Gelephu Mindfulness City (GMC) represents a defining opportunity for Bhutan and the wider region, an innovative city designed around principles of sustainability, spirituality, and human potential. Unlike any other development in the world, GMC is guided by a deep sense of purpose, fusing economic growth with mindful living. This balance between development and consciousness makes the city a global prototype for how humanity can grow in harmony with nature and technology.
Creating such a place requires more than architecture and engineering. It calls for foresight. A clear understanding of the people, skills and systems needed to bring the vision to life. This is where a strategic workforce plan informed by strategic foresight becomes essential. It provides a framework to identify the capabilities that will power GMC across its key industries and ensure that people, education and enterprise evolve together.
Strategic foresight and workforce planning for people
Strategic foresight allows planners and decision makers to anticipate change and prepare for it, rather than react. It considers emerging trends in technology, sustainability, society and work to guide long-term investment in people and capability. Having worked on similar approaches in more than 30 countries, I’ve seen the difference it makes when strategy is grounded in real-world insight and human potential.
For GMC, this means combining Bhutan’s deep cultural and spiritual strengths with forward-looking policies in skills development, entrepreneurship and innovation. It also means designing education and employment systems that are flexible and responsive to what is coming next: green jobs, AI integration, digital economies and sustainable construction.
GMC’s leadership team has already demonstrated this kind of thinking. For example, Dasho Arun Kapur (Board Member of GMC), whose global education and leadership experience informs the project’s values-driven vision, has long championed mindfulness as a principle for learning and growth. His approach aligns perfectly with the need to shape an education and workforce system that supports curiosity, compassion and innovation.
Industry sectors that define the city
Every part of GMC will depend on skilled people. From renewable energy and clean technology to tourism and wellness, from construction and design to agriculture, digital infrastructure, creative industries, education, health and care, each sector contributes to a balanced and resilient economy.
Hobeng (HB) Lim, Managing Director of Financial Services, brings expertise in shaping the city’s investment and financial architecture, creating an environment where enterprise can thrive. Carissa Nimah, leading Tourism, has already helped frame the global narrative of Bhutan’s unique approach to tourism and will play a pivotal role in making GMC a destination for purposeful travel and regenerative experience.
On the communications side, Rabsel Dorji is guiding the city’s storytelling, articulating not only what GMC is, but why it matters. His work demonstrates the power of narrative in building trust, transparency and momentum for such an ambitious project.
Building an investable entrepreneurial ecosystem
Beyond employment and infrastructure, the success of GMC will depend on entrepreneurship. A thriving entrepreneurial ecosystem can turn ideas into industries and attract both domestic and international investment. When startups and small businesses are investable, they create jobs, innovation and global connections that accelerate economic transformation.
At Blue Poppy Ventures, much of my work focuses on helping entrepreneurs and investors build capability, supporting founders to refine their business models, strengthen leadership, and connect with markets beyond their borders. This kind of ecosystem thinking is critical for GMC, where innovation will emerge from the intersection of local culture and global technology.
Board members such as Lauren Chung, who brings experience in entrepreneurship and innovation strategy, can help bridge these worlds. Her perspective on global investment and sustainable growth complements the city’s vision for long-term prosperity.
Education and capability at every level
Education sits at the centre of this vision. GMC’s schools, higher education institutions and TVET/VET providers will shape the city’s future workforce. Bhutan can become a global leader in skills-based, practice-oriented learning that integrates tradition with technology.
This requires curriculum alignment with industry needs, new microcredentials that respond to emerging job roles, and teaching methods that foster entrepreneurial thinking. It also requires inclusive policies that ensure women, people with disabilities and underrepresented communities have equal access to opportunities.
Kinley Payden Dorji, Director of International Relations and GMC Affairs, plays a vital role in connecting these systems to international partners. His work exemplifies the importance of collaboration between Bhutan and the global education and investment community, creating pathways for skills exchange, workforce development and mutual learning.
Partnerships and global collaboration
As Australia prepares for the possibility of hosting COP31 in Adelaide, South Australia, there is a timely opportunity for collaboration between Gelephu Mindfulness City and Australian organisations working at the forefront of the clean energy and net-zero transition. South Australia has become a world leader in renewable energy generation, green hydrogen, circular economy models and sustainable urban design.
Partnerships could focus on renewable infrastructure, smart city technology, sustainable building materials, and training programs for green skills and workforce transitions. Adelaide’s experience in achieving more than 70 per cent renewable electricity generation provides valuable insights into planning and workforce development for net-zero cities. Through collaboration, GMC and South Australia can share expertise in areas like community engagement, sustainability frameworks, and industry-driven TVET models that prepare people for new green industries.
A mindful partnership for global impact
Building a city like GMC is not only about place-making, it is about people-making. It will take a coordinated partnership between government, business, investors and educators to turn ambition into reality. With a strategic workforce plan supported by foresight and an ecosystem that empowers entrepreneurs, Bhutan can model a new kind of development, one that measures success by wellbeing, innovation and sustainability.
Leaders such as Liew Mun Leong, whose experience in large-scale infrastructure and city development is renowned, understand that the foundation of any successful city is its people. A well-prepared workforce and an empowered business community will ensure Gelephu becomes not just a city that works, but a city that inspires.
Through Workforce BluePrint and Blue Poppy Ventures, the focus is on helping partners translate vision into workforce strategy and entrepreneurship into capability. The creation of this city offers Bhutan the chance to lead the world in designing a society where mindfulness, innovation and human potential coexist.
Gelephu Mindfulness City is not only a model for sustainable development but also a call to imagine how we might live, work and create differently. As His Majesty the Fifth King of Bhutan envisions, Gelephu will stand as a living testament to what is possible when a nation builds from the heart, a city of purpose powered by people, skills, and enterprise. In alignment with this vision, Blue Poppy Ventures is committed to advancing this transformative journey by fostering entrepreneurship, workforce capability, and global partnerships that translate this national aspiration into enduring, people-centred impact.