July 19: KCM Nepal Management Symposium 2018 organised by Kathmandu College of Management (KCM) kicked off in Kathmandu on Thursday, July 19.

The two-day event was inaugurated by Dr Rewat Bahadur Karki, chairman of the Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) in the presence of students from different colleges and panellists. Speaking at the programme, Karki said, "KCM, being one of the leading management colleges, has been playing a vital role in the area of management in Nepal. And organising such programme is a good initiative for the development of management sector."

The first day of the symposium had two sessions - ‘Financial Economies’ and ‘Marketing and Branding’ - in which eight speakers shared their experiences of their professional life. The sessions were followed by a panel discussion.

For the Financial Economics session, speakers including Annal Raj Bhattarai, founder of Nepal Rating Agency; Dr Manoj Shahi, partner of Active Allocator; Dr Posh Raj Pandey, chairman of South Asia Watch on Trade Economics and Environment (SAWTEE); and Akash Shrestha, research coordinator at Samriddhi Foundation shared their knowledge amongst the participants. The topics discussed in the Financial Economics session included Shaping Nepali Banking Industry, FinTech and Financial Inclusion, Fourth Industrial Revolution and Investment Climate in Nepal.   

Posh Raj Pandey putting an insight about the fourth industrial revolution, said, "Industrial revolution including technological innovation and advancement like digital payment system has made transaction faster, cost effective and has been more productive.”

Akash Shrestha mentioned the complex tax regime, impractical standard guidelines, difficulties in accessing finance, price controls, restrictive labour laws and policy disharmony as the major challenges for medium-scale industries in Nepal. He added, “Aspiring young entrepreneurs are facing problems from the initial level of registering their companies. Even though our infrastructure projects are gaining ground with many core ideas, a number of policies are being reformed which will be helpful for developing entrepreneurship in Nepal.” 

“FinTech is not a new concept. Proper payment system and peer-to-peer (P2P) lending system will make life easier as well as save time in this digital world,” shared Shahi, adding, “Since P2P collects lots of information of both lender and borrower, it is reliable for lending transaction.”

Similarly, Bharat Avalani, chief executive officer at Connecting the Dots, Malaysia; Dave McCaughan, chief strategy officer at AI Agency, Thailand; JP Nair, country manager at Qatar Airways; and Puneet Varshney, managing director of Bottlers Nepal Limited spoke in the ‘Marketing and Branding’ session. Topics like Power of Empathy: Building Deeper Brand Connections through Purpose, AI and Marketing Narrative, Building Brand Value and Influence in Airlines Industry and Brand Activation: Engaging consumers beyond advertising were discussed in the Marketing and Branding session.  

“A leader must try to identify the problems and find solutions,” said Avalani, adding that marketing is not about the products you make but the stories you tell. 

McCaughan emphasising the development of artificial intelligence (AI) said that ‘AI will be part of you no matter what business you are in’.

The second day of the event will feature two sessions, ‘Entrepreneurship’ and ‘Leadership Organisation’ on July 20, Friday at Hotel Radisson, Kathmandu.  Nepal Management Symposium, the annual event of KCM, has been continuing since 2011.