Returning to Nepal with a US degree, good or a bad idea?

I strongly second Ashu's statement outlined in #5. 

Over the last ten years, I have observed SEVERAL graduates of Nepali Universities (who has never stepped to ANY US academic institution)  face an interview, excel, land a very good job and do their job extraordinarily well in the US. As you know, getting a job in the US is, 99% of the times, selling yourself, your qualifications, and personality. Nepali colleges and universities should be credited for preparing a dynamic workforce and the state-of-the-art education that can face these challenges of a US job market.

At the same time, I am cautiously optimistic about a US University preparing a workforce of comparable strength and aptitude. Has your US education prepared you enough to face the challenges of Nepali job market? I think, this remains a question.

 Ashu,

Regarding #7 and #8:

1. I agree with #7. I think we desperately need people who are not going to be easily frustrated when they have to go and lobby with the government. It is easy said than done, but I feel tired when I see young individuals who claim they wanted to do something great but the govt didn't help them. Govt by nature is an agent for status quo, law and order, and introducing change in its attitude takes a bit effort.
I also believe, after observing liquidity crises of last few years, that we need good policymakers who can address such crises. Not sure how an individual with work experience abroad can negotiate a position for himself into our bureaucracy.

  I also see that, given how Laxman Shrestha (of Manakamana Cable Car) and Kamal Jain (Of Shiva Statue) operated, we need entrepreneurs with keen sense of seeing long term profit. I was shocked to see how some people tried to force Jain to give up his statue to public. I think as long as Kamal pays taxes, which we have to assume that he pays duly unless some contradictory evidence surfaces, he should be allowed to run the stuffs he personally paid to create. People living near his park should be thankful to him because he added value to their land and put their region in the map of the country. 

 It seems to me that our people love the parks/regions with religious theme. Cable car, for example, wouldn't have been that successful without its proximity to Manakamana Temple.

Once I was sitting with a few rich people, and people told me that the cable car guys were taking undue profit of the temple. I told them that I was not so sure of it and I proposed that we purchase a land (or do a shahakari plan) from Chitwan to Manakamana Temple and make a US-style road with vista points (one could see Chitwan, Dhading, Gorkha, Tanahu and beautiful Marsyangdi etc from there) and a nice parking lot near the temple. The road will be a toll road. The whole expenditure at the time would be less than 20 karod. I told them that it would probably be profitable (I of course can't guarantee any profit anywhere anyway), will change country's landscape and will provide more options to visitors to the temple. The project didn't go very far, but we agreed that, unlike Laxman(who put his own 40 karod on cable car), we couldn't put our own money, but a publicly traded corporation could probably do that by raising money in stock market thus pooling the risk. The lesson was very clear-- Laxman took risks, very big risks, and succeeded. 

I can see that people with clear business idea and ability to convince others and execute these plans can succeed big time in Nepal. Places like Muktinath, Swargadwari, Khaptad, Rara etc are crying out for the initiative of such leaders. A express highway linking all these tourism spots , from east to west, possibly along Hulaki Marg (this was the highway our ancestors used while they were fighting in Kumau, Gadhwal, Dehradun first against local feudal kings and finally against the British), would be an excellent gift from our govt to our future entrepreneurs as it would provide mobility among our people and reduce cost for starting business in those regions. 

I won't talk politics here. All leaders are more or less same and we should push them. My experience has  been that, though I dislike Maoists for their nondemocratic attitude, they are actually easier to convince when you approach them with these business plan. On the other hand, our US educated NC leaders are more corrupt and they are likely to seek more for themselves when you approach them with these plans.

2. I think besides Pokhara, places that are happening include Chitwan and possibly Dharan. Chitwan's growth is phenomenal. More than 20 hospitals built in Bharatpur in last few years, and serious investments in Sauraha hotel industries plus the chicken, milk, honey, chicken feed industries etc that have popped up there point to a serious growth potential. Dharan has similar potential with its colleges and a well remunerated ex-army population.

My long term bet is for Janakpur. Maithili people are smart, they also have tons of political leaders from there, and there are seriously loaded Maithili people (such as Dr Upendra Mahato). I also read that there are 14 sabhasad who call Janakpur home. Furthermore, Dhanusha sends very high number of young people to gulf. This points to a explosive growth for the city soon, if they take care of insurgency problem.  

