Born in Kamalpokhari, Kathmandu, Bal Krishna Joshi did his schooling from Budhalinkantha School and then went to Lewis and Clark College, Oregon, United States, for a bachelor´s degree in Business Administration. Always interested in business, Joshi returned to Nepal in 1995 and then moved around a number of jobs both in Nepal and the US.
His interest in working for a corporate entity drew his attention to the emerging IT industry.
"I was never interested in a career-oriented job and always wanted to start a company of my own," he says.
He and his close friend, Rajesh Lal Joshi, then established an information portal, ´Thamel.com´ in 2000. "We started ´Thamel.com´ on travel and trading model where tourists would get information on traveling to Nepal. However, we failed miserably and were in severe loss," he confides.

To cater to the needs of the site visitors, they created a chat platform, Yak yak chat, where both the prospective consumers and the sellers could interact and sell their products. However, most of the users of the chat platform, they later found out, were Nepalis living abroad and they used it to connect to their relatives at home. He says, "The chat platform was very useful to us, since we had the data of the demographics of the users and could utilize it to understand their needs better."
Joshi then was inspired to initiate a similar type of business. 1-800-flowers.com became successful selling things online. However, a tough time followed as people were hesitant to buy things online. "Our company was facing a tough time, and it was on the brink of shutdown," says Joshi.
However, they finally got the lucky break they deserved. "It was Dashain period and one of my friends just made a comment on how great it would be if he could be able to send a ´khasi´ home," says Joshi, who was overwhelmed with the idea. Soon They started selling goats online.
The people were skeptical about the whole idea at first. "Some people were calling me crazy of thinking of selling goats online," he says. However, his innovative and bold idea has made him possibly the most famous goat-seller in the world.
"The idea was so unique that BBC and other media featured me. We began selling goats in the thousands and it started becoming difficult to manage goat deliveries," he says with a smile.
However, there were problems with the whole idea of buying things online and then getting them out to their relatives at home. They were able to win the trust of the buyers by sending them the pictures of their relatives with the goat so that they would know that what they sent was delivered. This business strategy was so unique that many case-studies were done on it.
The idea of sending gifts home from abroad expanded to other festivals as well. "Apart from during the Dashain-Tihar period, the demand for our gifts increases dramatically during ´bhai tika´ and ´aama ko mukh herne din," he says.
Thamel.com now has expanded its business from an online gift shop to money transferring and providing loans to Non-resident Nepalis (NRN) as well. He says, "We are now touching many different areas and are planning to start a voice over internet protocol (voip) services in the rural areas as well so that the Nepalis abroad can better connect with their relatives in Nepal."
The market of Thamel.com has also expanded. They are now providing services in over 30 countries. Basically anyone who has an international credit card can utilize their services. They have now given service to more than one hundred thousand customers.
Establishing (this now extremely successful) business was no easy feat. Joshi faced, and still faces many difficulties that aren´t always simple to overcome. Since the demands are seasonal, they have to employ people temporarily. "The most difficult part to deal with is coordinating them and during the peak periods we get so many orders that now we are looking to maintain the market instead of expanding," Joshi says. The lack of fuel, electricity, and slow internet speed only adds to the difficulties.
To manage such a complicated process requires more than coordination skills; it requires zeal and commitment. It was Joshi´s strong drive to always succeed that has turned Thamel.com to what it is now. He says, "To be honest I had no substantial expectations for the company when it started, but I always had the desire to succeed in whatever I could do."
Joshi feels that people should follow the path that enables them to grow personally, doing whatever it is that gives one a sense of satisfaction. "It was my satisfaction in working in this field that I am still not tired and am willing to go further and try new things," he says adding, "The youth may think that there is lacking in opportunities, but the problem is that the youth need to alter such pessimistic attitudes. They should be optimistic and be open to ideas and always be willing to start from scratch".
Known now as the ´messenger of sentiments,´ Bal Krishna Joshi started from scratch and built his success slowly from the ground up. While success is never certain, Joshi is a living proof. Without trying no one can be successful.
So close, yet so far
