Shabda Gyawali's Blog

Saw this UBS advertisement in the Wall Street Journal ..........One of the biggest bank in the world wants tenacity of a Sherpa ........................................................

What Sucks ? Kathmandu Metropolitan city has 31 tippers, four loaders and two excavators to collect and dispose of garbage. Of these, 15 tippers, three loaders, two dozers, three loaders and one excavator are not functional. Shortage of vehicles and equipment, coupled with bad roads to the dumping site, has added to the problem in collecting and disposing of the garbage. click here to read more People living around landfill sites have been stopping garbage trucks for any number of reasons, even trivial ones. click here to read more Nearly 400 metric tonne garbage is generated in the Capital daily and it takes two weeks to properly manage garbage. click here to read more Possible solution ?

What Sucks ? Ambulances operated by various cooperatives and social organizations in the capital are charging excessive fares. “As per the rules, an ambulance can charge only Rs 20 per kilometer from patients,” Indira Pandey, focal person of the committee, said adding, “But ambulances are charging patients as much as they can.” Click here to read more Solution ??? To learn about the pricing strategy of dial1298,start watching the clip from 3 minutes....... interesting revenue stream ,however, I not sure how they deal with the "free rider problem" ??

Tata nano's price in Nepal is 5 X compared to the price in India . GNI per capita in India is $1220 compared to GNI per capitaof $440 in Nepal ... Tata should stop calling nano a" people's car " .................................................................................................................... Time Magazine 2007 Tata hopes the Nano will help millions of poor people around the world — the "Bottom of the Pyramid" in developing world marketing-speak —switch from two wheels to four. Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1702264,00.html#ixzz1Wl3qsxfU A lot is riding on the the world's cheapest car. In the words of Ratan Tata, chairman of the company behind the upstart econobox, India's "People's Car" will be a "safe, affordable, all weather vehicle for a family which is today traveling on a two wheeler." The entry level model is ticketed at just over $2,500 — or the equivalent of 100,000 rup...

How does it work ? " In 2010, an organisation called Social Finance raised £5 million (about $8 million) by issuing bonds to investors. It handed over the money to the St Giles Trust, which counsels offenders while they are in jail and helps them find work when they get out, reducing recidivism by as much as 40 per cent. The trust will put the money to work at the Peterborough prison in Cambridgeshire. If it fails, investors get nothing. If it cuts recidivism by 7.5 per cent, investors start to see returns. And if it does better, the United Kingdom’s justice ministry will pay more, up to a maximum of 13 per cent. This could be the next big thing in impact investing. Social impact bonds can tackle problems that governments find hard to solve, because elected officials find it harder to fund prevention than cure. David Robinson, a member of the Prime Minister’s Council on Social Action in the United Kingdom puts it thus: “It is difficult to get rid of the ambulance at the bottom of ...

I don't know if Securities Board of Nepal has hammer out any law/ regulation for alternative investments,which includes venture funds,private equity , hedge fund etc..... If and when they plan to do so ,I believe the regulation will look a lot like this ..... click here to read ....

This summer after competing my curriculum practicum in Sri Lanka .I went home (Kathmandu,Nepal) for a month...I had plans to conduct a situation analysis on -possibilities of Impact Investment in Nepal ....In this process, I met with various bankers, entrepreneurs and many wanna be impact investors like yours truly.Thing I found very interesting is that securing capital is not the only objective or might not be the purpose of the social enterprise,when asking external guidance to run their business efficiently. Most of the people I met were wanting help on the operational side of the business.For example: Market linkage, book keeping , supply chain and inventory management,etc... my experiences in Nepal contradicts the rhetoric that " lack of access to finance" in the biggest constraint for SMEs to scale up...... Apparently , SME entrepreneurs are putting "Dead capital" to work ....

In an effort to increase the access to finance to the rural enterprises and un banked population , the Central Bank has asked the commercial banks to earmark 3.5 % of their total loan polio to the deprived sector .Despite Central Bank’s pro financial inclusion polices and enormous opportunities in the uncharted areas ,commercial banks are reluctant to lend to the deprived sector .High per unit loan transaction expenses and risk of default are the main attributes that will make commercial banks reluctant to lend more than the obligatory 3.5% of their total loan polio. Considering , commercial banks cut throat competition and their constant battle to minimize loan loss provision and maximize the net income ,form the perspective of the commercial banks reluctantly can be rationalized .In order, to encourage the commercial banks to lend to the deprived sector ,Nepal Rastra Bank has to come out with a eff...