 What about the current power crisis in Nepal? I am heading home pretty soon. I have made arrangements for web work from my current place of work. But I fret about the loadshedding. How bad does it get and are there any hope for immediate future? The generator thing would be pretty costly, I guess. I am thinking of solar options. Does anyone have any idead regarding a way to get over the power crisis so that one can operate at least two computers for at least 12hrs a days.

Ashu makes sense in #7.

However, the question is: Why would a guy with Capital Market background go to Nepal?  South Asia is not yet a "Capital Market" market.  One day I thought to have fun and run a screen for Investment Banking clients in Nepal.  Guess what, my analyst brought me the spreadsheet in the evening and it was very interesting. There was only ONE company that came in the radar of investment banking.  Now, should we just do one deal and retire?  In a country like India, I found 792 companies; the likelihood of paying the hefty fees of investment bankers is slim.  One of the CEOs I was chatting with almost got a heart attack when I told him that our initial consultation fees is $50K USD.  He immediatly ran the numbers into Indian Rupees and said he can't afford IB service.  Last week, I had a meeting with the CFO of a Chinese publicly traded firm.  Although they were sitting on 11Mil USD cash, they were hesitant in paying our discounted retainer fee of $45K.  We refused to attend the second round of call.  I must say, China has volume in terms of great EBITDA margin companies.  But when it comes to capital market activity, it's dormant.

Name	Value	Scale	Unit	Simple Growth Rate %	Y-o-Y Change %	Annual % Rate
Balance of Payments - Nepal  (Quarterly)	-453.32	Million	US Dollar	-	-	-
CPI (Y-o-Y %) - Nepal  (Monthly)	10.45	Actual	Percentage	-	-	-
Current Account Balance - Nepal  (Annual)	-256.07	Million	US Dollar	-	-	-
Current Account Balance - Nepal  (Quarterly)	-984.88	Million	US Dollar	-	-	-
Current Account Balance (% of GDP) - Nepal  (Annual)	-1.65	Actual	Percentage	-	-	-
Exchange Rate - Nepal  (Monthly)	72.56	Actual	Nepalese Rupee	0.25 %	(1.26) %	3.06 %
Exports (USD) - Nepal  (Monthly)	75.38	Million	US Dollar	(1.24) %	36.35 %	(13.96) %
Foreign Currency Reserves - Nepal  (Annual)	1.49	Billion	US Dollar	2.60 %	2.60 %	2.60 %
Foreign Currency Reserves - Nepal  (Monthly)	1.64	Billion	US Dollar	3.32 %	7.86 %	47.92 %
Foreign Currency Reserves - Nepal  (Quarterly)	1.58	Billion	US Dollar	5.80 %	5.62 %	25.27 %
Foreign Currency Reserves (% of GDP) - Nepal  (Annual)	21.47	Actual	Percentage	-	-	-
Foreign Direct Investment Inflows - Nepal  (Quarterly)	17.97	Million	US Dollar	(44.86) %	417.10 %	(90.76) %
GDP - Nominal - Nepal  (Annual)	522666	Million	Nepalese Rupee	2.50 %	2.50 %	2.50 %
GDP - Real - Nepal  (Annual)	96612	Million	Nepalese Rupee	5.80 %	5.80 %	5.80 %
GDP - Real (Growth - YoY%) - Nepal  (Annual)	5.8	Actual	Percentage	-	-	-
GDP - Real (USD) - Nepal  (Annual)	5644.04	Million	US Dollar	5.80 %	5.80 %	5.80 %
GDP Per Capita - Nominal - Nepal  (Annual)	18477.25	Actual	Nepalese Rupee	0.58 %	0.58 %	0.58 %
Imports (USD) - Nepal  (Monthly)	197.95	Million	US Dollar	15.36 %	1.66 %	455.52 %
Population - Nepal  (Annual)	29.33	Million	Persons	1.81 %	1.81 %	1.81 %
Reserves - Total - Nepal  (Monthly)	1654.79	Million	US Dollar	3.30 %	7.78 %	47.59 %
Trade Balance (USD) - Nepal  (Monthly)	-122.57	Million	US Dollar	-	-	-

