Lama Sonam Jamtsho

Langdrak Incense Factory

Lama Sonam Jamtsho realized the wish of his teacher Chatral Rinpochhe, who asked him to set up a monastery in a remote sacred valley, Beyul Langdrak. When he discovered that he would need a source of income to face the expenditure of such a project, he came up with an idea of starting an incense factory.” My business is monk’, Lama Sonam says with a chuckle but he had all the entrepreneurial skills to start a production of incense, sourcing almost all the ingredients from this beautiful valley full of medicinal plants. He received the ” Loden Entrepreneur of the year award” in 2014 because not only was the incense factory a financial success but also a model of an altruistic enterprise, creating jobs for poor families in the area and supporting the education of the young monks. Walking with him the monastery, he shows you, with humble joy and no pride, the new kitchen and the refectory of the monk;” Before, he would eat outside, raining or snowing. And now, look at new guest house”, he remarks. You might also see Lam Sonam going around Thimphu to find new customers, without dropping his monastic duty and the monks he cares for so much. Lama Sonam disproves the cliche that religious people are not entrepreneurial. They can, infact, be the , best players in an altruistic economy.


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