Phuntshok Dechen Yangchen is a third-year student studying Bachelor of Commerce, majoring in Finance at Royal Thimphu College. She is also the co-founder of Guram, a candy making business that Phuntshok and two of her friends who are RTC graduates, Depshika Chhetri and Tashi Dargay, started in December 2017. Guram was started with the vision and mission to reduce dependency on imports of candies and increase self-sufficiency. The initial success of the business began with pitching their idea at the Mekong Business Challenge in 2018, where they were the runners up. Their goal after the competition was to keep making product improvements.

This year, during the Druk Tshongrig Gatoen, Bhutan’s first festival to promote and celebrate social entrepreneurship, intelligent businesses, and young entrepreneurs organized by Loden Foundation, Phuntshok applied for the Student Entrepreneurship award. After getting through the preliminary round, she was chosen to give a brief presentation about her business idea and share her journey as a student entrepreneur at the Thimphu Clock Tower in front of a large audience on October 19, 2019. There were three other students from different colleges pitching their business ideas.

In Phuntshok’s words, “This pitch was one of the most exciting yet one of the most nerve wracking experiences that I ever had. It was a great honor to represent RTC and my business in this platform.”

During the award ceremony on October 20 2019 at the Royal University of Bhutan, Phuntshok was accompanied by her mentor, Mr. Madhav Verma (Business Studies Programme Leader, RTC) where she won the Best Student Entrepreneur of the year.

“To be honest, I did not expect to win but there was a little glimmer of hope within me. I was beyond happy. It was an unexplainable feeling, I felt that all my hard work finally paid off,” she said.

She won a prize of Nu. 50,000, which she plans to invest in her business and is looking forward to represent Bhutan at Global Student Entrepreneur Award in Cape Town, South Africa, supported by Global Student Entrepreneur Awards (GSEA) in March 2020.

ICPD 25 is a high-level conference that was held in Nairobi from 12th-14th November, 2019. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo, where 179 governments adopted a landmark Programme of Action which set out to empower women and girls for their sake, and for the benefit of their families, communities and nations. 

The Nairobi Summit with the theme ‘Accelerating the Promise’ brought together heads of state and government, royalties, NGOs, CSOs and youth organizations, indigenous people, young leaders and people living with disabilities to make commitments and fulfill the unfinished business of Cairo.

Pema Choden, a second year BA Anthropology student from Royal Thimphu College was among the young leaders who attended the conference. Pema said, “ICPD25 allowed me to realize that Bhutan made an incredible gain in providing free health services and education to its people. However, there is still a high unemployment rate among youth, no safe space for young girls and women and no active coverage on Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) in education curriculum despite youth organization like Y- Peer sensitizing on SRHR.”  Pema is also the Y-Peer Focal person at RTC, a youth-led initiative that focuses on educating and advocating youth on adolescent reproductive and sexual health. Pema pledges, ”I march for a safe space for all girls, women and young people, zero physical harassment and rape and talking about SRHR in families. I march for gender equality, young people as decision makers, for women to decide when to marry, when to have a child and when to have sex. I march to eliminate any harmful practices to all girls, women and children.”  

ICPD25 brought together 9,500 delegates from about 173 countries to make a commitment to address the 3 Zeros; Zero preventable mortality, zero unmet need for contraceptives and family planning and zero sexual and gender based violence. Her Excellency, Lyoenpo Dechen Wangmo, Minister of Health communicated Bhutan’s pledge to fulfill and implement the commitments of ICPD25 and the 2030 agenda of Sustainable Development Goals. Some of these goals are to ensure safe motherhood and sexual reproductive health rights for all women and girls, develop target policy to accelerate mother and child health care, optimal utilization of health services, reduce maternal mortality and cervical cancer, provide access to information and services related to adolescent reproductive health and rights through comprehensive sexuality education in schools and institutions and develop programs for youths.

“I would like to especially thank the government of Kenya, Denmark and UNFPA for co-convening the Nairobi Summit on ICPD25. I would also like to extend my heartfelt gratitude to UNFPA Bhutan, Y- Peer Bhutan, DYS, Changjiji Youth Center and Royal Thimphu College for supporting me and giving me this wonderful opportunity. Through ICPD25, I got an opportunity to attend the memorial service of our Late Third Druk Gyalpo at the place where he passed away.”  Pema encourages everyone to be an agent of change, especially men who can play a greater role to achieve gender equality. “Let us work together to accelerate the promises and create a safe future for generations to come.”

-Pema Choden, BA in Anthropology.

The biggest adventure of my life so far began in July 2018 and lasted for a year. I had the opportunity to study in Bhutan, one of the most mysterious countries in the world. I left behind my usual life and stepped into the unknown. I didn't know anyone and I didn't know much about the country, but I was sure it would be exciting. And I was right.

During this time, I completely left my comfort zone and learned that I was a lot tougher than I originally thought. Fortunately, my home university and the Royal Thimphu College (RTC) have helped a lot to make the first few weeks very comfortable for me due to which the cultural differences were much easier to handle.

In a new country and a completely different environment, it was not easy to be "the exchange student", but in RTC, everyone was kind and helpful. Besides, I was not the only international student so I had other people who were going through similar experiences as mine and so we bonded over the common situations we found ourselves in.

Studying for a couple of semesters in Bhutan is an exceptional opportunity. I can recommend it to everyone, because you can gain experiences that can influence your entire life.

Without the Erasmus+ exchange program, I certainly would not have been able to visit Bhutan and discovered its amazing culture. In addition to learning, I had the opportunity to travel around Bhutan, get to know the countryside, hike, go out with friends, and get to know new people. One of Bhutan’s greatest advantages is that mass tourism has not reached the country - despite all the beauty it has to offer. Due to a conscious and smart decision made by the government, there is a limit on the number of tourists who can visit the country and so in many places, nature is untouched. Modern and traditional aspects blend naturally in the country due to which its towns and cities have a special atmosphere.

RTC differs in many ways from Hungarian universities and colleges, so I learned a lot of new things here. Its biggest advantage is that English is the primary language, which makes the college completely international and open to students from outside the country.

I can safely say that it was one of the best decisions on my part to apply for Erasmus + and come to Bhutan, because it was an experience I will never forget. The exposure to a completely new culture has shown me that the world is much larger and more colorful than I could have ever imagined. 

-Akos Domahidi