 i thought that we already established that going to Nepal to for doing exceptionally well is depended on you family background, your talent  of course and how much money you have. sorry , no offense but i don't need anyone to tell me that Nepal is poorer than USA. there is 40% or more unemployment rate in Nepal,but i am sureif i go there tomorrow i can land a job withing a couple months, and i don't ahve any family members or friends that is sitting in Nepal as umemployed but sadly i can't say the same things about my friends in the usa and ironically the state i live only has about 8-9% unemployment rate. so yes it does matter where you are but what matters the most is what is your status in that place and what kind of background you have too. also lets not forget personal reasons to go to Nepal after graduation not just money and career. 

Nagarikreport asks:

"However, the question is: Why would a guy with Capital Market background go to Nepal?"

Depends on what the guy wants to do in Nepal. Not every guy -- including bulge-bracket bankers -- wants to do the same thing.

This guy, an Indian national now working Nepal for a private firm, seems to have made a choice for himself for now.

http://www.abhiyan.com.np/article-personality_25_magh

In any case, I see the development of (capital) markets as a 'marathon' sort of work, which takes years and years to develop and mature.

oohi
ashu

@ Ashu,

Agreed.  Let's not ignore the trend though.  Most bulge bracket bankers eventually start their own BD (including myself).  The reason is only one: more money.  We are about 40 in our firm and we all come from bulge bracket.  When asked why we chose to leave JPMorgan, Goldman...the answer is same, more money.  Even a struggling ibanker makes more money than anyone else could possibly fathom.  Capital market is not known to everyone.  Even in US, only the corporate development, capital market and few others know what ibankers do.  I have failed to educate my dad what ibankers do.  Since he lives in Nepal, for him banking is all about deposits and money.  ibanking is all about advising at least to micro cap companies.

Good to have your feedback though.

 God, we seriously got some veterans here in this thread. It's amazing to read the views of people from different backgrounds like, IT, Business, Journalism etc. Even though i don't want to post anything on this thread because i think my level of understanding and expressing is way too much lower than the people here in this thread. Just wanted to say great job and keep going with all your ideas, hopefully i'll be able to follow all your ideas and do something better for myself as well as my country. 

Yea....keep dreaming. Those who really do it , DO NOT have time to sajha and waste time posting their theasis.



Look what he says about our people, nailed it.

 vhootee, i am sorry to say but i think you got it wrong, people here in this thread are not dreaming but just sharing and expressing the ideas about their experience on their own field. I've also watch the French Cowboy in Nepal as well, and i really do admire the guts of that guy who chose Nepal as his destination, left his journalism career and is doing business in Nepal. Correct me if i am wrong but that's what people are talking here in this thread. They are talking about how our generation can make a huge difference after going back to Nepal and how we can open an opportunity for our upcoming generation. sorry bro, didn't mean to educate you but trying to show the right direction to look for everything in positive way. Thanks.

bd 

What will be best buisness with the 10 karods as intial investments?

 8848m, i've known you from years here in sajha. I am positive that you will do enough of research before investing that much of money on anything in Nepal or overseas but if i were you, i would first do enough homework with enough people from various field. Even though every people have their own opionion depending upon which field they are from but i would listen to everybody first. I don't whether you've updated with this thread or not but if you keep reading from the beginning, trust me, you can find lots of valuable things here. Last but not the least good luck bro. 

 This French Guy is good, may be he will start making a wine factory in Nuwakot. 

It is really good to have some french working in agricultural field in Nepal. I lived in France for few years and there are tons of things to be learned from that country culturally as well as in tourisme. In many ways Nepal has a great potential in tourisme, both internal and external. Since nepal's ecology is quite fragile, it cannot support huge industries. So a better bet would be to go for mico economy. One example from France that I saw during my stay, a lot of torn down old traditional country houses were renovated by new habitants giving them charm and touristic value. In Nepal we should also encourgae this kind of trend instead of building cement blocks which are not very compltable with the surrouding and look damn ugly.

That French citizen looks like Hollywood star From the move 'the incredible hulk'

Its long term plan Bolevard. Thanks Buddy.

