Social Media Landscape of Nepal

Posted on by
Reply

Today, i got a request on twitter asking about Social Media Landscape of Nepal. I wrote in detail all the things that i know which is listed here. If you are planning to launch a social media campaign targeting Nepal or just looking to know more about digital landscape of this country then i hope this helps you.

Here are the Q&As:

1) What is the lifestyle of a person from the Middle Income Group in Nepal?
Nepal though looks like a very poor country from outside but Nepal’s middle class is very vibrant and is at par with India. There is though certainly some difference in people of middle class who live in Kathmandu and people who live outside Kathmandu. Average income of people in Kathmandu is around 40% more than that of who live outside KTM i.e. in other parts of Nepal.

Continue reading →

I have a problem

Posted on by
Reply

Back in those days when i played cricket i was never a good finisher, i could never consolidate on game and always lacked confidence and had a huge huge inferiority complex because of an invisble force that is why i left that game but now same lack of will power is hunting me all over again and this time its in my work.

I have done a lots of clients work and i do it good at least i think so, have had very few problem when i work for someone else but when i try to work for myself, i mean when i create a website i never launch it. I have 101 ideas in my mind that i can convert to a website and make a healthy business but i never succeed in doing so.

In last 3 years i have worked on over 60 personal projects, i quickly hack a wordpress theme, write content, do all the stuff but at the very last moment i loose all the confidence and just dump the project. Ha, if you search my HDD you might find more business ideas and compete websites than a startup incumbator might have in a year, but the problem is execution. I never execute on them, i never launch.

They say it right, ideas are dime a dozen.. what matters is execution. You have to do it then only it matters or its just an imagination in your mind.

I think this phobia of not launching your own project might have effected to a lot of freelancers out there otherwise we might see many more exciting startups being created which could create a dent in the universe.

One of the major problem with me is i become extremely perfectionist when its comes to designing my own sites. I might not care about how good a site works but i do care that when i create a site it should create a revolution. like WTF!. and i don’t think i am any good designer but still this perfectionist state of mind hurts like hell.

I go through almost 10-15 design changes before i finally settle on one design and by the time i complete the content and basic structure of site that final design as well changes to something totally different.

Besides design, second thing that i always get stuck is with Payment processor. I just can’t go through it. Payment processing is a very very emotional thing to me. I know, you might not understand how payment processing can be emotional but it is to me. I live in Nepal and every Nepali webmaster has this problem with payment processor  and they will understand it very well.

Anyway, enough of the rant, i think i will go and brainstorm some another idea and hack a new wordpress theme for it.

Btw, if you are wondering that despite being a web developer why am i still using the default wordpress theme on this site then i guess you can understand the reason after reading this post. This is my most personal website and i still stuck in that perfectionist state of mind/limbo with it. Just can’t get enough inspiration to create a kick ass design for this blog.

Till then, Cheerio Folks

Did you know…

Posted on by

Michael Jordan having “retired,” with $40 million in endorsements, makes $178,100 a day, working or not.

If he sleeps 7 hours a night, he makes $52,000 every night while visions of sugarplums dance in his head.

If he goes to see a movie, it’ll cost him $7.00, but he’ll make $18,550 while he’s there.

If he decides to have a 5-minute egg, he’ll make $618 while boiling it.

He makes $7,415/hour more than minimum wage.

If he wanted to save up for a new Acura NSX ($90,000) it would take him a whole 12 hours.

If someone were to hand him his salary and endorsement money, they would have to do it at the rate of $200 every second.

He’ll probably pay around $200 for a nice round of golf, but will be reimbursed $33,390 for that round.

He’ll make about $19.60 while watching the 100-meter dash in the Olympics, and about $15,600 during the Boston Marathon.

This year, he’ll make more than twice as much as all U.S. past presidents for all of their terms combined.

Amazing isn’t it?

However…

If Jordan saves 100% of his income for the next 500 years, he’ll still have less than Bill Gates has at this very moment.

Game over. Nerd wins.

via

Hacker Way, Being Open and Doing Bold Things

Posted on by

The Hacker Way

As part of building a strong company, we work hard at making Facebook the best place for great people to have a big impact on the world and learn from other great people. We have cultivated a unique culture and management approach that we call the Hacker Way.

