What will be your priority as the president of CAN?
CAN has so far focused on the issues of policy and raising awareness about the use of ICT. But I will put more focus on ICT trade as entrepreneurs are lately facing various problems in ICT trade. Many Nepali ICT traders, who import products through formal channel, are suffering because large number of ICT products from India and China are coming to the country through informal channel. The standard is maintained while importing directly from China, but when it comes from India, the issue of quality has been raised as it comes from both authorized and unauthorized channels. So, many genuine traders and customers are suffering because of poor quality.
As the president of CAN, my focus will be on branding of ICT products. Besides, we will continue our focus on ICT friendly policy from the government level. We have submitted the government the proposal for the operation of IT Park from private sector. I hope to get it materialized during my two-year tenure.
CAN has been organizing big annual events like InfoTech and Softech. Do you plan to introduce new events or make any changes to regular events?
CAN InfoTech is the biggest event in the country, drawing largest number of visitors. We along with exhibitors are extremely happy with the event. However, the result of CAN SofTech is not so satisfactory. The visitors turnover is also not so overwhelming. We are working on plans to make CAN SofTech more effective. Nepal is considered a favorite destination but software developer, but unfortunately we are not being able to cash that opportunity. The focus of the new team will be on making CAN SofTech more popular. Besides, we are also working on the idea of organizing CAN InfoTech twice a year.
What are the challenges in Nepal´s ICT sector?
The major problem is the lack of ICT professionals because our trained hands are leaving for greener pastures abroad. The retention of skilled employees is the biggest challenge. The other problem is the government policy which is not encouraging for the ICT industry. Unless the government identifies ICT as one of the basic needs, it will be difficult for us to develop this sector. After tourism, ICT seems to be the only other sector that can fuel economic growth.
CAN has announced to develop Nepal as an ICT hub of this region. As the president of CAN, what will be your efforts to develop Nepal as ICT hub?
We have recently conducted seminar with Asian Oceania Computing Industry Organization (ASOCIO) and have discussed on possible ideas. Many entrepreneurs from abroad have also showed interest to invest in Nepal. We are trying our level best to create favorable environment for them. But the lack of statistics has emerged as a big challenge, as we don´t have proper database that talks about our potential in numbers. No proper ICT survey has been carried out so far. We have proposed to the government to conduct ICT survey. If the survey is conducted, it will open the way for new investment and various plans.
Your association has decided to go under the concept of federation. How will it help in the development of ICT sector?
The concept of federation will help us implement our work more effectively. At this stage, I really can´t talk about the advantage but we are hopeful in the long run it is going to yield positive results. As the president of CAN, my focus will be on minimizing possible politicization in the association after we adopt the federation concept.
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