November 26: Nepal can become a destination where startups from Silicon Valley and other countries operate here, according to Anjani Phuyal, Global CTO at Genese Solution. He made such remark during the NewBiz Startup Summit and Awards 2021 held at Hotel Radisson on Thursday, November 25.

Making his presentation during the summit, Phuyal said that the country should prioritize digitization to attract global companies and investors to the country while universities should adopt the latest curriculum including Cloud Computing, Artificial Intelligence/ Machine Learning (AI/ML), Big Data and Digital Marketing.

“It’s all about technology,” he said referring to the success of Daraz.

According to him, digitization is important for the success of startups. He also stressed on the need of building an ecosystem, which is lacking in Nepal

He also talked about the benefits that startups enjoy at the global level. Phuyal said that the UK government provided financial assistance up to 90 percent of the salary of employees to sustain the business for more than one year during the crisis. UK-based startups were also provided bounce back loans within hours, said Phuyal adding that such facility is not available in Nepal.

He also pointed out to the challenges regarding transaction with foreign customers. Likewise, talent pool and supply are easy for startups based in foreign countries. But in case of Nepal, the government policy is quite rigid, said Phuyal.

Phuyal said that the government's regulation has made it difficult for startups to receive investment from foreign investors. Previously, we had an investment cap of Rs 5 million which itself was too high, argued Phuyal.

“The current cap has been raised higher. This is wrong, start-ups can also work with Rs 2-3 million investment. The FDI threshold needs to be reduced,” said Phuyal.

“As a landlocked country, we can focus on service areas rather than production for which advancement of technology is crucial. Investment is required in technology. Similarly, we need technology education. We need to include technology education in various courses and curriculum. I see some of the foreign-affiliated providing these courses. However, other educational institutes need to follow the trend.”

Likewise, we have a trend of professionals starting up a venture without sufficient experience, shared Phuyal. They start a company with themselves as CEO which tends to fail. “So, my suggestion to the students and young professionals is to get adequate experience before starting a start-up.”