Skeele's enterprise brings job prosperity to families in Nepal by selling fibers from plants grown in the Himalayas to international markets - however, finding funding to scale her operations has been a challenge. The enterprise, she finds, does not fit neatly into the usual healthcare, water, agriculture, housing or hunger sectors. Since most social venture firms do not accept unsolicited proposals, this adds further stress to a stressful search.. .Click here to read more

" तथ्यांकअनुसार सुरुदेखि ०६५/०६६ को अन्त्यसम्म १ लाख १८ हजार ९ सय २२ उद्योग खारेज भएका छन् भने ५३ करोड ५१ लाख रुपैयाँ लगानी खेर गएको छ । यो अवधिमा ९ लाख ९८ हजार ९ सय ३० व्यक्तिको रोजगारी गुमेको महासंघको औद्योगिक प्रवद्र्धन तथ्यांकमा उल्लेख छ ।" तथ्यांकअनुसार हालसम्म मुलुकभर सञ्चालनमा रहेका घरेलु तथा साना उद्योगमा मात्रै १ खर्ब ७ अर्ब ५ करोड लगानी छ । यसबाट १ लाख १० हजार ७ सय ६१ उद्योग सञ्चालनमा छन् भने तिनमा ९ लाख १५ हजार ५ सय ३९ जनाले रोजगारी पाएका छन् ।.............. Click here to read more

"T he interaction was held by the ministry in association with National Banking Training Institute with an objective of enhancing people’s access to financial service. “Our objective is to enhance common people’s excess to financial services via branchless banking,” said NBTI CEO Sanjib Subba. “Participants discussed creating a common network platform for conducting branchless banking. As it requires a huge investment in technology, the participants focused on finding a way for moving ahead together.” Click here to Read more

we have currently installed the power of around 700 MW only. We have huge hydropower resource of 43,000 MW but have been successful in harnessing only 1.5 percent of its potential. Besides, we do not have any known resources of petroleum products, but the consumption of these products has been increasing at a tremendous rate. In 2010, total petroleum products sales (1.2 million) increased by 27 percent but some of the products increased at a much higher rate such as petrol by 31 percent, diesel by 37 percent and LPG by 22 percent respectively. The consumption of the petroleum products is much higher in comparison with the GDP growth rate of around 3.5 percent . As per the Economic Survey of the country, import of petroleum products was just 27 percent of the commodity exports in 2001. Now in 2011, it may surpass 110 percent (around Rs 70 billion) of the commodity exports (Rs 64 billion approximately). Because of the power cuts and other reasons such as strikes and labor problems, our i...

Problem : " Under the community-led model, user groups partnered with the government to being electricity to villages that were off the grid. Communities took charge of distribution, maintenance, and even shared 20 per cent of construction costs, with government providing the rest. These community-managed systems are so well administered that pilferage is non-existent and most are making decent profits. This is in stark contrast to the badly managed and nearly insolvent NEA. Following electrification under this model, schools have introduced computers, health posts have started refrigerating vaccines, and small-scale industries are being set up." " Faced with crippling power cuts in the capital, it is easy to forget about the 55 per cent of rural Nepal that isn't connected to the grid. But community electrification is one of Nepal's few success stories, and high-level visits from Bhutan and Laos indicated international interest in the model. By forcibly incorpora...

Problem : KATHMANDU, March 29: Police apprehended four people for administering fake hepatitis B vaccine to the public in Boudha following the tip-off from the District Public Health Office (DPHO), Kathmandu. DPHO Chief Bisho Ram Shrestha said the police have handed over the quack vaccinators to Kathmandu District Administration Office for punishment. Claiming such vaccines can have disastrous impact on human health, Shrestha said, "Preventing fake vaccinators from selling unapproved vaccines has become a major challenge for us." According to DPHO, all vaccines must have quality approval from World Health Organization (WHO) before being administered. Likewise, vaccines must also get approval from the Department of the Drug Administration (DDA). The vaccines administered by the arrested vaccinators had approval from neither of the agencies. Click here to read more Solution??????????????? Sproxil is combatting the global counterfeit drug market through a MobileProduct Authent...

