When I had just finished my Chartered Accountancy examinations and was talking to my superboss on my future career, I asked him whether I could have a career where I could work nine months and do things I like to do remaining three months. He told me that even after he had become the President of this large group, he has not been able to afford this luxury. I wanted to always figure out a way in which I do things that I am passionate about but also keep my professional career going. Perhaps, circumstances led to the establishment of beed management in 2008, after leaving a fantastic career with Nepal’s largest and premier business group where I started as a trainee and left as a Group President.
My inner calling was about transformation. I had learnt that money and education cannot deliver transformation- it is all about human transformation. Later on, beed’stagline was decided – towards positive transformation of individuals and organizations. It was about unleashing the potential of people and organizations. This journey allowed me to live a portfolio career, where I could navigate between the interlinked roles of leading a management consulting firm, helping a think tank to start and grow, and keeping the passion of writing and speaking growing side by side. In this journey, traveling came as an integrated bonus for me. I wanted to see the world and learn from the world that we know little about. Interestingly, opportunities emerged to expand to Rwanda and also work in countries like Bhutan, Cambodia and Myanmar. Traveling for a fortnight taught me more than what a whole semester in business school could teach.
Positivity is infectious like a smile and one can make attempts to spread it. It is about looking at the small things in life not the big ones. It is about questioning the status quo. It is about the why. It is about questioning the dogmas we have inherited through religion, culture or practices in the name of nationalism, caste or ethnicity. It is about being able to see the glass half full.
In the decade plus long journey, beed has been able to be associated with a brand where the words – innovation, pioneer, integrity, adaptability have found deep affiliation. It is heartening to see people tirelessly work with passion at our think tank, Nepal Economic Forum, or the different events and activities that are seen as tools of positive change. Institutionalization is important, therefore activities started getting consolidated through different verticals like beed leadership center and beed knowledge center.
While the professional journey of a thoughteprenuer continued, my efforts to push the agenda of unleashing the potential of people continued through my writings and speaking gigs. It has been a journey of two decades as a columnist. I wrote for Nepali Times and now The Kathmandu Post. The first attempt of putting my writings together began with a compendium of my columns in 2008 and thereafter my first book, Unleashing Nepal, in 2009 became the game changer, as a Penguin published book pushed the message of Nepal’s potential across the world. Other chapters in compendiums followed and now another book is due for a release. In a country where writings in Nepali language on the economy is limited, my journey of writing in Nepalibegan with great difficulty and courtesy Google keyboards typing using English alphabets, I did manage to not only come out with columns regularly, but also a book Arthat Arthatantra in 2017. I have always felt that one can reach to people through your writings and that in turn gets you invited for events and the interactions at events give you fodder for more writings. It’s a great positive circle.
What happens in Nepal not only is necessary to be understood by people in Nepal but people in other countries also. There is lot for different countries to learn from Nepal and Nepal to learn from different countries. If we ignore history, it will repeat itself and in the current world where people are becoming more inward looking, there is more effort required to keep minds and thoughts open. The power of positivity has to drown the people who rent seek on negativity.
My journey will continue by continuously learning and becoming aware of human transformation. Despite all the negative information we are inundated with, the world is safer, lesser challenges from human conflicts, hunger and health issues than it was a hundred years ago. Technology and innovations have made great strides to make the humans live longer and experience in a lifetime that people in earlier centuries would not have experienced even if they lived for a couple of centuries. It is important to believe in the future based on the transformations of the past.
