Tag Archives: nepal entrepreneur

Swedish IT social entrepreneur in Nepal, Bjőrn Sőderberg

philosophy, social entrepreneurs, , , , , , ,

Bjőrn Sőderberg, 28, is a young social entrepreneur with three successfully running companies, two in Nepal and one in Sweden.

In search of something exciting, challenging and different from that of Sweden, Bjőrn Sőderberg came to Nepal as a volunteer when he was 19 years old and lived in Bal Mandir. During his stay, he saw the potential for exciting new things in the hands of the young people in the country. In contrary to the trend of the youngsters finding their way to the U.S and abroad, Bjőrn started off in Nepal with a paper recycling (Watabaran Pvt. Ltd.) and IT outsourcing venture (Websearch Professionals Pvt. Ltd).

Despite the Swedish Government urging its citizens not to travel to Nepal for security reasons, Mr. Sőderberg was determined and he started approaching for loans in banks for the initial capital of $20,000. But through his struggle in the initial days, what he learnt was exciting!

——> Lesson No: 1,  One does not need money to be an entrepreneur, s/he needs customers. You don’t spend money to start a company; you start a company to earn money. And with this learning in mind, he went to Sweden and confirmed

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Last thursdays: talk with Hydro pioneer: Gyanendra Lal Pradhan

my experiments :),

young entrepreneurs (or wanna be’s),

Come to this entrepreneurs for Nepal gathering if you are in Kathmandu. Its free, fun, and invigorating !
Here are the details.

ENTREPRENEURS for NEPAL presents

NEXT EVENT: Last Thursdays April 30th 2009 5:30 PM

Guest: Gyanendra Lal Pradhan

Place: Buzz Cafe n Bar (formerly Nucchee’s organic), Baluwatar.

Phone(for directions): 4429903

Email (for inquiry): e4nepal@googlegroups.com

Map:

Brief about Gyanendra Lal Pradhan.
A Patron and Chief Strategist HydroSolutions, Nepal,  Mr. Gyanendra Lal Pradhan, Hydropower Specialist and Entrepreneur is currently the Patron & Director of Hydro-Solutions Pvt. Ltd. Receiver of the prestigious Best Entrepreneur Award at the Boss Business Excellence Awards, and the winner of the Manager of the Year 2006 Award, Mr. Pradhan has been conferred with numerous acclamations and recognitions for his sturdy contributions to the field of hydropower and clean energy.

An Electrical Engineer by credential, he has undertaken a number of initiatives in his 20 years of enriching experience in the form of successful projects and enterprises of varied scope and size. At Hydro Solutions, he is the Patron and the Chief

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real estate booms in kathmandu

career in Nepal, change, entrepreneurship, foreign investment,

In the last year or so, real estate in Kathmandu has skyrocketed. In some places by 100 to 200%. the speculation about its sustainability is a much asked question.

And a certain banker reasons with me:

“the real estate in Kathmandu valley is pretty much stable and will not collapse in the near future.”

His reasoning: If politics gets worse and uncertainties arise, everyone is pouring into  the safe Kathmandu valley (the only place of seemingly stability in Nepal) which in turn has a limited area because of it being a valley thus the prices will never crash. (but they might still go up)

If the situation of the country gets better, people will afford more and be able to purchase land at a premium value. and Kathmandu benefits from that being the commercial and political hub.

he concludes: “either way, investing in real estate in Kathmandu is a win win situation.”

but then, “what goes up, will come down”…

never a better time for entrepreneurs in nepal

entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship, inspiration, , , ,

Last Thursday I was talking with Min bahadur gurung, owner of the Bhat bhateni chain of supermarkets and he has an inspiring entrepreneur life story to tell. Few pointers from this ever optimistic and ever humble (rags to riches) entrepreneur.

Background:Min Bahadur Gurung, from remote village in Khotang started his venture with $1135 opening a small grocery store and now he is a multimillionaire with retail super market chains “bhatbhateni” in Nepal.

Tips:

  1. It is “THE” best time to be an entrepreneur in Nepal (he says history has proved that a lot of big companies in the world are the ones who started right after a big war /civil war.)
  2. Hydro Power and agriculture are fields he would personally invest in anytime.
  3. wants a group of young professionals to start things off. and Old investors like him, are ready to back young group of capable professionals to start business (again, he sees lots of opportunities).
  4. wants young people to dive in to the nepali market where anything and everything is up for grabs now, and everything can be innovated. His idea of biggest social service in Nepal is to give fair employment to as many Nepalis as possible.

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everyone is after the big fish

change, economy, entrepreneurship, ideas, thought provoking, ,

Most potential entrepreneurs /investor / business people seem to be after “the big fish” here in Nepal. (Of course big fishes are harder to catch, harder to find, and harder to track).

Why not go after a few small fishes that “has a chance to grow into a big fish”. Easier to manage, maybe even less risk ?

And when the pond gets drained away, its the small fish which usually escape, not the big ones.