I always think that the fact you are alive is a great thing and it is up to you how you look at it and how you take it forward.

Upaul Majumdar 
Head of Practice-Tourism for South Asia
Dolma Consulting UK

With over 30 years of experience in the hospitality industry, Upaul Majumdar is currently the Head of Practice-Tourism for South Asia with Dolma Consulting UK. He looks into tourism rejuvenation and development across South Asian countries like Nepal, India, Bhutan and Bangladesh. He holds a hotel management graduate degree along with an MBA specialised in marketing from Institute of Management Technology, Ghaziabad. 

Majumdar first came to Nepal in 2012 and worked in the capacity of CEO of Hotel Annapurna for about two-and-a-half years. Then in 2015, right after the massive earthquake, he joined the Intercontinental Hotel Group (IHG) and served as General Manager of Soaltee Crowne Plaza. He headed the operations of Soaltee as well as the flight services of Lufthansa. During Majumdar’s tenure as general manager, the hotel received various awards and recognitions including the Highest Tax Payer Award from the Government of Nepal in the hotels sector in 2017, Best Destination MICE Hotel from Hospitality India Awards in 2017, Leader in F&B Sales from IHG-SWA in 2016, and Brand Leader in Hospitality from CMO Asia. Additionally in 2018, he was awarded as ‘The Best General Manager in Asia’.

After the Covid pandemic, Majumdar joined Dolma Consulting. He has been working in tourism looking into how Nepal can further develop the sector. He has helped set up several hotels in Nepal and last year, he helped Dusit Princess during its opening. This year, he was involved in the launch of the luxury boutique hotel, Varnabas Museum Hotel. 

Majumdar closely works with hotels helping them with hotel operations, and marketing, and also getting international brands into the country. Moreover, he is also involved in developing various tourism projects. 

Currently, he is also serving the third term as Advisor at the Tourism and Air Transport Committee of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry. Through this involvement with FNCCI, he tries to add value and help bring the tourism industry to the forefront in Nepal.

In this edition of Business 360, Majumdar shares the five things that have impacted his life and work. 

Nepali at heart

I have been in Kathmandu for about 12 years now. I was born and brought up in Delhi but I am very fond of Nepal. In fact, one of my best life decisions was actually to come here and slow my life down. In India, it is a rat race and I could have gone to even more rat-race countries like Dubai, Malaysia or Singapore. But in Nepal, I believe that we still have that humanity present. One can still enjoy their sanity, relish good company and experience great things. 

I have been working primarily in the hotel, hospitality and tourism areas in Nepal. India is on a big growth journey and I feel that most countries neighbouring Nepal have taken off and reached a high sphere, but Nepal is yet to take off. So, I want to be there helping in fuelling this growth. 

Nepal is a very high-growth economy, a country where one wants to come. I also think Nepal is a fantastic country because it greatly depends on tourism and I believe I can contribute a lot here. I have been here for many years and I have always found very interesting things to do in Nepal that can take us forward. So that way at heart I am a Nepali. 
Today as I reflect, I think that it was a very wise decision that I took to move to Nepal and stay here. So, to all the young people seeking to go abroad, I would recommend them to believe in Nepal. If you meet any youngster today, their dream is to go abroad and work. It is vital to believe in Nepal and to do things for your country that can make a very big difference. Having faith in the environment and protecting it is important. If we do not take those steps, then in 10-15 years from now, we will be finished as a country. So, one should believe in Nepal, it is a fantastic place and keep the environment protected.

Learning through Travel

As a child, I was an adventurer. Living in the urban jungle of Delhi, I loved to explore. Even then I used to travel a lot. I remember going on holiday to some unknown destinations, maybe a village near Delhi. I would go there, explore and learn. And I think that kind of inquisitiveness helped me even later when I started working in the tourism industry. But while growing up, I always wanted to be an engineer. And then by the time I reached my high school. I started to realise that engineering is a very long profession. As a teenager, I wanted to be independent and get things done. I started looking for professions where I could professionally qualify very quickly and get a job and stand on my own feet. That’s when I found hotels to be a very interesting option. So right after Class 12, I sat for the entrance exam and was fortunate to get through to a very fine institute in India called the Institute of Hotel Management Pusa in New Delhi.

After my graduation when I got into the hotel industry, I started realising that probably one of the best companies in India to work for is the Oberoi Hotels. They had a very professional management training development programme. They have an Oberoi School of Hotel Management, which is now known as OCLD (Oberoi Centre for Learning and Development). So, I passed out through the hallowed portals of the Oberoi School of Management, and then I worked with the Oberoi Hotels in Mumbai, Delhi, and also in the Oberoi flight service. And then I worked in various hotels in Nepal. 

I have had many remarkable experiences, but one, of course, was to travel. I have been to different countries. But going to Europe was a big eye-opener for me as to how within a small area it could be so diverse. I came to Nepal in January 2012 and the same year in March, I went to Berlin to attend one of the world’s largest travel trade shows called ITB Berlin (Internationale Tourismus Börse). I was part of the Nepal pavilion and we did a lot of interactions. A lot of people used to ask where Nepal is and most of our team members used to say we are in between India and China. But I thought to myself that is such a wrong way to market Nepal. And the next day we started to say that Nepal is the country with the highest peak in the world, Mount Everest. This was the time when I realised that the biggest challenge for Nepalis was in marketing. My goal to market Nepal to the world and bring international hotel chains here became resolute.

