Entrepreneurship is all about hard work, perseverance and applying your knowledge and experience to maximise your venture’s growth at the same time minimising complications. Needless to say, a tad bit of luck always helps. However, the journey is not without its ups and downs. And success and failures tend to be the best teachers. If you can fix and learn from it, great; if you can’t repair it, then also you need to be prepared.
In this edition of Business 360 that celebrates the spirit of the woman entrepreneur, we caught up with some to learn about one key lesson they wish they knew when they started their entrepreneurial journey.
Text: Avant Shrestha
Nishi Khetan
CEO, Silverlining Events
Belonging to a Marwari family, starting out in the very beginning was cumbersome. I always knew that I wanted to work and getting my family to accept it and let me work when I was 17 was a task. After marriage it was a different ball game all together; therefore, I had to stop working. I chose to take small steps and got my career started eventually. But I always knew how important working was for my existence and I was persistent.
In the initial years gaining experience and learning was of utmost importance for me. It was difficult, as people would not take a Marwari married woman clad in a saree seriously. When I started Silverlining Events, the challenges were very different. The first thing I learnt was that making money was not easy. In a service industry like ours, there is no parameter of a perfect deliverable. There would be a big gap in what we commit and what the client would expect. Gradually, I learnt to make it very clear to the client on the deliverables and our limitations as well.
People see perfect pictures on ‘Pinterest’ these days that are highly edited and we certainly face limitations in terms of what we can offer in Nepal. We make sure we never over-commit and always like to keep a surprise element for our clients.
Earlier, people would never like to discuss money with a woman and would always want to negotiate with my partner. I always felt that men in our part of the world get intimidated discussing money with a woman. It always takes extra effort from my side to close a deal individually.
Rani Gurung Kakshapati
Founder and Director, Shuvatara School
30 years ago, I had the high ideals that running a good school was the most important contribution I could make to the society. I believe that Shuvatara School has been able to establish the model of a happy, productive learning center, transforming lives and transcending educational barriers.
The school was a dream project and still is. But the disappointment has been the inability of scaling the quality practices to other deserving students and bridging the substantial gaps in the concept and practice of quality education. Gaps between the government and the private schools, politicisation, commercialisation, unprofessional practices, unhealthy competition, shortage of appropriately trained and motivated teachers and staff and relegation of the education sector as a non-priority sector as against tourism, trade, power, transport to name a few are some of the factors that take away the joy of the dream project Shuvatara.
Karvika Thapa
Founder and CEO, Kim Tech
I wish I knew how to work on my weakness. I did not get to contribute or give back to my community. For instance, I could help as a volunteer in the community to solve smaller problems to make it better every day. This would help my leadership, communication, sales and marketing skills. It would have helped me to come out of my comfort zone and taught me to trust people other than family. The sooner you recognise your weakness; you can continue to work on it every day. In my case, I always wanted to get involved in something that makes an impact in people’s lives.
Purnima Rajbhandari
Executive Director, Brihat Group
I come from a financial background so when it comes to the aspect of engineering and architecture, I wish I was more knowledgeable about the technical background the job demands. For example, in real estate, a person could easily visualise the size of the room when he or she walks in, but I was a bit slow on that aspect. The question definitely got me thinking and when I look back at my early days, I lacked technical know-how and wish I had known more. I had to learn on the job.
I believe that whatever sector one is involved in, the first thing one has to have when starting out is the learning attitude. One must be willing to learn at all times and be ready to ask questions when unsure. Lastly, one has to have self-belief and be passionate about work. If an entrepreneur is able to apply these aspects and move forward, anything is possible.
Aayushi KC
Founder, Khaalisisi.com
Startup environment is exciting filled with thrills and challenges. In the early days, doing many different things seemed plausible and inviting, and so we did and in that process started losing touch with our core product. What we quickly learnt, my team members and I, was to focus and do a few things but do them right. We have a vision and many ideas, and we’re going to achieve our goals one implementation at a time.
