On 21st November 2020, Bikalpa an Alternative organized a virtual panel discussion Program on Entrepreneurship Ecosystem.  The objective of the program was to celebrate Global Entrepreneurship Week which engages entrepreneurs, investors, policymakers, researchers for the advancement of economic growth and innovation in the world.

The program was followed by Key Speakers: Mr. Abhinayak Malla ( Managing  Director of Malla groups), Saroj Lamsal ( Director of Quikr Foods), and Madan Poudel ( Co-Founder, FirFirey Organics) provided a deep-dive insight on the program.

Panel Discussion Summary

Abhinayak Malla

Mr. Abhinayak started the discussion by informing the audience about the different vital resources and skills required in today’s business. He said the internet plays a crucial role in today’s industry, so using the internet is very important for any Entrepreneurial purposes.  Also, Family support is an essential resource to drive the business innovation. He also discussed bank support as necessary support for doing big projects and Political and policy level of support, which helps in flourishing the business environment.

He shared he took Covid 19 as an opportunity to strengthen and rectify his back ward errors of the business where he worked on solving operational and organized technical errors of business. We work on digitalizing the plan of the business.

Madan Paudel

Mr. Madan Paudel said, “Since talking from an Agribusiness perspective, we all know it is a significant domain that is a multidisciplinary field. There are many actors involved in it. From my experience, the business’s essential resource is working with people in diverse settings. He told in today’s context; it is hard to retain and engage young people in Farm. We are trying to innovate Farm differently and pursue our further journey. For that, we have to do research and trail regularly.  So, we need a team that can bring diverse perspectives. It is tough to find this kind of human resource. In all sectors, the availability to work in a diverse environment and multidisciplinary sector Pull of human resource is essential, he added. He also said Startup culture is starting in Nepal, which is a good thing. Many new ideas are coming up. Some of them had got funding and had gone to a sound stage. We needed an incubating platform for mentoring the budding entrepreneurs that is a great support system for them, which will help them grow.

While talking about how Covid 19 affected their business, he said it has directly affected their business. We had a business model that directly targeted restaurant chains and had agri-food products related to it in our field. Due to the lockdown, we had a huge loss hospitality sector and the Agricultural industry like us. We were working on a farm to table concept but had to remodel our business.  What I learned from this is we need to adapt to the change. We need to create resilience in our business. Nothing is fixed; everything is dynamic.

Saroj Lamsal

Mr. Saroj Lamsal said, talking about Business innovation skills, I have put my team first. It was new in concept in Biratnagar when we started our online Food delivery system business.   While forming our team was a crucial part because we all were from diverse fields. So, I think a good team member is required for a startup like us. For a marketing business like us, we need a skill for using social media to reach and sell our products to the customers. He also said Skilled Human resources are also crucial in our field.

While talking about how Covid affected their business, he said Covid had hampered our business a lot. We were dependent upon on restaurant business, and due to lockdown, we have to lose our business at that time.  After mean, while we figure out the market need and shifted our plan to involve it in our company. So, we start a grocery Supply delivery business. At first, we have to face many challenges to take permits and permission for this kind of business, and finally, we were able to ease our business.   He also shared that they couldn’t expand their business to other cities due to lockdown, which they had planned. He also touched upon the policy challenges which are faced by local entrepreneurs in the startup field.

The session was wound up with a series of questions by the attendees, which were duly answered by all the speakers. We are grateful to all the speakers for an informative session and for providing insights on the prospects and challenges in Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Business. There were 50 participants during the session of the program.