DHARAMSHALA: Sikyong Dr Lobsang Sangay today inaugurated the second Tibetan GameChangers Conference organised by Tibetan Entrepreneurship Development (TED), an initiative of the Department of Finance, Central Tibetan Administration (CTA).

At least eighty Tibetan entrepreneurs and budding businessmen including clothing designers, cycling tour managers, photographers, coaching institute managers, retailers, tour operators, etc. are participating in the two-day conference.

Inaugurating the conference, Sikyong urged the Tibetan public to cultivate ideas of economic development through entrepreneurship and investments. He also recalled a statement His Holiness the Dalai Lama made in San Francisco a few years back where His Holiness expressed a desire to see self-made Tibetan millionaires and billionaires in the future.

Sikyong therefore – to fulfill His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s noble vision – reaffirmed the CTA’s full assistance through seed funding and investment awards and guidance though comprehensive training and workshops to promote entrepreneurship and economic development in the Tibetan community.

Sikyong further emphasised the importance of generating creative business ideas to start a business. “It is not money that starts a successful business, it is an idea that create the spark for a successful business,” he said, adding that if the idea is there, the CTA through the Finance department will render whatever assistance in terms of training and capital loans required to make the business a success.

Sikyong further gave a rough outline of the financial structure of the Tibetan people as a whole. “Around 526 Crores (in INR) are deposited in banks as savings by the Tibetan people and over 1570 Crores are available in liquid assets. At the same time, the Tibetan people have taken 620 Crores as loans from banks to start businesses,” he said.

“It is an interesting scenario,” he noted. “If you look at the disposable assets and the savings deposits, it is a huge amount as compared to the loans taken by the Tibetan people to start businesses. Therefore, it goes on to show that the Tibetan people are generally risk averse and that we are content with the minor interest rates being provided by banks as opposed to taking risks to start businesses.”

“We Tibetans also suffer from a chronic imitation business culture. If one individual succeeds in a particular business, others follow suit expecting similar results. However, a healthy economy doesn’t work like that. We need to be diverse and creative,” he added.

Sikyong further emphasised business with ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) among Tibetan businesses and entrepreneurs. “If Tibetan entrepreneurs succeed, it would help in developing the macro Tibetan economy. Successful Tibetan businessmen could also contribute towards social causes like businessmen in the west do,” he said.

Sikyong also expressed optimistically that in the next 15-20 years time, the Tibetan community should be entirely self-reliant without depending on foreign funds and contributions.

Finance Kalon Mr Karma Yeshi, in his address, explained the aims and objectives of the conference and underlined self-reliance as one of the most important goals to achieve based on the three guiding principles of the Kashag.

He also gave an introduction of the Tibetan Entrepreneurship Development and the initiatives taken by the section to boost entrepreneurship in the Tibetan community.

“We have introduced many initiatives through TED to bolster the entrepreneurship knowledge such as Pre Incubation training for budding entrepreneurs, legal and advisory support to entrepreneurs, business plan competitions, incubation support, nurturing youth entrepreneurs and TED Nepal initiatives, etc,” Kalon said.

“TED has also sent six Tibetan students in the last three years to participate in the Global Scholar’s Program in South Africa,” he added.

The two-day GameChangers conference, in line with the objectives of TED, is aimed at creating an annual platform for collaboration, innovation and networking between Tibetan Entrepreneurs and the world. It enables Tibetan entrepreneurs to build networks, enrich knowledge, and connect mentors and investors to pitch their business ideas on the given platform.

The conference was initiated after analyzing the current needs of the nascent Tibetan entrepreneurship ecosystem to ensure a profound transformation from the current business culture within the Tibetan community towards a system at par with mainstream entrepreneurs at national and global level.

Speakers and juries at the conference include Mr Chandra Kant, Advisory Board Member and Strategy Consultant; Mr Arvind Rao, Founder & CEO – IVEDA; Mr Jeremy Wade, Founding Director – JSiE; Mr M. Sathya Kumar, Chartered Accountant; Ms Alpana Srivastava, Associate – Asha Impact; etc.