Domestic production fulfils only half of the total daily requirement of 800,000 liters of milk across the country. मुलुकमा खपत हुने आधा दूधका लागि भारतमै निर्भर हुनुपर्ने बाध्यता अन्त्य गर्न भन्दै रुपन्देहीमा २५ करोड रुपैयाँ लागतमा पशुपालन तथा दुग्ध उत्पादन फार्म स्थापना गरिएको छ "लुम्बिनी एग्रो प्रोडक्ट्स एन्ड रिसर्च सेन्टर १० बिघा क्षेत्रफलमा फैलिएको छ । फार्ममा अहिले होलस्टाइन, जर्सीलगायत पाँच प्रजातिका १ सय ७० वटा गाई, १५ वटा भैंसी, तीनवटा साँढे र ६५ वटा बाच्छाबाच्छी छन् । गाई संख्या छिट्टै ५ सय पु¥याउने लक्ष्य रहेको फार्म सञ्चालक शशी पौडेलले जानकारी दिए । “पशुपालनलाई व्यावसायीकरण गरी दूधमा देशलाई आत्मनिर्भर बनाउने उद्देश्यले फार्म सञ्चालन गरेका हौं,” उनले भने ।" "फार्मले दूध चिस्याउने र दूध दुहुने मेसिन पनि राखेको छ । हाल १ सय दुहुना गाईबाट दैनिक १ हजारदेखि १२ सय लिटर दूध उत्पादन भइरहेको छ । एउटा गाईले बढीमा ४०–४५ लिटर र कम्तीमा १० लिटर दूध दिने पौडेलले बताए । २३ फिट अग्लो आधुनिक गोठसहितको फार्ममा अहिले २५ जनाले प्रत्यक्ष रोजगारी पाएका छन् ।" click here to read...

Organized retail stores like ( Bhat Bhateni,Big mart) are sprouting all over the big cities of the country ............ the key drivers being changing consumer profile and demographics, increase in the number of international brands available in the Nepali market, economic implications of urbanization, credit availability, improvement in the infrastructure, increasing investments in technology and real estate building a world class shopping environment for the consumers. I recently read about Big Mart opening a new store in Kathmandu ...here is the synopsis of the article Big Mart will contain 11,000 sq ft on three floors and expects to provide employment to 70 to 80 people. According to Prince Khetan, managing director of Mega Mart, the company is investing around Rs 50 million in the project. Inventory consists of 34,000 kinds of products and counting. Mega Mart is also planning to open two new outlets at Jawalakhel, Lalitpur and Batti...

According to a study, in Nepal amount of total deposits in financial cooperatives have outgrown the total deposits of all the commercial banks...............Does this mean encourage Financial cooperatives for financial inclusion ???? " मुलुकभर रहेका सहकारीहरूमा सम्पूर्ण ३१ वटा वाणिज्य बैंकभन्दा बढी निक्षेप रहेको सहकारी विभागले गरेको एक अध्ययनले देखाएको छ । विभागले माघमा संकलन गरेको विवरणअनुसार सहकारीको कुल निक्षेप बैंकहरूको भन्दा ३० अर्ब रुपैयाँले बढी छ । वित्तीय सहकारीले गत माघसम्म ६ खर्ब ५० अर्बभन्दा बढी निक्षेप संकलन गरेको तथ्यांक छ । नेपाल राष्ट्र बैंकको पुससम्मको तथ्यांकअनुसार वाणिज्य बैंकहरूमा ६ खर्ब १९ अर्ब रुपैयाँ निक्षेप छ ।" Click here to read more This news forced me to revisit an article I read in Harvard business review - " many innovations that engage the poor have come from players outside the mainstream in their industries. Take the financial sector, for example: Microfinance originated with NGOs, mobile money was developed primarily by telecom comp...

The government of Nepal has launched a $275m (£169m) initiative to bring an end to the country's energy crisis within five years. Despite having massive hydro-power potential, Nepal produces less than half its electricity needs. The government says that under its plan , Nepal will be free from load-shedding within five years. It says that it will also waive custom duties for materials related to produce solar power make better use of existing thermal plants waive tax on private investors building new hydroelectric power plants encourage the private sector to produce power from rubbish The government also said it would provide special security for investors and introduce laws to make it a crime to hamper energy construction projects, punishable by five years in prison. Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-12846672 The economics of Solar power click to read (Source: Mckinsey & Company)

pic source: MIN RATNA BAJRACHARYA Perhaps two-fifths of the people in Asia’s cities do not have access to piped water. Many of the rest suffer from intermittent supply and unsafe water. And, globally, the provision of water to cities is not keeping pace with urbanisation. In a message for “World Water Day” on March 22nd the United Nations’ secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, claimed that in the past decade the number of city-dwellers without a water tap in their home or immediate vicinity has risen by 114m. Mr Ban identified the problem as “a crisis of governance, weak policies and poor management”. Asit Biswas, of the Third World Centre for Water Management, an NGO, agrees: “Lack of money, scarcity, and so on—they’re all excuses. The problem everywhere is bad management. Click here to read More "The daily drinking water requirement of Kathmandu is 320 million litres but supply hardly amounts to 100 or 110 million litres.Groundwater levels are being depleted by 1.9 metres eac...