The Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Employment (MoICE) deserves genuine credit. Achieving 192 of 193 key performance indicators (KPIs), or 99.5 percent, is no small accomplishment. In an age when government institutions are increasingly measured against clearly defined targets, the result reflects discipline, coordination and a strong commitment to delivery.
It is an excellent job. But it is not the finished job. And that distinction is important.
Targets tell us whether institutions have delivered what they committed to do. They do not, by themselves, guarantee the ultimate outcome. A ministry can meet nearly every target and the economy may still struggle to generate thriving businesses, sustainable jobs and productive investment. Startups can close. Industrial parks can remain underutilised. Businesses can continue to struggle with access to finance.
MoICE’s report shows that much of the groundwork has been laid. Regulations have been eased, investment promoted, infrastructure developed and businesses supported. These are important achievements and among the most important things government can do: create the conditions in which enterprise can flourish.
But a ministry cannot build every successful business, compel banks to finance every viable idea, guarantee that every startup survives or ensure that every industrial plot becomes productive. The reality is already before us. We are still grappling with access to finance, hearing of startups that have closed, while some industrial parks remain far from optimally utilised.
This is where the responsibility becomes broader.
Economic transformation is a shared undertaking. Entrepreneurs must take risks. Businesses must innovate and compete. Financial institutions must back viable ideas and commit capital. Workers must build the skills the economy demands. Consumers must support productive local enterprises. Communities must welcome enterprise.
Government can open the door. The rest of us must walk through it.
MoICE’s 99.5 percent performance is a powerful affirmation that much has been achieved. More importantly, the report makes clear that the Ministry understands what remains to be done and where further effort is needed.
The question now turns to the rest of us.
Are entrepreneurs ready to seize the opportunities? Are businesses prepared to expand and compete regionally and internationally? Are banks willing to finance growth? Are we, as consumers and citizens, prepared to support enterprises that create jobs at home?
Bhutan’s economic future will not be built by one ministry, one minister or one government. It will be built when government, businesses, entrepreneurs, financial institutions and citizens move in the same direction.
The real measure of the 99.5 percent will come years from now, not in the number of KPIs achieved, but in the number of thriving businesses, productive jobs and prosperous families that emerge from the foundations being laid today.
If 5,285 industries established in one year are to mean something, most must survive, grow, employ, produce and export. If 61 startups have been operationalised, they must further grow and become sustainable enterprises. And the strong appetite for entrepreneurship that we see today in the report, must remain alive, vigorous and growing.
The government may prepare the field. But it will take the whole nation working together to make it flourish.
