This week's NEPAL magazine (see its site at kantipuronline.com) carries short but informative profiles of half-a-dozen or so young Nepali entrepreneurs who are doing good business in Nepal. Also, based on my almost four-years ko experience working very closely with Nepali private sector firms (both start-ups and established ones) in and out of Kathmandu, I would say that the people profiled by NEPAL are the "high-end" ones . . . but their stories do confirm that taking calculated risks, taking advantage of business opportunities, being determined and, yes, being lucky in Nepal in business have their own payoffs. ***** That aside, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), which is a member of the World Bank Group, has just published a report titled "Doing Business in 2005". On page 119 of that report, it has a table on Nepal. Relevant extracts: When starting a business in Nepal, the number of procedures an entrepreneur has to follow: 7 The number of days it takes to start a business legally in Nepal: 21 days Number of procedures required to enforce contracts: 28 Number of days it takes to enforce contracts: 350 days When closing a business Time of insolvency: 5 years ***** Moreover, the IFC report has information on: hiring and firing workers in Nepal, registering property, getting credit, protecting investors and info on closing business in Nepal. Hope this helps. oohi ashu