The word “hacker” has an unfairly negative connotation from being portrayed in the media as people who break into computers. In reality, hacking just means building something quickly or testing the boundaries of what can be done. Like most things, it can be used for good or bad, but the vast majority of hackers I’ve met tend to be idealistic people who want to have a positive impact on the world.

The Hacker Way is an approach to building that involves continuous improvement and iteration. Hackers believe that something can always be better, and that nothing is ever complete. They just have to go fix it — often in the face of people who say it’s impossible or are content with the status quo.

Hackers try to build the best services over the long term by quickly releasing and learning from smaller iterations rather than trying to get everything right all at once. To support this, we have built a testing framework that at any given time can try out thousands of versions of Facebook. We have the words “Done is better than perfect” painted on our walls to remind ourselves to always keep shipping.

Hacking is also an inherently hands-on and active discipline. Instead of debating for days whether a new idea is possible or what the best way to build something is, hackers would rather just prototype something and see what works. There’s a hacker mantra that you’ll hear a lot around Facebook offices: “Code wins arguments.”

Hacker culture is also extremely open and meritocratic. Hackers believe that the best idea and implementation should always win — not the person who is best at lobbying for an idea or the person who manages the most people.

To encourage this approach, every few months we have a hackathon, where everyone builds prototypes for new ideas they have. At the end, the whole team gets together and looks at everything that has been built. Many of our most successful products came out of hackathons, including Timeline, chat, video, our mobile development framework and some of our most important infrastructure like the HipHop compiler.

To make sure all our engineers share this approach, we require all new engineers — even managers whose primary job will not be to write code — to go through a program called Bootcamp where they learn our codebase, our tools and our approach. There are a lot of folks in the industry who manage engineers and don’t want to code themselves, but the type of hands-on people we’re looking for are willing and able to go through Bootcamp.

=======================================================================

The examples above all relate to engineering, but we have distilled these principles into five core values for how we run Facebook:

Focus on Impact

If we want to have the biggest impact, the best way to do this is to make sure we always focus on solving the most important problems. It sounds simple, but we think most companies do this poorly and waste a lot of time. We expect everyone at Facebook to be good at finding the biggest problems to work on.

Move Fast

Moving fast enables us to build more things and learn faster. However, as most companies grow, they slow down too much because they’re more afraid of making mistakes than they are of losing opportunities by moving too slowly. We have a saying: “Move fast and break things.” The idea is that if you never break anything, you’re probably not moving fast enough.

Be Bold

Building great things means taking risks. This can be scary and prevents most companies from doing the bold things they should. However, in a world that’s changing so quickly, you’re guaranteed to fail if you don’t take any risks. We have another saying: “The riskiest thing is to take no risks.” We encourage everyone to make bold decisions, even if that means being wrong some of the time.

Be Open

We believe that a more open world is a better world because people with more information can make better decisions and have a greater impact. That goes for running our company as well. We work hard to make sure everyone at Facebook has access to as much information as possible about every part of the company so they can make the best decisions and have the greatest impact.

Build Social Value

Once again, Facebook exists to make the world more open and connected, and not just to build a company. We expect everyone at Facebook to focus every day on how to build real value for the world in everything they do.

Facebook S-1, Page 69

Why did this happen?

Posted on by

Petrol Pumps don’t sell us petrol on credit. Each one has to pay money before filling their tanks but still..
Nepal Oil Corporation owns 1.2 Billion NPR to Indian Oil Corporation

Why?

Nepal is suppoed to be Number 1 in Asia in terms of Fresh Water Resources
but still Kathmandu relies of expensive Water Tankers and Mineral Water Bottles.

Why?

Nepal has physical capacity of generating 84,000 Mega Watt of Hydro Electricity
but still we live in 11 Hours a day load-shedding

Why?

BIPA and the controversy within…

Posted on by

Mr. PM BRB got back from India and with him brought tons of controvery. Tons of people support him and many are just after him like they do for most people who talk a litle sense in context of Nepal. Yes, PM BRB has a postive vibe with him and dreams of changing Nepal but the people around him aren’t planning to do that anytime soon.

I am not a economic analyst nor i have read much about BIPA so i am not going to comment whats in it. All i know about BIPA is that it is some kind of aggrement which provides security to any Indian company that invests in Nepal.

