Tag Archives: foreign investment

Common sense questions for Nepal’s rulers

Dear Rulers
You have been ruling us for some time now, some of you, for 5 or 10 or 15 or even 20 years now. So we want you to answer a few questions below.

  • Why are the hundreds of elected lawmakers needed when at the end only 3 or 4 politicians decide everything for them (through ‘whip’?
  • Why do you stop hydro-power companies from investing here, if you talk about hydro-power as a major export and development catalyst for Nepal? (we went more than 12 hours a day without electricity every winter for nearly a decade)
  • Why do you talk about democracy, when you issue “whip” to your 100’s of elected lawmakers, forcing them to vote along party leaders lines only?
  • Why do you talk about youths as Nepal’s future, when youths are clearly the “present” of the country? (82% of Nepali are under 40)
  • Why do you call other countries to help and beg for aid if you don’t want any foreign interference? (30% of economy runs on aid)
  • Why does Bagmati still stink when for over

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Swedish IT social entrepreneur in Nepal, Bjőrn Sőderberg

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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Meet Entrepreneur Kiran Joshi, Disney Animator who started an animation studio in Kathmandu

This is a summary of Last Thursdays series co-hosted by “Entrepreneurs for Nepal” platform which I co-founded. This platform networks entrepreneurs working for Nepal. For more details, go here. A lot of credit also goes to Samriddhi Foundation for transcribing it.

Kiran Bhakta Joshi, the founder of Incessant Rain Animation Studios, left his job of 18 years at the Walt Disney Studios at age 46 to create his own studio in Kathmandu. With a background in computer software, Joshi was working as a graphics software developer for Disney. He was in the team that developed the animation system used for “Beauty and the Beast”, which went on to be nominated for Best Picture at the 1992 Academy Awards. Leaving an 18 year old job, the post of Head of Production and a team of 250 artists and technologists under him was not easy for Kiran. There were doubts among his friends in Walt Disney if an animation studio in Nepal would deliver the quality and turnaround they were seeking.

The year 2007 was the turning point in his life. When he had come to Nepal for the funeral of

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everyone is after the big fish

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.

Yes, you can own 100% company in Nepal if you are a foreigner.

Some interesting tidbits after talking to a realestate/company registration lawyer in kathmandu:

a) if a foreigner investing in industries like tourism, trade, industry and real estate, they get 100% ownership . You will also own 100% ownership of even real estate in Nepal as a company only. Previously there was much barriers to a foreigner owning land in Nepal.

b) Good Legal counseling and government fees (for company registration,etc ) costs an one time cost of 1,000 to 2,000 US dollars (estimated).

c) usually the whole process takes around 1 month.

d) You can get a BUSINESS VISA for the whole year, if you register as a company. This visa only costs 100 dollars a year. A good way for a businessperson to stay in Nepal without Visa hassles.

e) Nepali Bureaucracy is lethargic but with the right legal counsel and help, you should have a easier time registering your company and on your way to get ownership of whatever you are looking for. I saw examples of a few Americans doing the same to buy lands and open houses/resorts in nepal.

let me know if you have any questions .