The applicants can file their entries which meet the parameters such as the details of eligibility requirements from the website which also has a number of resources at its disposal for the applicants to help them develop their ideas into a business plan.

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