Well, when it comes to India any tom dick and harry in Nepal start commenting how about it is that we are dealing with India, we have sold our souls to India and are almost colonised by India but forgets the same thing when he goes to watch the latest SRK flix in swanky mall in KTM and eats popcorns which were probably imported from India.

I have a problem with this herd mentality of we Nepalese. We talk more than we do and almost all of the time that talk ends in negativity.

Coming back to BIPA, if you ask my thought on it, well, i support it. Frankly, speaking Indian companies have been investing in Nepal for decades now. I am not talking about big money investors but small time mom and pop business. What do you think all those Thakur dai’s who cut your hair, where do they come from, the folks who sell suntala-kera on streets. Yes, now you might say they come from Terai areas but majority of them come from across the border. Ask them nicely and the will say. These people don’t care whether Nepal does BIPA with India or not. They were here since long time and will be here for long time.

But as Nepal moves from agricultural based economy to a a industialized nation, we will need more than mom and pop business. We will need huge amount of capital to be invested in Nepal. Do you really think the newar sahuji’s of kathmandu are going to open their wallet and say go take my money and build a industry and neither they are going to do it on your own. A country which is obsessed with rent-seeking mentality does not sees the benefits in investing money in a business which they have to run day in and day out. They are happy to build a house and live on its rent.

We will need huge amount of FDI to develop Nepal. Even India which opened itself to forgein investment only in 1993 didnt build itself only depending on TATAs and Ambanis. It was the FDI that helped India get out of its debt and walk on development path. So, why do we have that reservation for inviting FDI into our own country? It’s not like businesses who invest 10s or millions of $$$s into Nepal will shut down their business abruptly and ask for compensation with Nepal Gov. Any business which invests that much money will want to maximize its profits by doing actual business and not go after the Gov.

It is we who have the problem, we don’t have the guts because we know we are going to create problem for them and we just can’t except the reality. Although MR, PM did the BIPA with India but it is his party which sees that as a problem because his party knows their main source of income is from harassing these big business and extorting money from them and what else than harassing Indian businesses in name of saving the Sovereignty of Nepal. His party knows with BIPA their main source of income will be lost and they might to resort to other tactics of extorting money.

MR. BRB needs to mend fences within his own party first then only can he move forward in completing the peace process and finally building the official constitution of Nepal. Until then Good luck, MR. BRB

 

1996 – 2006 — A decade past !

Posted on by

“I wrote this post around January 2006 but somehow didn’t publish it. It was in my Blog’s Draft ever since and i never checked what was written in it. Today, somehow i stumbled upon it. Yes, this post was written in 2006 and is getting published in 2011. Yeah, i know, i can get lazy sometimes… :) “

———

I still remember those days of 1996. Those were the early days when we ot first chance of watching private television on our TV. Those were the days when i was in school without any tension and fear , the only fear i can remember was of my teachers beacuse i could never get by heart those long multiplication tables . uff i still remember those days. I can still remmeber those days but now in 2006 it even doesnot feels like a decade has past. I had not even seen a computer in 1996 let alone internet but i was much eager even in those days if i heard anything about technology. Watching indian news channel were the only source of news in those days since there were no other television channesl in Nepal except state owned Nepal TV which did brodcasts only 8 hrs a day in those days.

Today i can feel that Technology was the only thing which motivated me all the time. My friends used to talk of movies and all other stuff but i got boar hearing them. In those days i had no such friend who would like Techno things but even i was also to confused about new tech gizmos which i used to get those days but i did liked them. In ‘96 i could not understand why i was affected to technology it was just like an infactuation which one feels when he is in Love but whenever i used to hear something that happened in America always used to make me shiver. So i even started watching Dennis the Mennace so that i could get some Western accent in my life. But i think watching those serial really brought a change in my life. My whole mentality was chabged watchning them.

Now here comes 2006 and my carrer is just getting started . I am in a new job and i have lots of plans for future. Lets see where i will be in 2016. A decade after 2006.

Get away with social entrepreneurship! Already

Posted on by

Ok, folks blog time, I know, I know you are pissed, I didn’t write for  months and suddenly here am I writing again.. bear with me.. as I don’t really get words or (time) or motivation to jot down what I feel but today I thought like I should write a word or two.

