Last Thursdays with an Entrepreneur, a joint program of Entrepreneurs for Nepal and Samriddhi Foundation, is a networking event for youths and entrepreneurs which has a successful entrepreneur as a guest speaker every last Thursday of the month.[break]
The guest speaker this time was Nakim Uddin, the Chairman of QFX Cinemas, Quest Entertainment (P) Ltd, Vision Quest (P) Ltd., Digital Cinema Nepal (P) Ltd., and Managing Director of Central Cinema (P) Ltd.
He is also the Secretary General of Nepal Motion Pictures Association.
Uddin talked about his business journey and answered questions from the audience.
“I’m from a business family, and my father owned a shop at Indra Chowk which is still there,” said Uddin. “After SLC, I went to Taiwan to study business and worked at my father’s shop for two years after I came back from Taiwan.”
He went on to add, “I told my father to set me free and started silver jewelry business. The global demand for Nepali silver jewelry was very good back then. I visited Europe and went from shop to shop to sell the jewelry.”
Uddin also started a travel agency after that, but closed it after the beginning of the Maoist Insurgency.
Uddin, along with two friends, renovated Kumari Hall and Jai Nepal Cinema and started screening Hollywood movies.
“We screened Spiderman for the first time and the theater was full,” he said, adding, “But after that, we had a very difficult time. However, the business gradually improved after we started screening Bollywood movies,” he said.
Uddin claimed that QFX Cinemas has world-class equipments. “We use equipments that are used by American theatres,” he said, claiming, “Our theatres are the most high-tech in Nepal.”
Explaining the success of his business, he said, “We got lucky as there were no better competitors, and the existing theatres weren’t good enough.”
He also opined, “Everything we do is fair and transparent, and we have a large network. I think that’s the reason nobody has bettered us.”
Uddin concluded that his group has very good team academically. His two partners are from mass communication and software engineering while he is a business graduate.
Related story
QFX Cinemas launches new multiplex in Bhaktapur
