Nepal has two major business components to be competitive in the world business. Tourism and Hydropower. Experts in these fields have been working on this and will surely be taking this further.

Third unseen component is IT – Genius Nepalese IT Professionals (not less than Indians in anyway)

I have been wondering why the IT Business of has not boomed despite the fact that its neighboring country - India has took off straight high.

People in Nepal are in post but don’t seem to have position. IT parks developed at cost of millions is getting older everyday without any IT activities on it.

Two main reasons what I have seen are:
- Political Instability (Not in our hand, but hope to improve soon)
- Lack of Infrastructure (Unreliable electricity, roads etc.)

Do you see any other major reasons?
Please don’t give vague reasons.

I am voluntarily working on this topic to come up with genuine reasons. I would like to request all

LOVE NEPAL ALWAYS :)

Lets invoke an example here....

Programmer haru lai 8000 ma pelauna payo bandai ma raat din pelaune ani IT industry boom bayena bhanne....

Believe my brother; one day you wont find a single IT professional in Ktm; if the Software Companies keep on doing this....

I'm assuming the biggest factor is lack of fund/projects. I don't know how they are doing the marketing. They need to assure businesses how they can benefit from information system. Another question is that are they qualified to deploy secured systems for businesses like banks? How quickly they get updated with the latest technology? Technology is moving very fast and they need to have some kind of parterships with Indian counterparts, work for them, and learn from them.

Nepali Businessmen look after "short term profits" and don't have patience to wait till the business grows....euta business bata char ota ghar banepachii pugyo..and then back into rakshi and khasi ko masu..whereas..dhotis always think about 4-5 generations ahead..plus all dhoti workers are very competivie..certified in everything..nepali workers ko lagi 8000 is enough to party ..banki bau ama ko sampati...nabhaye..another "short term job"..

Anyone, anything, anywhere, any time



By Thomas Friedman


The New Yorker once ran a cartoon by Peter Steiner of two dogs, with one sitting at a computer keyboard saying to the other, "On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog."
Nobody also knows you're Uruguay.

A tiny country of 3 million people, wedged between Brazil and Argentina, Uruguay has come from nowhere to partner with India's biggest technology company, Tata Consultancy Services, to create in just four years one of the largest outsourcing operations in Latin America.

Yes, when Tata's Indian employees in Mumbai are asleep, its 650 Uruguayan engineers and programmers now pick up the work and help run the computers and backroom operations for the likes of American Express, Procter & Gamble and some major

US banks -- all from Montevideo.

How did this happen? One of the most interesting features of this era of globalization is how any entrepreneur -- with the right imagination, Internet bandwidth and a small amount of capital -- can assemble a global company by matching workers and customers from anywhere to do anything for anyone. Maybe the most important rule in today's increasingly flat world is this: Whatever can be done, will be done -- because so many people now have access to the tools of innovation and connectivity. The only question is: Will it be done by you or to you?

Gabriel Rozman decided it was going to be done by him. A retired partner from Ernst & Young who was raised in Uruguay, he hatched the idea of partnering with Tata to make Montevideo a global outsourcing hub. He did not have a single client or employee when he approached Tata. He had just two things: a gut instinct that Uruguay's quality education system had produced plenty of good, low-cost engineers and a gut desire to do something good for Uruguay -- the country that gave his Hungarian parents sanctuary from Hitler.

Four years later, TCS Iberoamerica can't hire workers fast enough. When I visited its head office, people were working on computers in hallways and stairwells. (Rozman also oversees 1,300 employees in Brazil and 1,200 in Chile.) It turns out that many multinationals like the idea of spreading out their risks and not having all their outsourcing done from India -- especially after one big US bank nearly had to shut down last year when a flood in Mumbai paralyzed its India data center the same day a hurricane paralyzed its Florida operation. And there is no risk of nuclear war with Pakistan here.

Another factor, says Rozman, was that multinationals that were depending on Indian firms alone to run their backrooms 24 hours a day were getting the third team for eight hours, since the best Indian engineers didn't want to work the late-night shift -- the heart of America's day. By creating an outsourcing center in Montevideo, Tata could offer its clients its best Indian engineers during India's day (America's night) and its best Uruguayan engineers during America's day (India's night).

