When they set up NoMindBhutan, Dendup and Samdrup were freshmen in the AI Development and Data Science program at the Gyalpozhing College of Information Technology. The program, introduced in 2021 after a royal decree called for educational reform, offered an industry-focused curriculum. The college brought in over a dozen teachers from Singapore, who were experts in AI and data science, to provide guidance to aspiring entrepreneurs.

NoMindBhutan started out developing customer-facing AI chatbots for clients. These were similar to ChatGPT, but instead of pulling data from all of the internet, NoMindBhutan focused on specific information that the client offered via their website and other resources.

In the early days, Dendup and Samdrup wrote proposals to the bigger institutions in the country — including Bhutan National Bank, Royal Insurance Corporation of Bhutan, and Bank of Bhutan — to sell their AI chatbots.

In August 2023, Bhutan National Bank signed on as the company’s first client. The bank’s vote of confidence “significantly elevated our visibility and credibility in the market,” Dendup said. After that, their college encouraged them to submit more proposals and helped them find three more clients.

Read more:

Quendren, L. & Bhattacharya, A. (2024, July 17). Bhutan’s first AI startup is seven college kids in a dorm. Rest of World. https://restofworld.org/2024/bhutan-first-ai-startup/