Life is about positivity and people

I am very bullish about life, let me put it that way. I always think that the fact you are alive is a great thing and it is up to you how you look at it and how you take it forward. I have also had a lot of ups and downs in my life but my ability to overcome that, smile and move ahead has helped me to navigate a lot of difficult situations. So, my life philosophy is ‘don’t worry, be happy’. You can enjoy different experiences that will make a difference. You know, life is never fair and that is how we think. But when we deeply think about it there are always people who have a more unfair deal. Also, what you are have or what you are dealing with is dealt with by your fate too. It is also up to us either to look up and be happy or look down and be sad. And if you can maintain that balance, I think you live a full life and then you will be an individual who is happy with himself or herself. 

I also believe that one needs to have an interest in people. I have a genuine interest in people. I am an absolute people’s person and I think once you get to know people, you understand them. And there is always something new which you learn every day from people, even a young child or a very old person. That is what I find is an important trait, which has helped me professionally too. 

Earlier, I was a very carefree person. I was all about being there, doing things and not thinking hard about the future. However, over time, I matured and realised that whatever action I took had some impact on my life as well as the life of people around me. And I guess when you are in your junior years, it is more about you, your work and your boss but as you grow higher and acquire a more senior leadership position, your actions impact a lot of people. When you head organisations your actions impact the whole organisation. So, before I make any decision, I do think a lot about what are going to be the impacts of that.

I am in a position where I can impact people and influence organisations to make a big difference in the country and the world. So that is how I have grown in stature and my thinking, and how I do the various things that I do. I would like to be remembered as a person who impacted people’s lives positively. I want to be someone who makes a positive difference in their life. I have worked in different countries and I still have people who call me today. Maybe they are in a more senior position than I am but they do have that respect for me. I believe that my interest in people has helped me create an impact.

Proponent of branded hotels

I am a big proponent of getting branded hotels into Nepal because they have a global reach and they can sell globally. I believe that it is all about branding and marketing. Today, we are underselling ourselves and that is a major problem. So, what I have been telling a lot of hotel owners is that when a person lands in Kathmandu and they need a five-star hotel, then they will have already done the booking. They already know which hotel they are going to stay at. So, if you are a local operator, you do not have access to that market unless you set up a sales office in all these markets, which you cannot. Then you are at the mercy of the online travel agents. They are very big. Today you have various travel agencies and all of them charge a very high rate of commission where they suck the profit out of the owner. So, what is happening is like a chicken and egg story. You do not market so you do not get the customer at the rate at which you should get and because you do not get the rate you do not make a profit.

When you do not make a profit, you will not invest in your product. And when you do not have a global standard product, you are not paying employees a global standard rate. So, what do they do? They work with you for a short time and then they go abroad. You will be surprised to learn that some of the best bartenders I have met in Dubai are all Nepalis. That is why I feel that Nepal needs branded hotels. Today, there are a lot of branded hotels coming up. Post-Covid, we can see this change even in the provincial level.

I have been quite instrumental in getting some of the brands here. I have very good relations with most of the brands and I advise owners accordingly. I have spent a major part of my life also in consulting. I work with the service industry, telecom, health care, airlines and retail and these are all different businesses, not just hotels. That has widened my horizon in looking at things from a customer perspective, not just from a service perspective.

Making good decisions

A good leader is somebody who is a good decision-maker. You should make really quick and right decisions and many of the decisions are painful even for people and the leader. Being able to make such decisions indicates that they are successful as a leader. One of the best pieces of advice that I have received in my career was regarding decision-making. Early in my career, I was not mature and I used to think it was all about action and I used to do a lot of things. I remember I had a very mature boss at one point in time, and he told me that before making a decision count to ten and during that time review that whole decision and maybe you will change it. And I believe that 50% of the time when I have used this method, I was able to make a little better decision. I think that has helped me a lot. Better decision-making has enhanced my ability to do better in my role as a leader. 

A leader should also be very goal-oriented and keep directing their people towards the goal. When you are a leader, you also have to be very inspiring. I also believe that the success of a leader has a greater hand of the team behind. You can be a one-man army. But even when you use the word army, you still have one general and you have a team. So that is how teams are very important. And teams have to be diverse. Today, most of the time what happens is you have a fantastic team with similar personalities together. That is not what will get you success today. Today it is about having diversity. It is about having people who will descend with you and your ability to take that opinion. 

My leadership ability has been tested on many occasions. I remember when I was working at Soaltee, there was this big international conference. They had a choice to hold it here in Nepal or go to another country. My team was firm on our decision to hold the conference here. And one of the major tasks was to host a sit-down dinner for 650 members at the conference. My team did flawless work, the coordination worked out and I remember the president called me onto the stage and thanked me. And later when our president got changed and when we welcomed the new president he said, you guys have set Nepal, you set the bar so high. And I think that was one very, very big moment. 

During my tenure in the hospitality industry where I could host such a dinner, I call it one of my greatest successes. Ten years back, success for me was about living the high life, having all these fancy gadgets and being in a beautiful place. My success earlier was doing everything for myself, what I wanted, what I had, and what I got attached to. But its definition changed over time. Today, success for me means having a very comfortable place to stay without worrying for the future, having a great set of friends, and being able to do things for people. It is also about having an opportunity to do something for people and the world. And being in a leadership position where I can do something for the people and the community is also success for me.