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Sprout Technology Services (Cloud Factory) has brought in more than 1 billion rupees worth of foreign currency to Nepal in one year by exporting IT services.
In the financial year 2079-80, Cloud Factory brought in more than one billion Nepali rupees worth of foreign currency by exporting IT enabled 'Data Digitize' service.
On the occasion of the National Information and Communication Technology Day celebrated on May 2, the government also honored Cloud Factory as the company that brought in the most foreign exchange from the ICT sector in the financial year 2079-80.
Cloud Factory has so far imported foreign currency worth more than 5 billion Nepali Rupees (about 50 million US dollars) into Nepal.
Cloud Factory has been providing data digitization services to various companies in the world from Nepal. Prashant Pokharel, Chief Financial Officer and Company Secretary of Cloud Factory, said that they are exporting data digitization services especially to companies working in AI.
“We work to digitize the data of AI companies in particular,” Pokharel told ICT News, “Cloud Factory has been exporting IT enabled services from Nepal for more than a decade. Even in that, we only provide the service of data digitization.'
Starting from Nepal and spreading all over the world
In 2008, Sprout Technology Service (Cloud Factory) was started in Nepal. Sprout Technology Company was founded in Nepal by Mark Sears, a Canadian citizen.
In particular, Mark Sears, who has a computer science background, came to visit Nepal with his family around 2008. During his visit to Nepal, he met Nepalese computer programmers.
While talking to the programmers, Sears felt that there is no shortage of talent in Nepal. There is world class talent but what is lacking is only opportunity.
After that, Sears felt that Nepali people should also get an opportunity and Sprout Technology was born. Sprout Technology started from Nepal, i.e. Cloud Factory, is now spreading all over the world. Prashant Pokharel, Company Secretary and Chief Financial Officer of Cloud Factory Nepal, informed that Cloud Factory is expanding its services in developing countries in particular.
As the volume of business started to increase, the company moved to the cloud factory model. After that, Cloud Factory was registered abroad and from that, investment was also brought to Nepal.
Cloud Factory, which started from Nepal, has spread to Kenya, UK, America, Germany and other countries, while the headquarters is kept in UK.
Although other countries have manpower according to the nature of the service, Nepal is the only country where all the departments of Cloud Factory have been established.
Cloud Factory is providing services to world famous companies such as Driver, Compound Eye, Line Vision, Dipcell, Expensify, iBotta, Matterport, Okuvera, Humanbird Technologies and others.
Employment for 4 thousand in Nepal
Sprout Technology, which started as a software development in 2008, is now providing data digitization services.
Only the service of data digitization is provided from Cloud Factory of Nepal. From the year 2010, he left the system development work and shifted to digitizing data.
Recently, Cloud Factory has also used AI tools to digitize data, which has made the work done by humans even easier.
There is a team of system development engineers in Nepal, who have been developing systems for internal use.
Pokharel said that the team of engineers developing the system is developing it for internal use and not for sale.
“Nepal's engineering team has been developing software for the management of the workforce working in Cloud Factory Group,” he told ICT News.
More than 10,000 people are working in Cloud Factory worldwide. In Nepal alone, 4,000 people have got employment. There are 165 people in Nepal's core team, including 4 foreign nationals.
More than 10,000 people do not come to the office and work. They work from home, which are scattered around the world. Most of them work from home. Which the company calls 'cloud workers'. So far, more than 30,000 have been connected to Cloud Factory.
Pokharel says that although more than 4,000 people are employed in Nepal, most of them work from home. More than 4000 cloud works are working in Nepal. But most of them should not come to the office,' he says, 'we work in the distribution model. You can come to the office and work in the office you like, you can do it from home if you don't like it.'
Those working in Nepal are also in different parts of the country. Recently, after the corona epidemic, the practice of 'work from home' is increasing. But Cloud Factory has been practicing work from home for a decade.
Most of the people who work in Cloud Factory are students. Apart from that, there are housewives, patients with spinal injuries and others.
Cloud Factory Nepal has collaborated with Spinal Injury Rehabilitation Center (SIRC) for spinal injury patients.
He informed that SIRC is the best among the best teams working in the company. The company has already prepared people from SIRC for the exam to be given to work in the cloud factory.
So, there is not much need to work in cloud factory. No special technical skills are required to work. Able to speak and understand basic English, basic computer skills and a computer or laptop.
But for that you have to pass an exam. You can work after passing the exam. In Cloud Factory, money is paid by the task, by the hour or by the job.
Cloud Factory is paying more than twice the minimum wage set by the Nepalese government and has also contributed to the social security fund.
The Social Security Fund awarded Sprout Technology as the company that registered the most employees in the financial year 2022-23.
When the vacancy information of the company Website and Social networkingcan be obtained from
A mission to connect one million talents
Cloud Factory is moving forward with an ambitious mission to connect 1 million talents. The company has given priority to developing countries.
That is the main reason for trying to go to countries like Kenya, Ghana, Philippines along with Nepal. Cloud Factory Group is trying to expand its services in developing countries.
He said that Cloud Factory Group is working according to the mission of connecting with the world by creating new job opportunities in developing countries.
Our mission is to connect 1 million talents. We always say that the mission comes first and then the company comes,” he said, “We are a mission driven company. We do meaningful work.'
The company said that the profit it earned will be used to create new jobs and opportunities in developing countries. Pokharel says that he would be happy to make an 'impact' in the lives of others and become a charioteer.
Nepal's IT industry and government role
Nepal's IT industry is just emerging. Nepal is earning billions annually by exporting IT services from Nepal. In terms of industry, IT is the 'youngest' industry in Nepal. There is still a lot of experience to be gained.
Pokharel's experience is that even though Nepal has world-class talent, it is difficult to find manpower with specific skills. 'We have talent. But it is difficult to find manpower with certain fields, skills and exposure,' says Pokharel, 'but the reason why there is a cloud factory in Nepal so far is because of the manpower here. If there was no talent here, it would have ended.'
In the year 2022 alone, the data of Nepal's export of IT services worth more than 67 billion was released by the Center for All-round Development Studies (IIDS).
Cloud Factory is only a representative company, there are other companies that are bringing in crores of foreign currency by exporting IT services from Nepal.
Lately, the government has also started giving priority to the IT industry. But policy clarity and facilitation is still needed. If the government can do that, Nepal can export IT services worth billions.
Pokharel says that after the government brings the policy, it should be stable for at least 5 years. “After bringing the government policy, it should be stable for 5-7 years,” he said.
Exporting IT services worth billions will play a significant role in the foreign exchange reserves of the country and will also contribute greatly to the development of the country.
Moreover, it is expected to play an important role in opening the doors of opportunities and employment in the country and attracting foreign investment.
NAS IT, the umbrella organization of IT companies, is also working to make Nepal's IT industry worth 5 billion dollars in the next 10 years. But for that, the support and facilitation of the government is very necessary.
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