Academic Excellence Alone is not the Cause of Success!

          You May Become the Next Mr. Pema Tshering 

It was my dream that the moment I was able to set up my own blog page, I would write something about this inspirational person who I have known since my childhood days. If there ever was a man who I have known like the back of my hands, he is none other than Mr. Pema Tshering, the CEO of the High Quality Group of Companies (Though his line of business has not yet assumed the legal title of the group of Companies yet he has achieved that status in his own rights.) At 32 years of age, to my best knowledge, he is the richest and most enterprising young man from my village.

Many may wonder how he has actually inherited such an enormous size of wealth and how he has achieved so much at such a tender age. Well, it is neither an inherited wealth nor accumulated one through unscrupulous means and ways. It is a fruit of his sheer hard work and absolute business brilliance. He is neither a product of Harvard business school nor a result of hard earned academic excellence but rather an epitome of determination and great ambition. When many followed the great advice of their parents in the pursuit of academic excellence that would lead to the path of success, he simply ignored what many thought was the magic wand instead he chose what his heart desired most: his passion for painting. In simple term, he simply treaded the road less travelled by the people. After his basic education, in spite of his academic success, he joined the Traditional School of Thirteen Arts and Crafts and got his Diploma after six vigorous years of training in the Painting discipline.

Somebody just mentioned to me that Late Dasho Rimpoche built his Tashi Empire with the initial capital investment of just over Nu.3000/- but that was many, many years ago. I saw with my very own eyes that Mr. Pema Tshering started his High Quality Painting Gallery with his initial capital investment of Nu. 20, 000/-, that was just over a decade ago. Today, in his own rights, he has built his own business Empire and yet he has many years in hands to go and I foresee that with kind of vision he has, his business would only expand further. 

He would always say that he wishes his parents had enough lands or properties like us so that he could use them as collateral against the loans that he wish to avail for more investment to expand his business Empire. However, he managed with the least he had and turned his small Painting Gallery into a well known business brand “The High Quality” in the country today. 

The High Quality has been etched as his business brand under which he has four mega Painting Galleries each in Paro, Thimphu, Wangdue and Bumthang. He is also a great architect behind the success of High Quality Car Rental agent with a fleet of luxury vehicles that aligns well with his travel company the Bhutan land of Happiness Tours, which was solely opened to promote our Government’s vision of Gross National Happiness. His every line of business though with laden with profit objectives, he does have embedded social and national agendas. For instance, he started his High Quality Thangka Gallery to promote our traditional art and craft products through attraction of the tourist investments. This helps him to contribute to our economy in two important ways: First through the retention of hard currencies from Tourists visiting Bhutan and second through the contributions of sales and income taxes to the Government.

His motivation behind the inception of his High Quality Car Rental agent was to retain the hard currencies outflow from some of the FDI companies especially in the Tourism and Hotel sectors. When he is able to provide the quality luxury transport services to these FDI companies, he can actually prevent the outflow of hard currencies from our country. His income shall remain within the country and that can actually help him boost our economy in his own small way.

Today, he employs over more than thirty five people who enjoy the facilities and perks almost like civil servants. Compared to other privates companies, his employees are better paid with comfortable welfare schemes in place. His initiatives to improve the staff welfare system and quality working environment is a testimony to his respect to the laws of the kingdom. His contributions in terms of revenue to the government and creation of employment are worthy of praises and appreciation and there is nothing he can do to serve the Tsa-wa-sum more than what he is doing now.

My readers may wonder why I have so much of praise to this young entrepreneur. I have no reason to praise him but it has always been my dream to bring out such inspirational stories to my young readers and encourage them equally to pursue their dreams. My other intention is to debunk the theory that academic excellence is the main path toward success. Mr. Pema Tshering’s successful journey is just one of the examples I have brought here for you. If you actually conduct a survey with the group of successful people we have in our country, you would find that more than fifty percent of them have not even completed their basic education. You don’t have to delve for other prominent examples. Mr. Bill Gates and Mr. Steve Jobs are the two most successful people the world has ever witnessed. However,  they have never completed their colleges.

Despite this fact and precedence, our schools and parents are always after grades and academic excellence. It is this prevailing trend in our education system that actually discriminates between good and bad students. Many a time our education system has good places for those who perform well and rejects the mediocre ones. It is most of the time these mediocre ones who either remain unemployed or they just add on to our social nuisance in the urban places. It is always disheartening to know the fact that many of our average students do not have dreams and career plans in life. When they fail to qualify for higher studies, their dreams get shattered and many tend to give up on their life.

Not many of us talk about how one can be successful even without basic educational background. Success is not always defined by education qualification but rather by how one does well in life. Success can simply mean an opportunity of doing what you love doing in life. I am not a rich man but I love doing what I do and it gives me immense contentment and that to me is a huge success in my own way. Mr. Pema Tshering never went to college but he loves doing what he does and it not just gives him continuous flow of cash into his coffer but he also feels happy with what he is doing.

Hence, my main objective of highlighting Mr. Pema Tshering’s story is simply to inspire our young people to revisit their deeply mechanized notion that academic excellence is the sole way toward success. Academic excellence alone is not the cause of success. It is your hard work and sheer determination well blended with your intelligence, which would possibly deliver you your most coveted success.

My heartfelt advice to my young readers is that if you cannot do well in academics; don’t despair because you have every chance to become the next Mr. Pema Tshering of the High Quality Group of Companies. It just takes your courage to explore what your heart desires and follow it, I am sure that you will become the next Mr. Pema Tshering.  

Source: Every View Counts

Author: Kuenden Valiant