 8848M, You're welcome sir, talking about the long term plan. 10 crore is huge sum of money. One can do anything whatever they want with that much of money depending on their interest. If you ask me, than being a journalism major, i would say i would like to open an new media house in Nepal but that might be something you might not have interest in. With that kind of money you can generate a new job related to IT, Software, Business, Agriculture etc.

Now the question is whether you want to work hard in the field or you want to stay inside the office and be a CEO. If you wan't a white color job than obviously you can do some homework and talk with the entrepreneur and try to create new ideas where you can invest the money or if you don't want to do that and want to stay outside of ktm, than go and talk with the  farmers outside the like village like  Pokhara, Chitwan, Gorkha, Birgunj, Dharan, Nuwakot and see what's the most growing agricultural business. I would suggest, Animal breeding like cow, buffalo, fish etc or you can also think of growing fruits, vegetable, honey and other things as well. But remember that this is very difficult task, you can't just rely on somebody and leave it. You yourself have to be in the field all the time before the business grows. 

If i were you i would definitely go to some village and do the same thing because i don't think i will be able to adjust with the environment of KTM anymore, One's life is terrible in KTM, Most importantly KTM is not far from Nuwakot, Gorkha, POkhara and Chitwan. You can always crash into KTM during the weekends for hangout, like the people of country do here in U.S in most of the cities. My two cents :-) Have a great weekend. 

bd

 10 karod bhae pachhi pani afai kam garne ho? Just give me the money, and I will do whatever business you ask me to start:)

Honesty, if I have 10 karod, this is what I always wanted to do.
  (i) Start 24 hour convenient stores in some parts of Kathmandu as a pilot project. Most of them will initially be located near police office. [Allocated 1~2 karod my own money, get loans from the bank if insufficient for this]
 (ii) Somewhere afar, near river Trishuli, I want to start food processing factory. I want to make a few small chhapro near Trishuli and play baghchal with my workers. I want to make sure their children are getting good education and die with infinite happiness that at least 100 families lived better because of me.

 24 hour convinient store is a great idea newStudent, Like the way they have Conoco, QT, Shell and Love's, one can always think about opening a franchise location in some parts of Nepal. I think that's going to be a good and profitable business. I like the way you said that you wanted to buil a chapro and play baghchal with your workers but one question bro, are you gonna pay for the hourly wage to your workers for the time they play baghchal with you or not?  Just kidding ;-) 

 Factory workers won't be hired in hourly basis, Boulevard Dreams. 

There is a reason why I want to do it. I used to go to 'paani laauna' in our Terai farm in Asar-Bhadau period after planting rice. It used to be very hot, and we had a small chhapro near our farm. Some of us honed our Baghchal skill there. I was very good at Baghchal.

 Yeah of course they won't get hired on hourly, i was just kidding, no offense. 

Though i haven't never done that but yeah i remember when i was child, my grandfather and grandmother used to go to the field and when they come home working all day they used to do some enjoyment by singing and playing some musical instrument. Even though that was not something that i was interested in doing when i was a kid but now i think that was the best thing that one can do all of them were happy. When i look at myself, i feel like i'm living luxuious life, i have almost all the basic needs that a human beings need but still i'm not happy, don't know why :-(

 During today's lunch hour, I was talking to a co-worker who did her MBA from the US and she sounded extremely upset as she's lost her independence. Further, she's married to a dude who was brought up in a traditional family and she said her in-laws nagged her about her dress code ( she wears pants while working at the bank as opposed to her in-laws' desire to wear saree ). 

I don't know...Women seem to really "suffer" a lot by returning back.... 

 You're right Agni, Women seem to suffer a lot by returning back home, due to all the traditional boudaries but so does the men. I went Nepal last year, though i am not one of those guy who stay late night but still sometimes due to some reason when i used to come home late around 11 p.m. my parents used to scold me. I still remember that day when literally my sister slapped me in the main entrance when i cam home at 1 in the morning. Even though i don't drink or do nothing but still i don't know why, i was not allowed to stay late. I guess these are the few things that might be difficult at the initial stafe when we go back home but for sure we get used to the life because that's where we born and raised. 

