Bikalpa- an Alternative in support of Sahaj, organized an entrepreneurship talk show program called “Udhyamika Kura” on 20th October at Hotel Shreekrishna Biratnagar. The program’s objective was to share positive and real stories of entrepreneurs to inspire a young generation with an entrepreneurship vision. The program also provides a platform to do networking and idea sharing. For this Last Thursday’s session, Mr. Bhim Ghimire was invited as the guest speaker. Mr. Ghimire is a chairman and managing director of AB Group of Industries and Trading House and president of Nepal Udhyog Parisangh Province no.1. The program was moderated by Basanta Adhikari, Director of Bikalpa an Alternative. He also delivered a welcoming speech to the participants and guest speakers.
Mr. Ghimire began his session by sharing his entrepreneurial journey. He was born in Mahendranagar Rural Municipality (now Barahkshetra Municipality) of Sunsari District. He recalled that his father and mother used to work on other’s farms. Born as the youngest son in a large family of four sons and four daughters, he spent his childhood in strenuous conditions, helping his father and mother in farming and giving the remaining time to study. During his early childhood, he had to get up early in the morning and help his father in cutting grass, graze cattle, milk cows, and sell milk. After returning from school, he had to go back to farming and stocking. He used to have little time to study after dinner, but the tiredness of the whole day used to bother him with sleep rather than concentrating on his studies. He shared a funny story of reading with his head tied in order to avoid sleep.
“On the day of the final examination of SLC, I went out to look for a job”, he remembered. While looking for work, he reached the CWE Chinese Company, which was working on the canal project at Chatara. After showing his desire to work, he got an opportunity to work as a laborer. He had to do work like carrying cement, lifting weights, and shoveling. He mentioned that at that time his salary was 7 rupees. Seeing Ghimire’s honesty, hard work, and humorous nature, the company promoted him to the position of supervisor. He who has been working as a laborer started to keep the attendance records of 20 workers of the company, record gender, make salary slips, etc. A few months later, Miss Chou of Radio Beijing, who was the interpreter of the same company, offered to teach the Chinese language to some employees and workers of the company. Some friends including Ghimire started learning the Chinese language. While learning, some stopped finding it difficult. However, Mr. Ghimire continued to learn the language, and as a result of which after 6 months, he could speak fluent Chinese, so the company offered him a job as an interpreter.
He reminisced that after passing the SLC examination, he hesitated about whether to work or study further. Due to time constraints, he determined to continue his studies and left with a proposal to quit his job at the Chinese company where he was working. However, the company arranged transportation for Ghimire to come and go to the college. Ghimire had to do office work late at night to make up for his college leave. He finished I. Com from Mahendra Morang College while also working. He mentioned that while studying B. Com, he began working full-time in Vijay Gajanand Baidya’s Chinese brick factory, assisting CWE as a consultant. “Bijay Gajanand Baidya’s entire family and his support at that time took a new turn in my life “, he recalled.
He shared that after accepting the proposal of Baidya, he started running Toyota’s former showroom completely by himself. He also had the experience of sinking the liquor business and sold more than 125 vehicles that year. He shared that during 2052/52 B.S., Toyota’s business was gaining momentum and at the same time, the real estate business also picked up speed, and the shipping, and construction businesses were also flourishing. In this way, being active in organizations and clubs helped Ghimire’s self-confidence to increase, as well as the development of speaking habits and social relations.
He said that one day in 2004, the Ghimire couple applied for DV. After selling the brick industry, Ghimire left for America with his wife and 2 sons. He said “He who was creating an image of a successful businessman and his wife who was a B.Sc. Nursing was not satisfied with their stay in America. “Although my body was in America, my heart was always in Nepal”, he expressed. Determined to do something in Nepal, he returned to Nepal with his family within a month. After returning to Nepal, he spent his time in the showroom of his Toyota. He bought back the brick industry that he had sold before going to America and opened another brick factory at the same location. His name was established as a distinguished entrepreneur through the successful business of Toyota showroom, construction business, customs business, brick industry, and petrol pump. Since then, Ghimire has not looked back. Along with business prosperity, he has also been involved in various organizations and has been doing social activities. He has received many awards and honors in various positions.
According to Mr. Ghimire, in order to encourage enterprises and businesses, the government should provide the land needed by the entrepreneurs at a cheap interest rate. He expressed the opinion that the government should monitor and take steps in this matter, alleging that banks and financial institutions are charging high-interest rates in order to kill the traders, and even though they can complete all the procedures to get loans, banks and financial institutions have created a difficult situation. He also mentioned that government can create a lot of employment opportunities by providing land as leases at a cheap interest rate. He said that Nepal businessmen and entrepreneurs are facing a challenge because the economic status of the country is deteriorating due to the trend of looking only at their benefits in making economic and industrial policies.
Mr. Ghimire had a very engaging and thought-provoking deliberation speech about his journey, after which the floor was open to the audience, where he shed light upon the participant’s queries. 104 attendees took part at the event and had an interaction with Mr. Ghimire. The program ended with a vote of thanks delivered by Mr. Basanta Adhikari. The media partner Our Biratnagar and Makalu Television covered the whole session.
News covered by Local Media
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