Bikalpa-an Alternative in support of Network For Free Society, conducted a one-day symposium on Freedom and Entrepreneurship at Hotel Shree Krishna on the 5th of October. The event was organized to provide the participants broad understanding of why freedom and entrepreneurship are imperative to bringing prosperity to the nation. The CEO of Antarprerana, Mr. Niraj Khanal, Director of Purvanchal Lube Oil Pvt. Ltd, Mr. Bholeshwor Dulal and Vice President for International Programs at the Atlas Network, Mr. Tom G Palmer, were invited as speakers who imparted their valuable insights into the selected topics. Altogether 85 youths from various realms showed their enthusiastic participation in the program.
The program started with the welcome note and program objective sharing by the coordinator of the program Mr. Suman Rai. An opening remarks video was played from Linda Whetstone, Chairman at Network for Free Society and Atlas Network, where she highlighted the benefit of increasing freedom will help the entrepreneurs to play a pivotal role in boosting progress, productivity and prosperity.
Then, the floor was handovered to Ms. Shristika Neupane to moderate the first session of the event. She delivered a brief introduction about the Speaker, Mr. Niraj Khanal, and welcomed him on the stage for carrying out his session. Mr. Khanal led the session on “Developing an Entrepreneurial Mindset.” He highlighted that entrepreneurship is a problem-solving mindset, and entrepreneurs are those who have the will and determination to commence a venture by minimizing risk and adding value. He stated that there ought to be 3P( Passion, Purpose, Profession) and 3T( Talent, Time, Treasure) in an entrepreneurial journey to ensure the endeavor’s success. After his 40 minutes presentation, the floor was open for the question-answer round, where he clarified the queries of the participants.
The second session of the event was on “ Sharing the story of an Entrepreneur,” where Mr. Bholeshwor Dulal talked about his entrepreneur journey, how he was able to become a business tycoon of Nepal from an employee. He opined that successful businessmen are not born with silver spoons in their mouths. Entrepreneurship is all about setting goals and working hard, which leads to success and persistence in businesses. At the end of his session, attendees got the opportunity to clarify their queries .
After lunch, Mr. Basanta Adhikari facilitated the session introducing the speaker and the moderator . Tom G Palmer presented the session on “How Liberty Helps in Promoting Innovation and Entrepreneurship”. The online session shed light upon the stages of economic growth and the inverse correlation between foreign aid and economic growth. Likewise, Palmer also expressed that “Poverty has no causes, Wealth has causes,” and free enterprises and the rule of law are the key conditions for causing wealth. He stressed the need for economic freedom for poverty alleviation by giving several examples of India, Burundi, Philippines, USA, and Indonesia. The session was moderated by Mr. Sandesh Das Shrestha where each participants received the Tom Palmer translated Nepali version of Peace, Love and Liberty.
Next session was the breakout session. Participants were divided into two groups for the breakout session. 25 participants engaged in the Liberty Discussion on “ Institutions of a free Society,” which was moderated by Mr. Riwaj Dahal. The discussion lasted for an hour and 15 minutes. Participants who had not been a part of such a discussion were highly influenced and came back with the idea for further discussion sessions. The conversation included topics like Limited government, Privacy, Freedom of Speech.
The rest 60 of the participants participated in the Movie Discussion session in which two short movies, “Sadak Cheu Ko Byatha” ( related to the hassles of the street vendor) and “Aawastha”( related to consequences of women migration ban by the government), were screened to help participants comprehend the policy issues. After each movie screening discussion was made, the participants opined their understanding of the movies, and the facilitator of the session, Mr. Punam Giri, clarified the issues the movies wanted to put forward.
At the final session of the certificate distribution, Mayor of Biratnagar, Mr. Bhim Parajuli, and Mr. Prabin Agrawal, a young entrepreneur handed over the certificates to the participants and the volunteers of the “ Digital Vaccine Registration Campaign “organized by Bikalpa an Alternative in association with UNDP. During his closing remarks, Mr. Parajuli praised Bikala work and volunteers’ dedication in successfully carrying out the campaign. He also announced the top 5 volunteers of the campaign and assured them to honor them in the near future. Mr. Bishal Rai, the campaign coordinator facilitated the closing session.