The firm runs on strict Tata principles, as if it were in Mumbai, so to see Uruguayans pretending to be Indians serving Americans is quite a scene. Said Rosina Marmion, 27, an Uruguayan manager, "Our customers expect us to behave like Indians -- to react the same way."

Uruguayans tell a joke about themselves that goes: If you get diagnosed with a terminal illness, move to Uruguay immediately because everything happens 20 years later here.

In outsourcing, though, Uruguay has leapt ahead of its neighbors by being the first to understand what could be done -- that in today's world having an Indian company led by a Hungarian-Uruguayan servicing American banks with Montevidean engineers managed by Indian technologists who have learned to eat Uruguayan veggie is just the new normal.


Courtesy : The New York Times

Tisa,
Thanks for attaching the interesting article.

ChemicalX, what I would say on your low pay issue is. Nepalese IT companies pay less not because they don’t want to pay. Their client is very narrow (mostly Nepalese of Nepal) who don’t prefer higher for service, so the company has low revenue.

That’s why what I feel is that it is essential to have international projects to be developed in Nepal, which will give good revenue to the company and eventually to its employees. This is what this Uruguayan guy in the above article did.

There are few companies like D2Hawyakene in Nepal who are going excellent job. People working here get very smart salary and better future opportunities. I think a dozen of such companies can make a good change not only in the earning of its employees but also will provide a level of confidence to prospective international companies who would like to come to Nepal for investment.

But the big questions here is – are these companies getting better infrastructure facilities and stable environment. I happen to hear that D2Hawyakene was planning to shift its office from Nepal, following long term political disturbance (curfew and all) during the March-April 2006. Thank god they didn’t move.

Please keep on providing your inputs.

LOVE NEPAL ALWAYS. :)

hello Lovenepalalways

I am working in a IT company and also involved in a IT assocation as a Secretary. There are alot of reason for not booming the industry. Yeah, I agree few IT companies are working excently dispite of bad situation of the country. Here is my understanding..............

1. Lack of infrastructure
2. Lack of IT Law
3. Lack of Industry standard
4. Lack of implementation of IT engineering strategy
5. Ad-hock IT service and product development Strategy
6. Lack of professionalism
7. No future grantee of IT professionals
8. Bad IT policy
9. No any licensing strategy for IT professional
10. Miss manageable of IT organization and Industry

And many more........................................

n_nepal,
thanks for your input.
At least the core points has been identified. Do you have any details of strategy to be developed to overcome these factors?

Can you please provide a detail report on this? And can you email details of your assocation?

The major problem I have seen in Nepal is people at policy level don't have vision for IT Business. How can you expect someone to develop national IT policy who is just learning MS word?

My suggestin is get some Nepalese who have been working in USA or other for more than 5 years. Hire them to develop a long term strategy even though if Nepal government need to pay million for them. This will have love term return for the country like that for India.

Organize seminar in Nepal (not the common type seminar that are organized in Nepal just to spend budget), targeting international companies and to make them aware of the potential in Nepal. Let's have them in Nepal even if we need to bring them in our own cost.

Thanks.

LOVE NEPAL ALWAYS :)

seems some government people are tracking this thread. lol..Just few days we were talking about IT park of Nepal which has been idle for 2 yrs of its completion, finally yesterday there was a program organized to discuss to work on it. Here it go...

http://www.kantipuronline.com/kolnews.php?&nid=90835

IT Park fails to draw private sector interest

Kantipur Report

KATHMANDU, Nov 8 - The government's attempt to hand over the management of IT Park located in Kavre district to the private sector has received a lukewarm response. Following this, it is all set to extend the deadline of submitting proposals by 30 days.

Manohar Kumar Bhattarai, member of High Level Commission for Information Technology (HLCIT) informed that the commission received only one proposal till Sunday, the last day for submission of the bid documents.

