Considering the fact that business and enterprises play a dominant role in the economic development of any country, the fellows of Bikalpa an Alternative organized inter school speech competition titled “ Importance, Opportunities and Challenges of Entrepreneurship in Nepal on 6th February,2023 in collaboration with Biratnagar Metropolitan Municipality. 18 private and public schools of Biratnagar participated in the competition where Mayor of Biratnagar Metropolitan City Nagesh Koirala was Chief Guest, Deputy Mayor Shilpa Nirala Karki was the special guest and the program was presided over by Dr. Bhesh Prasad Dhamala, Chairman of Bikalpa an Alternative. The judges of the competition were Jeena Karki, Vice President of Province no.1 Sports Development Board, Abhinayak Malla, Director of Wakecup Coffee Biratnagar, and Yunesh Raj Shrestha, Director of Baari Roastery. The event was organized in the auditorium of Biratnagar Metropolitan City.
Bikalpa fellow Kalpana Ban played the role of master of ceremony and moderated the entire event. The program begin with a welcome speech by the event coordinator Ranu Sah which was followed by the short objective sharing by Basanta Adhikari, director of Bikalpa an Alternative. Mayor of Biratnagar Nagesh Koirala and Deputy Mayor Shilpa Nirala Karki also delivered their short speech in the program which was attended by more than 150 people.
Addressing the program, Mayor Koirala emphasized that entrepreneurship should be taught from the school level. He said that due to the lack of job creation in the country, there is an increase in the migration of young people to foreign countries. He shared that education is the most important avenue and our schools should put emphasis on the digital education which provide greater skills for the entrepreneurs to face the increasing global competition.
Similarly, Deputy Mayor Karki expressed that she is very delighted to see the interest of students in entrepreneurship from such a young age. She highlighted that entrepreneurship is a very vague subject but if the students start discussing about it from school level then definitely it will bring some positive changes in Nepal.
In the competition, every contestant had 5 minutes time to present their speech. Ishal Bhattarai, a Class 9 student of Everest Boarding School, became the first in the competition beating 17 competitors. Shirin Bhattarai, a student of class 9 of Budhanilkantha School, Jayash Karn , a class 9 student of St. Joseph’s and Yunish Nepal class 10 student of Adarsh Mavi received first runner up, second runner up and consolation prizes respectively. Following is an excerpt of the opinions expressed in their speech by the title holders:
Ishal Bhattarai ( First Position)
Entrepreneurship is the process of developing, organizing new business while bearing the financial risks. In the context of Nepal entrepreneurship plays a predominant role and act as the wheel of economic growth of the country. Taking about the opportunities, agro-industries is the predominant industry in Nepal followed by tourism, energy and manufacturing industries. It is awful to mention that Nepal still lies in 109th position out of 190 nation in the ease of doing business report by the world bank. Poverty, illiteracy, lack of social awareness, environmental-economic problem are the difficult problems stopping our entrepreneurs from achieving the heights they deserve. Apart from this, entrepreneurs also face challenges in obtaining financial support, technical support, skilled resources and manpower.
Shiren Bhattarai ( Second Position)
Entrepreneurship not only help to run a business successfully but also bring changes, newness and creativity in that particular business. There are some sectors in Nepal where entrepreneurship could be developed just like tourisms, mining, energy, hydropower and cottage industries. Due to corruption and bribery the actual entrepreneurs are not getting the actual respects that they deserves. Other major challenge includes lack of investment and capital because of which people having great business strategies, ideas failed to start their own business. On the other hand, human resources and skilled manpower are shifting to foreign nation which creates major barrier in flourishing entrepreneurship in Nepal.
Jayesh Karn (Third Position)
Entrepreneurs are the person who has the ideas, skill set, mindset and risk-taking ability to implement those plans and ideas that they have. The risk taking ability and the devotedness that entrepreneurs have differentiate a person from entrepreneurs. It’s not that there is no any prospects in Nepal but people are not ready to take remedial stand. We have natural resources in our country, which provide opportunities to lower our cost of production. Nepal can have a great market access as our government has maintained core diplomatic relationship with the greatest economy of the world, i.e. India and China. Some of the main challenges of entrepreneurship in Nepal are:- outdated study curriculum, lack of risk taking ability and unclear motive of entrepreneurs.
Yunish Nepal (Consolation)
Any entrepreneurs taking financial risk, investing capital, solving any problems persisting in the society by producing goods and services is called entrepreneurship. Our countries is gradually taking initiatives to develop entrepreneurship in Nepal. But still large of population are migrating towards the foreign nation due to lack of opportunities back home. The major challenges of entrepreneurship in Nepal includes government instability, insufficient financial supports from bank and financial institution etc. Also, Nepali medias only focus on the negative news and neglect the success stories of the entrepreneurs which can provide motivation to the youths.
The first, second and third place were awarded medals and certificates along with Rs 7,000, Rs 5,000 and Rs 3,000 respectively. Mayor Nagesh Koirala of Biratnagar Metropolitan City, Deputy Mayor Shilpa Nirala Karki and Chairman Dr. Bhesh Prasad Dhamala presented the award and certificate. The program ended with the vote of thanks delivered by the chairperson Dr. Bhesh Prasad Dhamala. The event was sponsored by Biratnagar Metropolitan, Wakeup Coffee, Mayur Print Press, Basant Multi-Purpose Construction Company Pvt Ltd and Global Horizon Education Pvt Ltd.
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