Calling for Applicants for Startup Bootcamp 2023

ndThe JNEC- Entrepreneurship and Innovation Center, Jigme Namgyel Engineering College(JNEC)in colloboration with Entrepreneurship Promotion Division (ESED), Department of Employment and Entrepreneurship, MoICE and  in Regoional Office for MoICE, Samdrup Jongkhar  will be organizing 5 days Startup Startup Boot Camp from 20-26th April 2023 to provide a platform for fresh ideas, with necessary tools to stimulate the creative and innovative solutions creating opportunities for entrepreneurship sprit among youths, especially for engineering Students.

1. What is Start-up Boot Camp?

Start-up Bootcamp is a five -days event designed to have a unique experience of encouraging youths to brainstorm unique and viable business ideas on the given theme. The event brings together experts from various backgrounds and distinct fields to mentor and share their experiences. It also provides a platform to network, form teams and come up with a company at the end of the event. What is more exciting is that the participants will explore the avenue of further support through the program through idea pitching.

Start-up Bootcamp is a rigorous five-day event during which participants not only go through a brisk entrepreneurship course but also learn the essence of working in teams. The teams will be mentored by a set of experts from diverse backgrounds. The event will also help a community come together to build start-ups.

2. Why Start-up Boot Camp for JNEC?

The Jigme Namgyel Engineering College (JNEC) Incubation Center is a space designed to support and foster the growth of early-stage startups and entrepreneurs. This centre provides resources and services such as mentorship, access to funding, workspace, and networking opportunities to help entrepreneurs bring their ideas to life and turn their startups into successful businesses. The goal of the JNEC Incubation Center is to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship in the technology and engineering sectors and to help create an ecosystem that supports the growth of startups in Bhutan.

Hence entrepreneurial events such as start-up boot camps are specifically focused on these institutes to help them realize the importance and explore the possibility of venturing into business. This will not only help the college to provide importance on entrepreneurship but will also encourage the graduates to opt for entrepreneurship as an alternate career option. We are also aware that most of the national-level events are conducted in the capital creating an imbalanced distribution of opportunities and resources. This could be one of the reasons for increasing migration from rural to urban areas. Hence, the conduct of the event at Jigme Namgyel Engineering College, Dewathang, Samdrup Jongkhar at south-east Bhutan is proposed.

3. Objectives

This boot camp aims to help engineering students develop their entrepreneurial skills and provide them with necessary tools to start their own business ventures. It will also help them to understand the process of identifying problems, creating solutions, and developing a business plan. This boot camp will act as a stepping stone who are interested in entrepreneurship pursuit and would like to gain a better understanding of how to build a successful startup.

4. Target Group

Students of JNEC, Dewathang: The students may comprise students taking various courses. The institute currently offers courses and the participants will be selected based on their interest to establish a business.

 Expected Outcome:

The outcome of this boot camp will be that the participants will have a better understanding of entrepreneurship and the skills necessary to start their own business ventures. they will have developed a business plan, created a prototype, and learned how to pitch their idea to the investors. The participants will be able      to showcase their idea in form      of a panel of experts      and industry experts.

5.1. Students opting for entrepreneurship and self-employment after graduation

5.2. Entrepreneurship culture development in and around the college

5.3. Establish networks with mentors and experts

6. Theme of the Startup Boot Camp:

 The event’s theme is kept as “Revolutionizing the Future of Startups through Engineering Innovation Business Solution” to explore self-employment opportunities in the fields of engineering and IT courses offered by college. The importance of skills development has been realized when many of the educated youths passing out for degree universities are left unemployed. The market today demands skills rather than degree qualifications that are generic and do not qualify for market demand.  The intake in civil service is limited and government today encourages youth to start their one ventures and promote the private sector. Given adequate knowledge and awareness of entrepreneurship supports systems in the country these skills can be translated into lucrative businesses which not only help create self-employment opportunities but also create employment opportunities for others as well. The event’s theme is aligned to brainstorm ideas that help them explore viable business ideas related to their field.

7. Event Date: When is the event date

The event will be tentatively Conducted from 26th – 30th April 2023. The 2 days Pre-event will be held from 26 – 27th April 2023 while the main event will be held from 28 – 30th April 2023.

8. Organizing Team:

 The event will be jointly organized by the Department of Employment and Entrepreneurship, Ministry of Industry, Commerce & Employment, JNEC Incubation Center, Jigme Namgyal Engineering College (JNEC)   and Regional Office for MoICE.

9. Prize Category and amount

The winners of the competition will be provided with modest amount of seed money provided in the form of cash prizes. The seed money is expected to help them kickstart their ideas and turn it into viable entrepreneurial venture in long run. 

10. Start-up Boot Camp event process:

 The Start-up Bootcamp is designed as a 54-hour startup design sprint to bring together designers, developers, entrepreneurs, and experts from all domains to come together to share ideas, built teams, create products, and launch start-ups. The events begin from Friday evening to Sunday night and are centered on entrepreneurial education, innovation, and action. The weekend culminates in teams presenting before a judges’ panel of entrepreneurial leaders, providing an opportunity for critical review and feedback. Judges will then select the top teams whose products are well-designed and properly executed. The whole event is categorized into two phases:

First Phase: Boot Camp (first 2 days of the week): During this time, the participants from the College will be oriented on Entrepreneurship concepts, the ecosystem of entrepreneurship in Bhutan, business plan development and idea generation to name a few.

Second phase: Start-up Main event (Follows Start-up weekend modality): The main 3 days event will be organized with a similar method to Start-up weekend. The event, however, does not stop here the trainees will be taken through a series of Business Acceleration programs for ideation to the successful launching of their business. Specifically, the main event process will be designed in the following manner:

11. How to Participate?

Participants can register as a team of up to five, spend the weekend learning new skills, meeting the local tech community and tech sponsors, mentors, and network while enjoying food, snack, and coffee. The team can select only one problem statement for the competition. The team can be registered at the following link latest by 20th April 2023. Registration Form for Startup Bootcamp

For any clarification, please contact Mr. Pema Wangchuk , Lecturer , Jigme Namgyel Engineering College(JNEC) at pemawangchuk.jnec@rub.edu.bt   or 17722329, Mr. Jigme Thinley, Sr. Program Officer at jthinley@moice.gov.bt or 17300475