| Username |
Post |
| ashu |
Posted
on 17-Oct-01 04:19 AM
Hi Biswo,
I applaud your capitalist thoughts.
You will be pleased to know that your hometown and its neighborhood, with its well-developed poultry farms, is now the Chicken Capital of Nepal -- supplying chicken across the border to India too. Every year, they have this sort of Chicken Mela -- and the markets are growing and growing for the chicken farmers.
You are right: It is now possible for a smart, driven, info-rich and well-networked (four essential attributes!) Nepali to, say, come back from his or her education abroad or from India to work hard in Nepal and start making -- in a few years' time -- seriously good money.
Often, that person may even have a higher quality of life (in terms of work hours, social/cultural diversions and family and friends ko support) than his or her Nepali counterparts elsewhere.
These days, because of my work, I get to meet a number of Kathmandu University MBA graduates who are, in some cases, well into their own businesses for the last three to four years . . . and I have come away very impressed with their work stamina, drive, energy, vision for their companies and their desire to make money by offering quality products.
These guys live and work in info-rich and well-networked environments, and, I have no doubts that they could have done quite well for themselves in places like New York, London or Boston.
Sure, there are INDEED many many (social, political and the rest) problems when it comes to living and working in Nepal. Those are there, and I am NOT denying
them.
But for those who are optimistic, smart, driven, knowledge-led and well-networked with other smarter peers, Nepal CAN BE an interesting place to work and make some money while having a relatively higher quality of life. As such, examples like that of P Thapa, if we take him at his word, do exist by dozens and dozens.
This of course is NOT to say that people elsewhere don't have that kind of thing. THis is to to underscore that Nepal too can be a hip and sexy place to live and work for Nepali professionals with the appropriate mindset . . . that appropriate mindset has to be there first.
oohi
ashu
ktm,nepal
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| ashu |
Posted
on 18-Oct-01 03:39 AM
This reminds me:
Whatever happened to that "pharkera kay paincha?" mailing list that was set up soon after Kanak Dixit's "Nepal farka" presentation at MIT in January 2000?
Is that list still in existence, still active?
If so, could somebody please post relevant info here.
Thanks,
oohi
ashu
ktm,nepal
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| Biswo |
Posted
on 18-Oct-01 01:43 PM
Hi Ashu:
Thanks for the information about Chitwan. I think tourism, milk industry and poultry
industry will drive Chitwan forward.
I think the reason why Chitwan is relatively better than a lot other districts is its
demographic nature. We are all immigrant there. That means I basically don't know
the past of other people in neighborhood, other than their immediate past. This
means one doesn't need to be bothered by his/her embarrassing past, caste
background(yes, who cares which shopkeeper in Narayangarh is of what caste?),
and presence of traditional master-slave relation so abundant in other districts.
Years ago, when I went to some mountainous districts, and even in KTM, some
people in their conversation with me expressed surprise that "ladies in Chitwan
ride bicycles..". Brahmins from mountainous districts would come to see Chitwan
and whisper with disgruntlment that their villager who just migrated had reared
chicken in Chitwan.I think now there is this relatively more respect for work than
that of other districts. A lot of priestly caste people line up in the street and
sell chicken and mutton, which is still rare in other districts.
Well, so far so good in Chitwan. May be our major newspapers should start
publishing the story of young enterpreneurs more than that of corrupt politicians.
It's time we teach people that a nation can't go forward without some good
capitalists leading her.Politics is not everything.
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| anepalikt |
Posted
on 18-Oct-01 11:04 PM
Ashu Tosh so what kind of businesses do these MBA's have? I would totally like to belivbe that young, earnest, enthusiastic Nepalis can make money through new businesses in Nepal. But I am also very cynical. What about the corruption? Most of the time in Kathmandu, you can't do anything without greasing a dozen palms. How can young people survive in Nepal if they want to make money, but also not at the cost of their ideals? From what I hear, business, as practiced in Nepal is dirty (of course not to say business and capilatlism worldwide is not, not at all). what do you think?
Also, yes, Nepal can be a hip and sexy place to live and work but what is the "appropriate mindset" that needs to precede this condition?
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| VillageVoice |
Posted
on 19-Oct-01 12:58 PM
Ashu, I liked your idea in essence. It's always great to hear corporate success stories in Nepal.
But when I take long-term view of these successes, I get disturbed. My ideas on economics are based more on common sense than sophisticated economic theories.
This is how how I look at the current-day Nepal.
For any person - or business venture - to flourish, doesn't the overall atmosphere need to be sound and healthy? And isn't one sector of the economy tied to another? For instance, tourism, Nepal's economic mainstay, is on the brink. The reason, if I infer correctly, is the sharp decline in tourist arrivals. I attribute it primarily to the IC hijack, Maoist insurgency, and now the Sept 11 aftershocks.
As a result, NECON is on verge of closure -- no dollar-earning mountain and Pokahra flights, and domestic traffice is on the decline. Other arilines are reeling too. Hotels and travel agencies are another casualties. And I am sure these sectors will drag other sectors.
With all due respect to these young MBAs and their optimism, what are they doing? How can they peform favorably - I don't suppose they are economic islands?
In the last six months or so, I met some top-notch money-makers from Nepal in New York. The common refrain: it's really getting difficult to work in Nepal. Besides the all-pervasive corruption, they were talking about Maoist extortions. Big time.
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| nsharma |
Posted
on 19-Oct-01 05:01 PM
Economic theories, or any other theories for that matter, are and has to be based on common sense and logic, don’t you think?
Few and isolated instances, where entrepreneurs are doing well, are not grounds to say that the economic conditions for doing business are favorable in Nepal. Lets face it, MBA or not, the economic conditions dictates how well you do.
Before the Maoists started extortion in big way, corrupt politicians and bureaucrats sucked blood out of entrepreneurs in an unprecedented way. But, even they are dwarfed by the Maoists extortion.
A typical enterprise has goods and book full of IOUs and not much cash, more so during a down economic cycle. Usually, if you are involved a legitimate enterprise, bagging what you own and running away is not an available option, unless you are involved in some illegitimate business. Don't get me wrong; I am not implying that these "top-notch money makers" who came to NY made their money in illegitimate way.
It would be nice to hear from entrepreneurs who are actually facing the current economic situation. By that I mean people who have invested their own money and doing business in Nepal as oppose to the academic types making observation from the sideline and well as those who are doing business just to make their illegitimate income look legitimate.
My two pennies...
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| ashu |
Posted
on 22-Oct-01 01:10 AM
Hi all,
The latest issue of HIMAL (Nepali) magazine has a cover story.
The content of the story can be summarized like this: In the last 12 years,
there has been much GOOD that has happened in Nepal, and the report goes
on to cite solid examples. You may wish to check out their Web site or get a
copy of that particular issue for details.
I, for one, am NOT a pessimist when it comes to Nepal and young Nepali professionals in Nepal.
oohi
ashu
ktm,nepal
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