Damchae Dem is a businessperson and entrepreneur from

Bhutan Bhutan, officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked country in South Asia, in the Eastern Himalayas between China to the north and northwest and India to the south and southeast. With a population of over 727,145 and a territory of , ...

, who is CEO of Pelden Enterprise Limited, the first company to produce steel in Bhutan, and is president of the Bhutan Association of Women Entrepreneurs.

Career

Born into poverty, her first business venture was cooking potato chips to sell locally. She attended High School at St. Helens Convent in

Kurseong Kurseong (, ) is a town and a municipality in Darjeeling district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the headquarters of the Kurseong subdivision. Located at an altitude of , Kurseong is from Darjeeling and has a pleasant climate throu ...

. She founded Pelden in the 1990s and in 2006 it became the first company in Bhutan to manufacture steel. The company exports

ferrosilicon Ferrosilicon is an ferroalloy, alloy of iron and silicon. It has a typical silicon content of 15–90% by weight and a high proportion of iron silicides. Production and reactions Ferrosilicon is produced by reduction of silica or sand with coke ...

to Malaysia, Dubai, Singapore and Bangladesh. As of 2021 she was the CEO of Pelden Enterprise Limited. In 2010 she founded the Bhutan Association of Women Entrepreneurs (BAOWE), and as of 2021 she was its president. In 2016 the organisation's work was formally recognised by the

King of Bhutan The King of Bhutan, officially the Druk Gyalpo (; ), is the constitutional monarch and head of state of the Kingdom of Bhutan. In the Dzongkha language, Bhutan is known as ''Drukyul'' which translates as "The Land of the Thunder Dra ...

with the award of the National Order of Merit. In addition to her work with BAOWE, she has also held a number of other important roles, including vice-presidencies of the SAARC Chamber of Women Entrepreneurs Council (SCWEC) and the South Asian Women Development Forum (SAWDF). In 2017 she led calls for the development of a Women's Chamber of Commerce for Bhutan.

References

External links

Damchae Dem, Founder/Chairperson, Palden Group of Companies on SHE LEADS SUMMIT - 2019
{{Authority control Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Bhutanese women 21st-century Bhutanese people Bhutanese businesspeople Bhutanese chief executives Bhutanese company founders