Agni, I appreciate your posting first-person experience as an executive in Nepal.  I sure would like to hear more, keep us informed.

In regards to your last post, I too would be hesitant to return to Nepal.  I definitely would not want my daughter(s) to live there.  Given the tremendous gender inequality and social pressures, Nepal is not an ideal place for women.  I would not say the US is perfect, what with women earning only 70% of what their male peers would make, but obviously it's no way close to Nepal.  One just needs to read some of the posts even here in Sajha to smell the stench of male chauvinistic pigs. 

उध्यमी नभएकाले र डलर कमाउने सोचले आएका हरु कि मनग्य लिएर जानु पर्‍यो , कि त नयाँ पढाई लिएर फर्कनु पर्‍यो , पढाई गर्ने हरु ग्रीन  कार्ड लिनेर बस्ने धुन अनी को जाने त घर ? फेरी त्यो लोड सेडिङ को मार किन स हने ?
Basic कामले कतिनै डलर जोगिएला , साइड इन्कम बनाउने बाहेक ले ? कसैले लेखी सक्नु बएको होला ,  केलाई घिउ नपछेको , त्यो सुन्न त कोही पनि चाहनु हुन्न होला , , म पनि कहाँ अपबाद भएको छु र यो बिषयमा । It is hard to make a decision but who ever went back they are doing good ( most of them ) because they learned some thing where ever they had worked.

I have noticed most of them who go back are the children of rich and influential family and they usually tend to work in banks or their family business. their parents keep telling them to come back and they do and evetually they are placed in a high paying job. it's bull to think they learned something from here and went back to use. they went back to use the corrupted system because they could not succeed in the usa on their own. at least most of them. 

यो राम्रो छलफलको विषय भएकोले मेरो दुई पैसाको कुरा पनि थप्न मन लाग्यो, यो धागोलाई तन्काउन।

मेरो बिचारमा, विदेशबाट फर्किने नेपालीले नेपालमा बढि सफलता पाउँछन किनभने कमसेकम उनीहरुले दुई फरक कोणबाट परिस्थितिलाई मुल्याङ्‍कन गर्न सक्छन। देखेरै पनि कति कुरा सिकिन्छ नि गाँठे! नेपालको कुरा त बुझेकै छ र केही नयाँ कुरा भए सिक्न नि बेर लाग्दैन। विदेशको सुख दु:ख भोगिसकेपछि फेरि विदेशिने रहर हुदैन। त्यसैले, बढि जानकारी हुनु र कम तृष्णा हुनु भनेको बढि सुखी/खुसी हुनु हो। अनि सुखी मान्छे बढि सफल त हुन्छ नै। म चै हन्डर खाएकै मान्छेमा बढि भरोसा गर्छु।

यसरी एक आपसमा छलफल गरेर देशको वास्तविक कुरा बुझ्नु त राम्रो हो, तर निर्णय त आफैले गर्नु पर्छ। किनभने जति धेरै मान्छे उति धेरै कुरा। जसको कुरा नि ठीकै हो जस्तो लाग्छ। त्यसैले गहिरिएर आफ्नो हृदय सुन्नु पर्छ, बुझ्नु पर्छ। अचुक र अकाट्य निर्णय भन्ने कुरा नै हँदैन। कुनै कुरा सोच्दा मात्र पनि जीउ गलेर आउँछ भने कुनै कुराले मनलाई प्रफुल्ल र रोमान्चित बनाउँछ। कसैको मनलाई नेपाल जाने कुराले भारी बनाउँछ भने अरुकोलाई हल्का। यस्तो दुई थरिका मान्छेले एउटा निर्क्योल निकाल्न सम्भव कुरै भएन। तर, यस्ता छलफल बढि जानकार हुन चै काम लाग्छ। त्यसैले जे कुराले आफ्नो मनलाई छुन्छ, त्यो कुरा गर्नु पर्छ नत्रभने सफलता हात लाग्दैन, जहाँ बसेनि जता गएनि। 

