The Bhutanese Leading the way.
Sherza Ventures Limited (SVL), an e-commerce and trading company, has launched its Initial Public Offering (IPO) to invite the people to invest in shares, and raise Nu 247 million (mn).
Nu 19 mn equity shares will be made available at Nu 13 per share to attract even micro investors.
Of the Nu 247 mn, SVL has plans to spend Nu 97 mn as its stock and working capital, Nu 8 mn for HR training and development, Nu 130 mn for fixed asset development and Nu 12 mn in its IT infrastructure.
SVL aims to be a hyper retail and wholesale trading venture using e-commerce. It also aims to provide a platform for common market place to young entrepreneurs and farmers’ products and establish Brand Bhutan of local products in the international market.
SLV plans to become the market leader, in terms of product pricing, and thus, making their products cheaper than the existing market prices.
Founder and CEO of SVL, Jurmay Chophel, said, “I believe that every business runs on certain core idea. Sherza venture’s flagship brand ‘All Store Ecosystem’ is on the very idea of creating a sustainable business ecosystem encompassing our customers, employees and producers.”
He said that every year, on an average, the Bhutanese spend approximately Nu 30 bn on food commodities only. He said the present trading market is unorganized, whereby it gives them huge first mover advantage.
“We aim to capitalize in this market scenario with effective operations – strongly driven by technology, and we plan to capture 10 percent of the market share in three years alone, which will generate Nu 3 bn revenue every year (beyond our financial projections),” he added.
He said that today a person can invest in this company, and tomorrow they can buy products from the same company and make the company sustainable.
Meanwhile, CEO of the Royal Securities Exchange of Bhutan (RSEB), Dorji Phuntsho, said that it is, for the first time in the history of the capital market in Bhutan, that they have a new generation of entrepreneurs tapping the true potential of the capital market today.
He said, “What has been the practice until now is, we have only those influential business houses and prominent figures who would only come for IPO and its scheme. But today, we are witnessing something, which is a landmark milestone for us, because that is where the capital market is – to serve as a platform for businesses to scale up, not only in terms of fund raising activities, but there are affiliated benefits too.”
However, he said that sadly in Bhutan till date, there are only 21 listed companies, and by design, most of these companies are mandated either by the regulation or by the laws to get listed on the exchange.
In addition, he said that in order to qualify for IPO, they need track record of three years and for two years it has to be profitable, and SVL fulfilled the criteria.
After the investment by shareholders, SVL will ensure that the details of the shareholders are updated at all time, and this will lead to receiving dividends into the shareholders’ individual accounts without any hassle.
SVL was incorporated on 11 June 2015 as a private limited company with the capital investment of Nu 30 mn and currently the capital is further raised to Nu 109 mn.
The shares are on sale for a one-month period and the subscription will go on till 27 September 2019 through the RICBL.
RSEBL.