DHARAMSHALA: The Tibetan Entrepreneurship Development (TED), an initiative of the Department of Finance, Central Tibetan Administration, in partnership with the Dalai Lama Foundation in Canada, today launched ‘Sikyong Entrepreneur of Year Award’ and ‘Investment Award for Up and Coming Entrepreneurs’ at a press conference held today.
Click here to apply for the awards. View the judging criteria, rules and regulations, judging process and the prize awards.
The two award categories were announced to encourage an entrepreneurial culture, which would contribute and improve the socio-economic conditions of the Tibetan diaspora through investment in Tibetan businesses, in tune with the three guiding principles of the 14th Kashag i.e Unity, Innovation and Self-reliance.
The Sikyong Entrepreneur of the Year will be awarded a sum of INR 21,00,000 in recognition of the Entrepreneur’s contribution to the community and to encourage other Tibetans to step forward and become involved in the socio-economic health of the Tibetan community.
The ‘Investment Award for Up and Coming Entrepreneurs’ is a competition to identify new entrepreneurs who have a great business plan but do not have the financial support to make it a reality. Two to three finalists in this award category will be awarded prizes of up to INR 15,00,000.
The winners of the two award categories would be selected through a competitive process that distinguishes transformative entrepreneurs who are innovative, driving large-scale change, and are poised to make an even greater impact in the Tibetan community. Formal announcements of the winners will be announced in September 2015.
Presiding the press conference, Sikyong Dr. Lobsang Sangay, the democratically elected political leader of the Tibetan people, said that this initiative to award Tibetan entrepreneurs is an innovative step taken by the Finance department to create an environment of entrepreneurship for a self-reliant society.
Sikyong underlined that the initiative to boost entrepreneurship in the Tibetan community is a long-held aspiration of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, who in a recent public address to Tibetans in Washington, spoke about his desire to see Tibetan millionaires and billionaires in the future.
Sikyong explained that Tibetans seem to have an inherent knack for business as is evident in the research conducted by the planning commission a few years back. “26.4% of the Tibetans in exile are involved in agro-related livelihoods where as 27.3% are in business. However, over 41% of the gross income of the Tibetan people is derived from businesses where as only 8.5% is derived from agriculture. This shows that the main economic activity of the Tibetan people in exile is business,” he said.
Sikyong lauded the efforts of the finance department to create a culture of trade and entrepreneurship in the community through establishment of entrepreneurship clubs in schools, incubation and mentoring programs for budding entrepreneurs and regular awareness talks on entrepreneurship for the public. Sikyong also called for the inclusion of business-oriented skills, entrepreneurship studies in Tibetan school syllabus, in anticipation of improving business awareness from a tender age.
TED is a recently conceptualised initiative of the Department of Finance, Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) aiming to mobilise and amplify Tibetan entrepreneurial spirit by fostering, nurturing, accelerating value-add connections and celebrating entrepreneurship. TED aims to affect the profound transformation of the Tibetan community in-exile with its role as a mobiliser of the Tibetan entrepreneurial spirit to partake in global opportunities and contribute to the community’s economic well-being. In doing so, TED aims to support existing businesses’ expansion and sustainability, as well as convert high-potential youth business ideas into successful ventures.
