Thursdays with an Entrepreneur” on the last Thursday of every month.
For the present series of the program, they invited Kishore Pandey from the hospitality sector of Nepal’s tourism industry.[break]
“You need guts to be an entrepreneur,” said Kishore Raj Pandey, the first ever accredited Nepali General Manager of a five-star hotel in Nepal, and CEO of Cafereena, a chain of restaurants in Kathmandu, while speaking last Thursday at Dwarika’s Hotel, Battis Putali.
“Without good business, entrepreneurship can’t survive,” he added.
Kishore Pandey said he got a sudden insight about starting his career in hospitality and went to Germany for hotel management training at the Intercontinental Hotels in 1973.
“There was no opportunity for higher studies in hotel management back then, and going abroad was the only option,” said Pandey. “But now there are good colleges here in Nepal, too.”
When he got back, he worked at Hotel De l’Annapurna for two years and Hotel Yak & Yeti for six years.
His experiences at the two prime properties paved the way for him to become the General Manager of Hotel De l’ Annapurna, from 1982 to 1989. Pandey was also a founding member of Nepal Tourism Board (NTB).
“The job of a General Manager at a five-star hotel was the end of my job. You can’t go higher than that in the sector,” he said. “Leaving the job was the beginning of a new life.”
He elaborated: “In the second phase of my career, I managed small hotels from Nagarkot to Gorkha through the Keyman Chain of Hotels. I put in some shares and became partners of some of these hotels.”
After the Maoist insurgency, the business of hotels started shrinking, according to him.
Since the last four years, Pandey said, the third phase of his career has started.
Under Cafereena, which opened three years ago, he manages three restaurants, one each at Durbar Marg, Jhamsikhel, and Maharajgunj.
“Cafereena is getting popular, and till now we’ve grown some franchises. I think the reason it’s getting popular is because of our reasonable prices, good foods, and quality services,” said Pandey.
“I’ll be focusing on Kathmandu Valley for now, and I haven’t thought about expanding outside the Valley,” he added.
Pandey is also CEO of Sathi Nepal Travels & Tours and Baithak Restaurant at Babar Mahal Revisited.
He is now working on the Bhangeri Durbar Resort at Nagarkot, which is set to open in September.
“Bhangeri Durbar is a mountain resort in a new territory away from the hustle and bustle of the city,” said Pandey. “I feel that I’ll be able to create a new area for recreation.”
He opined, “Hospitality industry isn’t as difficult as it appears. Whatever you do to your guests in villages, you need to do exactly the same thing to the guests at hotels. I’m proud to be involved in such an industry for so many years,” said Pandey.
Talking about Nepal Tourism Year 2011, he said that the concept was good but it is difficult to reach the goal of one million tourists.
“Every country has to do marketing to make itself popular, and we have to do it every two or three years,” said Pandey.
He said that in terms of attitude, people involved in Nepal’s hospitality industry are excellent. What we need is infrastructure.
“Rather than focusing on the number of tourists, we have to focus on developing infrastructure and making the industry investment friendly,” he clarified.
“I think sincerity and good attitude are my success mantra,” Pandey concluded, adding, “I believe that when you’re sincere, somehow somebody will look after you.”
He said that hospitality industry is for people with the right attitude, and if people work sincerely, it pays well.
“Every night I get tired of work, but when I wake up next morning, I want to do more,” said Pandey in his concluding remarks.
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