MTI shares Asian best practices at Thimphu Tech-Park

Thimphu Tech-Park and MTI Consulting teams with the two organisations’ CEOs 

A team of international consultants from MTI has engaged with Thimphu Tech-Park (TTP), advising and sharing the best practices on start-up eco-systems in frontier and emerging markets. 

The session that was held last week turned out to be an interactive and thought-provoking session addressing a diverse range of strategic issues relating to start-ups. In the process, MTI shared its hands-on consulting experience across diverse Asian markets. 

TTP is the flagship IT development in Bhutan, known for its strong environmental conservation policies and the unique development philosophy of Gross
National Happiness. 

It is the country’s first IT park – promoted by the Information Technology and Telecom Department, Information and Communications Ministry, Royal Government of Bhutan, supported by the World Bank and developed jointly by Assetz Property Group of Singapore and Druk Holdings and Investments, the commercial arm of the Royal Government of Bhutan.

Sharing some key regional learnings, MTI advised the young entrepreneurs to “Pick your domain based on real ‘pain points’ in the demand or supply chain – not technology looking for a problem. Get the commercial business model right upfront i.e. how will you make money? – not just hoping for an inflated valuation to flog it. Fulfilment is what the end user will pay for – technology is only an enabler.”

According to MTI Consulting, start-ups, like any business, have two ways of earning a living. Either getting the ‘customer’ to pay for the value you create and/or grab a share from another business by doing it better. There is of course a third way, which is to whip up so much hype, create insane valuations (despite fundamentally loss-making business models) and dump it on to someone else. As long as there are ‘take-ups’ for such ‘start-ups’, this can go on.

MTI Consulting has worked on projects in over 40 countries, including frontier markets such as Algeria, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Egypt, Jordon, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, the Maldives, Mexico, Myanmar, Nigeria, Pakistan, Palestine, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Syria.