Today I went to a sort of meeting/conference of Entrepreneurs For Nepal (e4nepal). Well, I liked the way people met there, everyone was kind of cozy with other, talking things that actually made sense, dreaming ideas and motivated enough to change their fate along with Nepal’s.

But there was something which really did baffle me for a moment. I had been to a bootcamp organized by same organization e4Nepal about a year ago and the same thing I witnessed there as well.

Today, in the event i was given a book where I had to add my details along with organization or company I was affiliated with, I left the affiliation field blank because currently I am not affiliated with any organization to say officially but I gave a quick glance to other names listed there and organizations they were affiliated with. Sadly, over 90% of the name had listed some sort of NGOs as their affiliation. I mean seriously! Once again, really! An NGO.

NGO, For God sake! You are in a meeting of entrepreneurs and you list your affiliation to a NGO.

By definition, a entrepreneur is meant as:

A person who organizes and operates a business or businesses, taking on financial risk to do so.

What risk are you taking by being affiliated to a NGO.  Yeap, you do deal with tons of moolah that you get as donations but there isn’t risk involved with it. That ain’t your money, neither it is your investors. You get donation, you spend it, if your money makes any changes then good for you but 90% of time I have seen those money don’t create any change. You write a report paying more money to some consultant and say that your NGO has done great work. But there’s no risk involved in it. Sorry to break your heart but you are not a Entrepreneur.  Stop, calling yourself with that name.

There is nothing called Social Entrepreneurs. That’s a vogue term you made up to tell yourself that you are doing something meaningful.  I can sense from far that you are into it just because you can’t take any risk. You fear of failing and fear of being ashamed when you fail.

Entrepreneurship is all about failing and getting up.  If you haven’t failed and haven’t experienced the heat that comes with failure, then you are not an entrepreneur.  Do yourself a favor, stop following the herd mentality that you can’t get a job in Nepal. If you can’t get yourself a job, create the god damned job for yourself. There are gazillions of niches all wide open in Nepal that anyone of you can easily tap. Leverage the technology, bootstrap, eye for ramen profit for the first year of your operation. Do some actual business which actually makes you money. Stop going to NGO, INGOs and stop thinking how you can give back to the community.

First make your position in the community and then think giving back to it.  I even saw some students who still being in their college are affiliated to some sort of NGO. I was highly baffled by that. Aren’t student supposed to be thinking about how they are going to stand up in the society or has our country’s education gone so advanced that it produces student who  directly make their presence felt in society and  as soon as they get out of school they starting giving back to society. I don’t think so.

Take my point you college and school going student, yes you don’t have much option in today’s Nepal but that does not mean you can’t create your own options.

Get over it.  Stop trying to make yourself glamours by joining some NGO. Do some real shit. Make some actual money. Stop thinking about uplifting society and people.  First get yourself up on your feet, make moolah and lastly as Gary Vaynerchuk famously says:

Get off the bitch train.

What kind of tech startup is suitable in Nepal beside from web company?

Posted on by

Nepal is seeing some great new startups coming around with some decent progress. e.g harilo.com, esewa.com, foodmandu.com

These aren’t exactly Web Company but provide services from there website.

Like Harilo bring US shopping to Nepal
Esewa. Online Payment
Foodmandu.com – Online Food Ordering

Likewise, there are many more vertical completely open in Nepal right now without any competition. No one is trying to do anything yet.

Online Book Shop (like amazon)
Tickets Booking
Online Music store

But biggest of them might be Credit Card Processing

Here’s how

Almost 90% of Nepali Banks offer SCT Debit Cards which is developed by only one company SmartChoice Techology and these cards do not work online yet.
Yes, The Central Bank of Nepal does not allows Credit Cards or debit Cards to be used for Foreign Exchange but how about Domestic Payment.

For an example, like in India, you can use your VISA Debit card to pay on a Indian website like indiatimes.com or Makemytrip.com but they wont work on International site like amazon or ebay

Likewise, someone can collaborate with SCT and make those cards work with at-least Nepali website. A Payment Gateway kind of thing. This way you aren’t doing Foreign Exchange.

Now, you might say, SCT could do this themselves, but they aren’t doing it yet. Maybe they are too busy just handling the bank and debit cards locally so aren’t really focusing on taking their cards online.

Someone could chip in.

Just me 2 Cents.