अर्को कुरा, सोच्यो मात्र भने जे कुरा नि गाह्रो हुन्छ, गर्‍यो भने भने ठूलो कुरा पनि समय लगाएर गर्न सकिन्छ। त्यसैले, योजना बनाउने, लक्ष्य तोक्ने र काम थाल्ने। वीचमा आउने ब्यवधानलाई झेल्दै अघि बढ्ने। मान्छेले आफ्नो वास्तविक धरातल छोड्नु हुन्न। अहिलेको परिस्थितिमा जे छ त्यसलाई स्वीकार गरेर आफ्नो विवेकले सकेको निर्णय गर्ने। केवल कल्पना गरेर त्यस्तो भए हुने, यस्तो किन भयो भन्ने खालका कल्पनाहरु यथार्थ भन्दा धेरै टाढा हुन्छन। यदि निर्णय गलत भयो भने पनि त्यसबाट पाठ सिक्ने र अघि बढ्ने। 

एउटा बुझ्नै पर्ने कुरा चै के हो भने भौतिक दु:ख भनेको मान्छेले सहन सक्छ, मानसिक सक्दैन। त्यसैले यी दुई कुराको तुलाना हुनै सक्दैन र गर्नु पनि हुँदैन। दु:खले हामीलाई कहि कतै पनि छोड्दैन। एउटा न एउटा दु:खको कारणले पछ्याई रहन्छ, जीवनमा उतार चढाव भैरहन्छ। यसबाट भाग्ने भन्दा यसलाई झेल्ने कला सिक्नु पर्छ। साच्चै सुखी हुन त हाम्रा पुर्खा योगी ऋषिमुनिहरुबाटै शिक्षा लिनु पर्छ तर अहिले तेता नजाउँ। जे होस, रोज्नै पर्छ भने भौतिक दु:ख रोज्नु नै ठीक हुन्छ। सफलता भन्दा सुखको पछि लागौ। हाम्रो देशलाई सुखी मान्छे चाहिएको छ। दु:खीले दु:ख बाँड्छ, सुखीले सुख। परिस्थितिले जहाँ राखे पनि सबैलाई सुखै सुख होस।

आत्मविश्वासले सफलता

 

गाउँमा पढ्ने अवसर मिलेन । घरको आर्थिक अवस्था पनि कमजोर । त्यसैले उनले ११ वर्षकै उमेरमा घर छाडे ।  काभ्रेको विकट गाउँबाट  काठमाडौं आउनसाथ उनले एउटा चाईल्ड केयर सेन्टरमा बालबालिकाको रेखदेख गर्ने काम पाए । एघार वर्षमै श्रममा लागेका ती व्यक्ति  अहिले करोडपति भैसकेका छन् । पोखराका स्थापित ती पर्यटन व्यवसायीको नाम हो— दोर्जे लामा । चाइल्ड केयरदेखि विभिन्न रेस्टुराँमा वेटर  काम गरेका ३९ वर्षीय लामा अहिले पोखराको लेकसाइडका दुईवटा रेस्टुराँको मालिक भएका छन् । काभ्रे खोपासीका लामालाई पहिलो पटक  १३ वर्षको उमेरमा रूप पुन नामका व्यक्तिले रेस्टुराँमा काम गराउन पोखरा ल्याएका थिए । पुनको रेस्टुराँमा दुई वर्ष काम गरेपछि उनले  टिटाइम ब्याम्बोस्टान्ड रेस्टुराँमा सरेर थप दुई वर्ष वेटरको काम गरे । रेस्टुराँमा काम गर्दागर्दै एक दिन क्यानेडियन युवतीसँग भेट भयो  लामाको । बिस्तारै नजिकिँदै जाँदा पछि उनैसँग विवाह भयो ।

'सुरुमा ४५ हजार लगानीमा मासिक भाडा ३ हजार रुपैयाँ तिरेर रेस्टुराँ सुरु गरेको हुँ,' लामाले भने, '१० वर्षसम्म भाडामा बसें, अहिले  आफ्नै घर छ ।' उनले लेकसाइडमै अर्को एक घर पनि किनेर त्यहाँ साझेदारीमा रेस्टुराँ सञ्चालन गरिरहेका छन् । विद्यालय शिक्षा नलिएका  लामाले क्यानाडामा नौ महिना व्यावहारिक शिक्षा लिएका छन् 

 
Homlal ji, i loved your analysis. You got great points there.

Just rejuvenating this topic.