This article can also be studied under "Entrepreneurial Economy and Society"
Entrepreneurs are businessmen but with a panache. They have
verve to change the human society and nerve to venture the investment in quite
riskier fashion. Entrepreneurs can be a person, institution or a government
entity. For example, Dinanath Bhandari is an entrepreneur who established
Bajeko Sekuwa in Sinamangal that ultimately expanded into chain restaurants in
different parts of Nepal. Similarly, Employee Provident
Fund (EPF) is an example of an institutional entrepreneur that rippled a new
concept of money management for the employees working inside the country. Some
cement factories and timber processing mills are the examples of government-led
entrepreneurial units.
Nepal is a developing country with a per capita GDP of
$1,116. About 25% of Nepalese population falls below the poverty line (1). The
minimal industrialization and lack of adequate private entrepreneurship can be
surmised to be the major setbacks in the economic growth of the country. So,
the role of entrepreneur who can act as a manager, financier or a promoter in
the process of industrialization cannot be overemphasized (2).
Unlimited Realms
Innovation is an ever emerging process. It is not time bound
and is beyond limitation with respect to region and subject (realm). So, it is
never late to kick start a novel business plan. And there are odds that every
other person can be a successful entrepreneur. Since Nepal is a virgin
territory in the aspect of business startups, people can look upon a plethora
of areas for investment. For instance, Biswas Dhakal founded eSewa as the first
online platform for monetary transactions. It proved to be a simpatico app as
shown by the overwhelming number of people. So, some youth can start companies
like Uber or Ola that help people for easy transportation in a private car
instead of repeating the versions of Pathao or Tootle. From food to drinks and
to the agro-products to homemade stuffs entrepreneurship is yet to be
discovered in Nepal. The happy part is you just have to prod out the ideas and
they could be started with very less money at first. If people start engaging
themselves in completely new ideas of investment they create job opportunities
for many youths waiting to fly Gulf nations for work. This will help improve
per capita income and allow greater quality of life of people from diverse
sectors. Wherever one wishes to embark on an endeavor, it should be noted that
they should embrace technology-driven operationalization for transparency and
rapid expansion.
Emphasis on Agriculture and Tourism
If there is something that Nepal could present its unique
identity then it is none other than agriculture or tourism. As said earlier,
Nepal has myriads of possibilities for investment but agriculture and tourism
are possibly the best among them. From the elementary level, we have been
raised by making us listen ‘Nepal is an agricultural country.’ But sadly, there
is derogation in agricultural fame due to demotivating factors like higher
broker margins, whimsical migration of youths as workers, inadequate or cumbersome
government subsidy and conversion of fertile land to concrete land plotting. If
one invests on such concepts as to neutralize these factors then commercial
farmland will be here to flourish. No brokers, direct door to door service as
per order. We can also think of preserving and exporting Nepalese native seeds,
grains and fruits for plantation, cross-breeding and future distribution
through a channelized modus operandi.
Geographical variation, biodiversity, ethnic
multifariousness and kind hospitality and etiquette of Nepalese people are
ornaments that have enriched tourism so far. We can encash such opportunities
but only with proper plans of entrepreneurial touch. Chandra Dhakal, for
example, of Chandragiri Hills can be considered an entrepreneur in tourism
because he explored the scope of cable cars in the vicinity of Kathmandu valley
that nobody did earlier.
Scope for Wider Networks
To significantly contribute to the country entrepreneurs
need to collaborate for a greater cause. For example, one can complement the
other by providing a product if the other provides the services. Or, they can
collaboratively expand by regions of interest. Let us suppose, one bank can go
every nook and corner of Rukum while the other bank goes to Rolpa. That way they
can penetrate the whole rurality more effectively than they went comitantly
competing with each other. Moreover, in the long run Nepalese entrepreneurs can
also think of global expansion of their business scope. One such example is CG
Corp Global which has started production of its flagship merchandise Wai Wai in
Serbia (3). This helps in bringing the foreign currency into the country.
Investor’s Reluctance
Due to long-running political instability and risk of
invasion by political interest of the ruling party, Nepalese investors are
quite reluctant to venture into a new enterprise. There is also a relative lack
of semi-skilled and skilled manpower essential for such an establishment as
they all tend to go abroad. This might be the reason that financiers continue
to invest money in a more stylized manner that creates profits with lesser
risks but fails to recreate dynamic human society. A handy example of this
might be: established business families like Upendra Mahato and Binod Chaudhary
are also streamlining their money in founding hospitals because it is assumed
to be risk-proof and are implicitly lucrative. The moneybags could have created
additional thousands of job opportunities if they chose to invest in a new
industry. So, Nepal government should employ the policy of guarantee on leaving
such undertaking untouched from political stake in order to promote
entrepreneurship from the public level.
Therefore, there is an immense role of entrepreneurship in
the economic growth of any country but the role gets only amplified when it
comes to a country like Nepal whose one-fourth of population lies below the
poverty line and per capita income is rather very low. Entrepreneurship
increases the economic vitality of individuals thereby undermining the inherent
vicious circle of poverty and illiteracy. Secured environment for investment
and unstoppable labor migration might be the major challenges that contribute
to the lack of entrepreneurial gusto of the emerging youths.
References:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Nepal
2.
K.C. FB. Entrepreneurs in Nepal: An
empirical Study
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