Initiative shifts focus to employment, entrepreneurship and building a skilled workforce for GMC and Bhutan’s wider economy
Nearly 1,000 young Bhutanese have completed Pelsung’s programmes in its first year, as the initiative shifts its focus from youth immersion and skills development towards creating practical opportunities in employment, entrepreneurship and national development projects.
Launched by His Majesty King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck on October 7, 2025, Pelsung is a flagship youth capability-building and innovation platform established to prepare Bhutanese youth to contribute to Gelephu Mindfulness City (GMC) and the country’s wider economic transformation.
Marking its first anniversary on October 7 this year, Pelsung reported that more than 981 young Bhutanese, known as Pelsups, had participated in its three completed cohorts, supported by more than 20 partner organisations.
The initiative aims to address a key challenge in Bhutan’s development: translating ideas and available talent into practical results. Rather than functioning as a conventional training programme, Pelsung combines immersion with specialised capability development, institutional placements, innovation projects and pathways into employment and entrepreneurship.
For Yoga Prasad Chapagai, a member of Pelsung’s first cohort, the programme has provided an opportunity to move from exploring ideas to building a business around a practical need.
Chapagai is working on KACHEN, a zero-waste initiative aimed at developing an integrated waste management system for GMC. His work earned him the Pelsung Entrepreneur of the Year award during the anniversary celebrations.
“For me, I could take out the skills that I gained over the years and dive into entrepreneurship. I wanted to create a backbone for the future GMC, and one of the founding pillars would be a proper integrated waste management system. That is exactly where we have been working,” he said.
His experience reflects the programme’s broader ambition to develop young people who can identify problems, design solutions and implement projects that respond to the needs of emerging industries and institutions.
Pelsung launched its annual report during the anniversary programme, outlining its progress, challenges and priorities for the coming year.
The report highlights the importance of moving beyond the initial three-month immersion programme to ensure participants can apply their skills in meaningful work. Pelsung says 155 participants are currently engaged across 32 active workstream teams, while others have progressed into employment, specialised placements, innovation projects and further capability development.
Five specialised mini-cohorts have also been established to develop skills for specific institutional and sectoral requirements. Participants are contributing to projects, including conceptual designs for GMC’s Central Park and the One Thimphu Project.
Pelsung’s approach centres on two main pathways: Professional Readiness, which prepares young people for employment in GMC and emerging sectors; and Innovation, which supports participants seeking to develop businesses and solutions around economic opportunities.
The Professional Readiness pathway has recorded early progress, with about 40 participants placed with the GMC Authority and GMC companies. The programme is increasingly working backwards from employers’ needs to identify the skills and capabilities required for specific roles.
However, building a commercially successful startup ecosystem remains a challenge. Pelsung currently has 23 active startups, but none has yet reached the level of commercial maturity the programme ultimately hopes to achieve.
The first year has exposed gaps in market access, specialised expertise, mentoring and capital. Addressing these constraints will be essential to helping entrepreneurs move beyond promising ideas towards viable businesses capable of generating revenue and employment.
Pelsung’s Executive Director, Phub Dorji, said partnerships with government agencies, international organisations, foreign partners and local businesses had been central to the initiative’s achievements.
“For Pelsung, the question of what makes the difference, and the answer is always our partners. Whether it is our partnership with government agencies, international agencies, foreign partners or local businesses, whatever we have accomplished has been made possible through our partnerships,” he said.
In its second year, Pelsung plans to strengthen the connection between participants’ skills and actual employment opportunities by developing a demand registry identifying the occupations and capabilities required by GMC companies and emerging industries.
The registry is expected to help align specialised training, apprenticeships and placements with workforce demand, reducing the gap between training young people and finding opportunities for them to contribute.
The initiative also plans to improve its alumni tracking system to monitor participants’ employment, skills development, project experience and contributions to their workplaces. The information will help identify capability gaps and inform future programme design.
For startups, the priority will be to improve access to markets, specialised services, mentoring and investment opportunities, while making the transition from immersion to entrepreneurship, employment or further training more structured.
Pelsung’s longer-term ambition extends beyond GMC. It seeks to build a national network of capable Bhutanese who can contribute across government, businesses, startups and development projects, helping translate national priorities into tangible outcomes.
Tashi Namgyal, Thimphu
