Bikalpa – an Alternative jointly organizes the “Last Thursday’s” ( a talk program on entrepreneurship) event at Biratnagar in collaboration with Network for Free Society. The objective of the program is to disseminate the ideas and knowledge about entrepreneurship through the personal sharing of successful entrepreneurs. Also, the program creates an opportunity to do networking and share ideas among the participants.
The global spread of the coronavirus and the consequent lockdown has forced the people to follow self-isolation and social distancing with work-from-home practice. Similarly, Bikalpa adopted this strategy to conduct the 53rd session of The Last Thursday with an Entrepreneur, which was held on the 25th of June, 2020 virtually. The Guest Speaker for the program was Mr. Karna Skahkya who is a noted Nepali entrepreneur and social personality.
Mr. “Karna Shakya is a Nepali environmentalist, conservationist, hotel entrepreneur, writer, and philanthropist. He is the founder patron of Karna Positive Trust which is dedicated to flourishing and developing a positive attitude in Nepali people in Nepal and abroad. It is a nationwide campaign where thousands of youths are actively involved. The campaign has gone global and been able to reach many Nepalese people residing in different parts of the world.
During the interactive discussion, he spoke about his own journey and challenges as an entrepreneur while building his business. He also shared experiences and tips for success with the audience. The discussion began with Mr. Shakya sharing his views on the ongoing situation of the country. “The Nepali society hasn’t been able to think positively due to the overburden of negativity. Although our country has gone through different political changes we as a citizen haven’t been able to fulfill our civic duty and responsibility.” Mr. Shakya also shared about his early life where he went to study Forestry Science in Dehradun, India. It was there, that he was introduced to Natural resources and the conservation of biodiversity which led him to earn a degree in forestry. Following this, he joined the Forestry Department of Nepal where he worked for five years. During his tenure, he got an opportunity to survey and demarcate the boundaries of Chitwan National park during its establishment. He also served as a wildlife officer and pioneered in establishing the first National Park in Nepal, the Chitwan National Park. He shared that he is proud that this fact and is grateful to have been able to contribute to one project of national pride. He further reminisced about getting infected with malaria and altitude sickness while traveling to different parts of the country and came to know that Nepal was not a naturally poor country.
He then shared about his Entrepreneurial journey. After resigning from his government job, he entered the tourism business in 1970. He shared “We started a hotel with just 13 rooms and today we own a chain of 7 eco-friendly hotels with 600 rooms in major touristic cities like Kathmandu, Pokhara, Chitwan, and Lumbini.” Although having earned success and respect in the tourism sector, he was still not satisfied. So, in 1975 he allotted 75% of his time to business and 25% time to his profession. He said, “My bread and butter came from tourism but my love and passion were towards wildlife conservation. I realized that If you don’t work for your passion then you will not be able to be happy in your life.”
In his journey as a conservationist, he became a member of International organizations such as Wildlife Conservation, International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and participated in different wildlife conservation conferences. These exposures helped him to shape his personality. “You feel very proud when you are living meaning life,” he added.
“There is a difference between business and entrepreneurship. People who see reimbursement of profit and loss are called businessmen. While Entrepreneurs are those who have a vision and work for tomorrow. You cannot become an entrepreneur by seeing dreams alone. You need to know how to balance between dreams and reality. That’s the most important factor in becoming an entrepreneur. You need to be innovative and that innovation only comes when you have positive thinking in your life”, he shared.
During the conclusion, he summed up by saying that if people want to become successful, they need to create original things. “You have to think originally and stop imitating others, whether that’s in your business or other things. Everything is about ideas in the world. So we need to keep remain creative. Then, originality will make you a successful person.”
Mr . Shakya had an engaging and insightful talk and former experience in Entrepreneurship which kept the audience throughout the program. The virtual session was watched by more than 56 people through Bikalpa page, who made this session successful. In the last minute of the session, Vote of thanks to the guest speaker was shared by Mr. Basanta Adhikari, founder of Bikalpa an Alternative, marking the end of the session.
Full Program Record:
