CEO Unplugged 2019 concludes: An opportunity to learn, network and share entrepreneurial ideas

Keeping up with the legacy of welcoming country’s most influential CEOs/entrepreneurs to inspire the enthusiastic entrepreneurial minds of the country, Glocal Pvt. Ltd. in collaboration with King’s college has successfully concluded the third edition of ‘CEO Unplugged 2019’ on January 9, 2019 at Hotel Soaltee Crowne Plaza, Kathmandu.

With the main theme of ‘Today Meets Tomorrow’, 15 reputed entrepreneurs of the country marked their presence as the speakers on this year’s CEO Unplugged. More than 100 aspirants participated in this highly anticipated event to network, learn, and share their notions with the prominent entrepreneurs of the country.

Mr. Suraj Vaidhya, President of Vaidhya’s Organization of Industries and Trading Industries (VOITH), served as a keynote speaker for the event. Expressing the importance of learning in one’s life, Mr. Vaidhya mentioned, “You never stop learning. Life is like a cycle, the moment you stop, you fall, that’s the same case with running a business. So, never stop learning, innovating and taking new risks.

Mr. Deepak Raj Joshi, CEO, Nepal Tourism Board shared his insights being Keynote Speaker in the same event. Nepal has a huge potentiality; the only problem is that we only look at the half empty glass. So I urged all the youths to fill that half glass by feeling the rest filled glass. Bring a change within you, learn from the history, work on the present. This is how today meets tomorrow.” In sighting the youth’s contribution in tourism, he further added, “Tourism cannot prosper until and unless internal tourism develops. So, as a youth, don’t be city-centric. In fact, get back to your roots. Explore Nepal as much as you can.”

Distinguished into three different panels that had a unique story to tell to the audience, CEO Unplugged’s first panel conversed on the topic of ‘Future of SMEs of Nepal’.

Sushama Sharma, 1st Vice- President of NWC SME; Sixit Bhatta, CEO, Tootle and Sunita Nhemaphuki, Co-founder, R&D Innovative Solutions were the panel members.

When asked about whether the recent data on the rate of agriculture contributing economy being reduced correct or not, Ms. Sunita Nhemaphuki, the Co-Founder of R&D Innovative Solutions stated, “The data might be correct to some extend because in Nepal, the main problem is that our production doesn’t meet our consumption pattern. For example, we produce corns but there is high demand for pop-corn. Hence, this creates lack of market for our agricultural productions and the data decrease. But if we all jointly work to uplift the market status for agriculture, it won’t take any time longer to let the same curve move upward.”

Likewise, Sixit Bhatta, the CEO of Tootle kept his view on the scaling that the entrepreneurs should focus to develop SMEs in Nepal. He said, “Today’s businesses need to scale up because scaling up results to replication that increase the standardization of existing SMEs. For this, technology plays a vital role. Technology can scale up every sector. Be it agriculture, tourism, food or mobility.” On the other hand, when asked about financial institution’s provision for loan to entrepreneurs,

Susma Sharma, the First Vice-President of NWC SME said,” The things have changed from the past. Nowadays, the government has come up with the policies of more subsidies. The interest rate for loans has drastically changed and now, entrepreneurs with good ideas can assess the loan with minimal collateral.”

The millennial of the panel had Rohit Tiwari, Founder, Foodmario as the moderator.

The second panel, ‘Business Coalition of SDGs’, had the 4 panel members comprised of Renaud Meyer (Country Director, UNDP); Anukool Bhatnagar (CEO and MD, Nepal SBI Bank) and Sudhakar Jayaram (CEO, Nepal Mediciti Hospital) and moderated by Asish Thakur (Executive Director, Glocal Pvt. Ltd.).

With a sidelined view towards the main aim, Diptee Acharya, Director, Sanskriti International School; Samir Thapa, Executive Chairman, Silver Mountain and Saurabh Jyoti, Director, Jyoti Group were the members on board for the panel. Udgum Khadka, Education Designer moderated the final panel of the event. With an engaging ambience, the final panel showcased Saurabh Jyoti, the Director of Jyoti Group shared his intake in the literacy rate of Nepal as, “The data shows the literacy rate of Nepal around 65%. But, if we look at the real case scenario of the market, the employability rate among these individuals is way too less. The reason behind this is that, today, the companies don’t hire the employees on the basis of their paper degree. Soft skills are what the industry is searching for. So, being literate doesn’t guarantee the employability if you don’t possess the personality and soft skills.”

Likewise, when asked about the skills that are in demand, the Director of Sanskriti International School, Ms. Diptee Acharya said, “Today’s youth shouldn’t have the misconception that a good education background can let you have a settled life. The main competencies that are in demand are critical thinking, empathy, communication and ability to cope up with stress. And our educational institutions should be responsible to offer it all.” imilarly, Samir Thapa, CEO of Silver Mountain mentioned the importance of industrial driven curriculum in Nepal. He said, “What our educational institutions are making mistake is that they are creating the fancy and sellable curriculum. This means, we are way to back to create sellable employees for the market. Our industries seek the people who can perform the designated jobs and for this, industrial driven curriculum is a must.”