Being a GNH business not only requires a company to do things better in its relationships with external and internal stakeholders, with their environment and communities but it requires each individual within a business to become a more evolved human being that can experience and share true and lasting happiness (Sabestian, 2011). Entrepreneurs are widely considered as national assets which are to be cultivated, motivated and remunerated to the greatest possible extent. Entrepreneurs have an ability to change the way we live and work. Their innovations may improve our standard of living.
Entrepreneurship does beyond creating wealth from the entrepreneurial ventures. They also create jobs and the conditions for a prosperous society (Seth, 2015). The prosperity attributed to entrepreneurial venture contributes by large to the much sought after developmental paradigm called Gross National Happiness. According to Ajay Bam, entrepreneurship is the journey of opportunity exploration and risk management to create value for profit and social good (Brooks, 2015).
The key principles of Gross National Happiness also take in account the equitable socioeconomic development among various regions and people. Entrepreneurs help to remove regional disparities through setting up of industries in less developed and backward areas. The growth of industries and business in these areas lead to a large number of public benefits like road transport, public health amenities, education, entertainment and other social amenities. Setting up of more entrepreneurial ventures lead to more development of backward regions and thereby promotes balanced regional development. Through entrepreneurship, it reduces concentration of economic power. Economic power is the natural outcome of industrial and business activity. Industrial development normally leads to concentration of economic power in the hands of a few individuals which results in the growth of monopolies. In order to redress this problem a large number of entrepreneurs need to be developed, which will help reduce the concentration of economic power amongst the population. Thus, anyone capable of taking up entrepreneurship can pursue their entrepreneurial dream despite their social status and hereditary background (Kumar, n.d).
One of the leading roles of entrepreneurship is to increase Gross National Product and Per Capita Income. Gross National Happiness does not exclude the need of economic development which is inevitable in any developmental pursuance; rather it focuses on growth with value. Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for opportunities. They explore and exploit opportunities, encourage effective resource mobilization of capital and skill, bring in new products and services and develop markets for growth of the economy. In this way, they help increasing gross national product as well as per capita income of the people in a country. Increase in gross national product and per capita income of the people in a country, is a sign of economic growth.
In the realm of Gross National happiness innovation and creativity also attributes to the development with value. Entrepreneurial ventures literally generate new wealth. Existing businesses may remain confined to the scope of existing markets and may hit the glass ceiling in terms of income. New and improved offerings, products or technologies from entrepreneurs enable new markets to be developed and new wealth created. Additionally, the cascading effect of increased employment and higher earnings contribute to better national income in form of higher tax revenue and higher government spending. This revenue can be used by the government to invest in other, struggling sectors and human capital.
One of the root cause of misery and unhealthy mental wellbeing of the people is due to alarming rise in unemployment rate. Entrepreneurs provide immediate large-scale employment to the unemployed which is a chronic problem of underdeveloped and developing nations like Bhutan. With the setting up of more and more units by entrepreneurs, both on small and large-scale numerous job opportunities are created for old and young. As time passes, these enterprises grow, providing direct and indirect employment opportunities to many more. In this way, entrepreneurs play an effective role in reducing the problem of unemployment in the country which in turn clears the path towards economic development of the nation. This is the prominent live example how entrepreneurship is adhered to Gross National Happiness (Centre for Bhutan Studies and GNH Research, 2015).
Firstly, being a GNH business not only requires a company to do things better in its relationships with external and internal stakeholders, with their environment and communities but it requires each individual within a business to become a more evolved human being that can experience and share true and lasting happiness. This means that the key element of GNH that is not normally addressed in CSR programs is a recognition that a transformation is required on an individual level by all the people that make up a business starting from the owners/shareholders to management and general staff. Secondly, the transformation that GNH in Business is looking to achieve is an increased awareness of sufficiency, combined with a sense of empowerment that ultimately leads to powerful and positive actions that balance profit-making with serving others.
Therefore, personal transformation through values and ethics development as well as increased levels of emotional intelligence is the pinnacle of GNH in a business context. An increased level of awareness and skillful means among the people who are part of a business community will help individuals make better decisions that increase community vitality, interact with integrity, communicate with honesty and build relationships based on GNH values (Cofino, 2014).
Four parts of GNH in Business are Greening our Businesses, Driving Community Vitality, Evolving individuals - Humanity at its best, and Doing business ethically and sufficiently. In essence a GNH in Business program offers a tool to bring sane and responsible behaviors into the business sector, which is driven by a genuine intention among the leadership of a business. A GNH Business is nothing less than a powerful change agent within its communities with a genuine commitment to serve others, rather than only it and has an unwavering commitment to sufficiency (Sabestian, 2011).
Can you be rich and nice? Such are questions that attributes to parallel going of profit oriented entrepreneurship and containing human value. Karma Lotay one of the successful entrepreneurs of Bhutan answers “I may not be very rich, but I’m a nice guy” .Tashi Choden said GNH is about a higher purpose to development, and essentially about a just society. Happiness and economy aren’t at two opposing poles. Social enterprises are businesses that are trying to tackle social problems, trying to improve communities or the environment. Entrepreneurships are taking into consideration the social, ecological, financial and cultural impacts of their businesses. Thus, it adheres to the principles of Gross National Happiness (Palden, 2015).
Reference
Brooks, C. (2015, January 1). Retrieved March 10, 2016, from Business News Daily: http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/2642-entrepreneurship.html
Centre for Bhutan Studies and GNH Research. (2015, June 17). GNH in Business Exploration:The Inner Dimensions of Business Transformation. Retrieved March 11, 2016, from http://www.gnhcentrebhutan.org/programmes/gnh-in-business-exploration-the-inner-dimensions-of-business-transformation/
Cofino, J. (2014, April 22). Bhutan's Prime Minister: Business must take happiness seriously. (T. Tobgay, Interviewer)
Kumar, C. (n.d). Preserve articles-Online publication. Retrieved from http://www.preservearticles.com/.../role-of-an-entrepreneur-in-an-economic-development
Palden, T. (2015). Business in a GNH setting. Thimphu,Bhutan: Kuensel.
Sabestian, I. (2011). GNH in Bhutan: Case study of Bhutan. Retrieved from http://www.zhiwaling.com/PrelimGNHinBusinesscasestudy2011-final.pdf
Seth, S. (2015). Retrieved March Saturday, 2016, from Investopedia: http://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/101414/why- entrepreneurs-are-important -to- economy.asp.
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