1. Overwhelming majority of educated people opt for a non-profit or government or private sector 'jobs' (leaving the race wide open for you, and competition much lesser. Go and start a company and attract all those smart people to actually work for you.
2. There is crisis all around—electricity, water, fuel, communication, and inflation, among others. Remember, crisis is an opportunity for entrepreneurs, and for you to become a multi-millionaire while serving fellow Nepalis and beyond.
3. High unemployment rates means you can build a team around motivated young people who are desperately looking to stay employed. Plus, you get their goodwill and hopefully loyalty to build a sustainable company in the long run.
4. Rest of our country is still beautiful and now awaits you, thanks to everyone moving to big cities like Kathmandu. Go back and build an opportunity in the forgotten rural areas while making an impact there.
5. Young people are leaving to work abroad (1,500 a day in 2014), which again, means less competition for you.
6. Workers abroad (2.5 million or more) send back more than USD 5 billion a year (2014). Find out how to do a good business catering to them and their families. The market for the poor is huge. Serve these billion dollar customers.
7. Win business from customers by showing your consistently delivering track record and honest intentions. Many of your competitors might be taking the shortcut to success by using corruption. Take advantage of this unique situation. Learn that they can never compete against you in terms of transparency, honesty, and probably quality, too. If your corrupt rivals try to out-maneuver you, challenge them to open their accounts, and have media follow them or the government watchdogs to inspect them. For example, open a good hygienic 'gudpak' or sweets shop to out-compete with corrupt, shady ones that exist today. I bet, you could win.
8. We are fast becoming a consumer driven nation. We buy a lot and throw away a lot. Therefore, from cloths to recycling there is opportunity. Why do you think there are thousands of families dedicated to recycling our trash? Why do you think shops after shops are opening in Malls? Serve our consumer driven nation with quality, affordable price and superior customer
service.
9. Industries built right after civil strife or wars usually last for a long time as proved by the industries that opened after the Second World War in much of Europe and the US. So start now when there is less competition.
10. No one cares. The old system is crumbling and there is no more of the strict societal and political bias against entrepreneurship. "Making profit is good" mentality is on the rise. Time to quietly rise and shine.
You have a choice right now: Either make your own dreams come true or "you will be hired to make someone else's dream come true."
A version of this article was first published in Ujwal Thapa's blog whynepal.com. Social activist Thapa is the President of Bibeksheel Nepali.
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