Jigme Gyeltshen

Mountain Hazelnuts

Bhutan's first 100% foreign direct investment enterprise, Mountain Hazelnuts (MH) capitalizes on an exceptional opportunity to grow hazelnuts for the international market as a mission-driven business that creates value for all stakeholders, including farmer partners, village communities, monasteries, nunneries, schools, the environment, the country, and the Company. MH partners with smallholder farmers and community organizations such as nunneries and monasteries in planting ten million hazelnut trees. MH cultivates hazelnut plants in the world's largest hazelnut nursery, then distributes to thousands of grower partners, who manage orchards under MH's technical guidance and sell the nuts to MH at a guaranteed price for processing and export. Hazelnuts are well-suited to Bhutan's agro-climatic conditions, soils, and logistics - an ideal cash crop for the mountainous region. The MH business model supports household economics, community development, cultural preservation, and local ecosystems, while mitigating climate change. MH will more than double the income of participating households, which will include 15% of Bhutan's population. The Company has 60 Bhutanese staff on its payroll and provides indirect employment for more than 1,200 other Bhutanese. Hazelnut trees provide numerous positive environmental impacts, including 1) stabilizing erosion-prone mountain slopes, thereby preserving soils, 2) rehabilitating habitats and watersheds, and 3) sequestering atmospheric carbon. Preliminary calculations estimate that the 10 million trees in MH's partner orchards could sequester approximately 8 million metric tons of carbon. Hazelnuts also produce a sustainable source of fuelwood, alleviating deforestation pressures and balancing energy needs. MH incorporates best practices in stakeholder engagement, scientific assessment, traceability, and impact measurement, aspiring to serve as an example of social and environmental impact entrepreneurship, done right.