Hard to protect digital opportunities and entrepreneurship, youth and startups need encouragement

Stakeholders have said that it is difficult to protect startup companies and young manpower to promote digital opportunities and entrepreneurship in Nepal.

The speakers of the first session of the second day of the Huawei Digital Nepal Conclave 2023 being held at The Salty Kathmandu said that even though the infrastructures for the development of digital opportunities in Nepal are sufficient, young skilled manpower is migrating day by day, but there is a need for encouragement to stop it.

In the program, the vice president of the National Youth Council, Surendra Basnet, said that the youth are forced to go abroad day by day because they cannot see a future in the country.

He said, ‘Young people are not able to see the future in the country. The students have either gone abroad or are wandering around without finding employment in the country.’

He emphasized that the government should make a policy to take the youth to digital entrepreneurship as the way to show the future in Nepal. “Entrepreneurship is the way to show the future in Nepal,” he said, “Government’s policy should focus on digital entrepreneurship. The government and the private sector should move forward together.’

Similarly, senior vice president of IME Group, Suman Pokharel, said that the digital revolution has not yet taken place in Nepal and innovation has yet to be done in most areas of development infrastructure.

He said, ‘What kind of nature do we have? You have not been able to innovate your ideas. We have yet to innovate in the fields of education, health, transportation, insurance, etc.’

He says that even though products are made in Nepal and sold in Nepal, the working style and trend is very weak. He said that all people should not work in the same field and that they should innovate and look for opportunities in different fields. He said, ‘Opportunities will be brought by new innovations. Not by going backwards. Development infrastructure is still barren. But we don’t have the culture to seek. Innovation must be broad. Not all people belong to the same field. Entrepreneurship is not easy. Today is not tomorrow. It takes time.’

He informed that IME Group is working on an ecosystem of technology and is also investing in IT startups accordingly. ‘IME Group is working on an ecosystem of technology and accordingly investing in IT startups.’

He also said that the need for encouragement and mentorship is very important to prevent start-up enterprises and young people from migrating abroad.

Mentorship is very necessary for youth and startups. PPP model should be applied while innovating. Also, the corporate sector should be able to encourage the innovations of the youth. Startup companies should pay attention to hard work to do well.’

On the other hand, NJ Subedi, the founder of Yarsa Tech, said that it is necessary to promote not only software but also hardware for digital transformation.

‘For digital transformation, we are only talking about software. We are not talking about the hardware, he said, ‘No one is paying attention to the hardware. India cannot always bring goods from China. You should be able to produce it yourself.’

But he complains that the state, government and private sector do not have the mentality to make hardware in Nepal. He said, ‘As soon as we say hardware, there is a mentality of getting it from outside. There is no mentality that hardware is made in Nepal. Therefore, it is necessary to develop the ecosystem of hardware in Nepal.’

Similarly, even though there are many opportunities in the field of information technology and entrepreneurship, there is also a big gap in the education system of Nepal, said Samran Duwadi, CEO of Code Himalaya.

He said, ‘There are many opportunities in the field of information technology and entrepreneurship. But there is also a big gap in Nepal’s education system.’

He said that the time has come to think that when innovating in information technology, there is a market not only in Nepal but also in the world outside of Nepal. He also insisted that the geographical conditions will not affect the development of technology.

‘It doesn’t have to be innovation to shake the world. But when innovating, you have to think beyond Nepal. Innovation should not be done only for Nepal,’ he said, ‘Technology is not limited by any geographical situation. You can do the work of the world by staying in Nepal.’

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