"Since it is against the spirit of law to award the contract to the single party that participated in the bidding competition, we decided to offer 30 more days to national and international parties interested in operating the Park," he said. "The government will formally make the announcement to this extent in a few days time." As per the announcement made through the budget speech of the current fiscal year, the government, earlier this year, issued a 45-day public notice requesting interested national and international private and public companies and joint venture companies to submit proposal for operation and management of the IT Park located in Banepa of Kavre district.

Issuing the notice, the government had opened all three options of handing over the management on contract, lease or on rental basis, to interested parties.

"Despite the flexibility only one Finnish company approached us," Bhattarai said. He, however, informed that an Indian IT firm has recently submitted a letter of interest to take over the management of the Park.

"We believe extension of the deadline will attract more national and international parties interested in running the Park," Bhattarai said. In a bid to develop ICT sector and promote export of software and other ICT related products and services, the government had built IT Park in Banepa at a cost of around Rs 220 million. Although the construction was completed in mid-May, 2004, the government has succeeded in wooing only one IT firm till date.

The Dutch company, which earlier said that it would carry out its day to day work from the park premises beginning November 1, will start functioning from next week.

Built on around 12 hectares of land, around 30 kilometers east of Kathmandu, the park, houses a business block, an administrative block and a residential block. The park comprises high speed data connection facility, fiber optic connection and has a 300KVA generator for power backup. Besides, local and multinational firms are also allowed to build their own infrastructure in the park premises.

Lovenepalalways !

do my best to help you out. But i don't think, we need to hire the people from USA to develop stragety. I know many people who have good knowledge to develop a long trem develpment stragety. We register the Information Technologies Association of Nepal after finding the real fact of IT standard of Nepal.

Here is the objective of ITAN

Objectives of ITAN


1. To act as a national non profit umbrella organization providing opportunities for professional developments, business support programs and to serve as advisory cum consulting body to advocate, lobby and facilitate mainstreaming of IT issues as national agenda.
2. To bring together nationwide spread and exchange of IT Information and to foster cooperation, interaction, trainings, network and collaboration through annual conference, workshops, media festivals, awards, seminars and publications.
3. Inclusively promote socially disadvantaged, ethnic and indigenous communities, women, children and school dropouts to get exposed to Information Technology and empower/enable their carrier development to help make independent.
4. Protect the rights of IT Professionals and provide necessary advice to IT related organizations (private, public, government, semi-government and non-government).
5. To organize various IT Events and represent Nepalese IT at national and international level to build the network and alliance for the development of IT in Nepal.
6. Enhance value and credibility of IT Professionals and help fix the standard of IT related developments and code of ethics and licensing.
7. To establish the network with national and international IT Organizations for the development and improvement of open source, e-commerce and e-governance and generate a system of effective monitoring and evaluation.
8. To create and provide opportunities for IT Professionals within the country and abroad.
9. Seek and help find opportunities of outsourcing to help IT Industries.
10. In the long run, with expert advises and assistance, develop curricula and run Open University based education and research in IT.

Well...if you like to email me....here is my email id

koinikesh@wlink.com.np

Why Nepal’s IT business sector has not boomed?

- We have to go thru long tendering process.
- We have to get hold of accountant(special money or whatever) to pass the budget after getting work done.
- we have to know the party people to get job done in semi-govt and govt installation.
- people who get 2-3 months basic training do the same piece of job big company is opting for due to individual relationship with hakim
- programmers are paid less. (slowly salary increasing, thank to d2hawkeye nepal)
- no preliminary analysis is done prior to coding, we just jump to coding instantly after hearing verbal purposal
- no documentations
- Have to complete complex projects in low rate (otherwise tender will go to another company)
- Frequent Jumping from one technology to another (not studing which technology is better beforehand)
- Employers boast, they can hire any type of programmers or engineers in 8,000 so no need to retain old experienced programmers or engineers,
- IT Admins in colleges IT Lab have to type the questions and formal letters.(Are programmers/engineers secratery or Personal assistants?)
-Sad but true: hardware engineer, electrical engineer, electronicsengineer, civil engineer, commerce or pure arts students also have to jump to the already populated programming sector.

...and the list goes on.