Bikalpa- an Alternative in support of Sahaj, organized an entrepreneurship talk show program called “Udhyamika Kura” on 29 December 2022 at Hotel Shree Krishna 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. Abhinayak Malla was invited as the guest speaker. Mr. Malla is a Proprietor of Malla Enterprise, WakeCup Coffee, Safe Home Builders and a young Entrepreneur of Biratnagar. Basanta Adhikari moderated the program. He also delivered a welcoming speech to the participants and guest speaker.
Mr. Abhinayak Malla during his speech shared several instances about his entrepreneurial journey and provided aspirations to the young mass to see the opportunities available here. He completed his master’s degree in Switzerland and after finishing his studies he was determined to something in Nepal. He shared that immediately after he returned, Nepal was at hardest hit due to massive earthquake. Sheer frustration was built up within him as he flew back from one of the most systematic countries to one of the most chaotic countries in the world. He mentioned being involved with Bikalpa in various events as a speakers and participants. “I always encourage youths to participate in programs of bikalpa as it has molded me up in my personality development enhancing my thought process”, said Malla.
He highlighted that an entrepreneur must endure lots of challenges during his endeavors but what really matters is what kind of mindset we should carry and what we should feed to our subconscious brain. According to Mr. Malla, entrepreneurship is a very fancy word, but dedication is absolutely crucial when commencing any venture. One should work for the vision and goals persistently and consistently to be established as a successful entrepreneur. He opined that success for him is determined by how many lives he can impact by boosting local employment rate. His business vision is aligned with the acceleration of the economic prosperity of the country.
According to him, business objectives should not be profit. Business is a vehicle to travel from point A and point B, and profit is a fuel necessary for that vehicle. For sustainable business, one has to think very responsibly, and when business becomes sustainable profit follows it automatically. He said that profit maximization depends upon the operational efficiency of the business.
He then shared the challenges and opportunities he had endured during his journey. When he first commenced Wakecup coffee it went on loss for one year. It was challenging because there was no trend of coffee in Biratnagar; however, he intended to start up something differently. He carried out research about the agricultural potential of Nepal, and Coffee stand out as one of the greatest potentials by looking at topographical and geological location of Nepal.
He shared that though Nepal does not fall under the coffee growing region, the international market was preferring the coffee produced in Nepal. However, there were challenges in gaining farmers’ trust because of deficient market access which led them to destroy their coffee farming in the past. Thus, to procure the trust of farmers he went to Ilam and started his own farming. He mentioned that after his initiative, coffee production of Ilam flourished gradually and took lead as the highest coffee production of Nepal.
He said that after 2-3 years of opening Wakecup coffee, there were slight marginal profits, and thus he planned for the further expansion of the coffee shop. His main goal is to take Nepali coffee to the international market not as raw material but as a finished good. Talking about his construction business, he saw gaps in the construction industry after the massive earthquake hit Nepal. He reminisced that thousands of people died, and many structures collapsed despite having so much legal paperwork. He criticized the traditional systems that use bricks while constructing buildings and mentioned carbon-neutral construction, which is a new concept for consumers. He expressed that it might be difficult for individuals wishing to bring new concepts and ideas to the market. Still, it is the responsibility of the business expert to disseminate the ideas one has acquired through learning to the consumers.
Finally, he ended his speech by touching upon the main requisite to start a business. He said, “If you create an environment in your brain where there is hope then you start thinking creatively”. At last, he suggested the participants to convert the complaints into problems and identify the potential solution to them. After his insightful and thought-provoking speech regarding entrepreneurship, he also addressed the participant’s queries. Altogether 150 participants attended the event. The program ended with the handover of a token of love by Ranu Shah and a vote of thanks delivered by Mr. Basanta Adhikari. The media partner Our Biratnagar and Makalu Television covered the whole session.
