Man Bahadur Roka was one of them.
At present, Roka is the managing director of ViewNepal (P) Ltd, a web-hosting and software development company. [break] And the company at presents employs 27 people directly.
“Unlike others, we had this urge to study,” recalls Roka, “Maybe it was the political situation of the country which had an impact on us.”
Roka was involved in politics while studying in grade seven, and even went underground during the 1990s revolution. However, these days, though he’s current with the country’s political situations, politics doesn’t interest him much.
After scoring first division in his SLC examinations, Roka, following another trend of studying education in order to become a teacher, later landed in Kathmandu for his further studies. The trend is still prevalent among young SLC graduates outside Kathmandu.
“As it was also a kind of mandatory for young men to join the Indian Army in my community, my father wanted me to do the same, rather than studying,” recalls the businessman. As a result, Roka had to survive on his own in Kathmandu for six months.
“But later, my father accepted my decision and sponsored my education,” he says.
He observes that there isn’t a single house in his community whose male members aren’t in the British or Indian armed forces. That’s quite apparent in his family, too. Of his five brothers, one is in India, soldiering.
However, after the completion of his Bachelors in Education, Roka decided to try his hands in something new to him, which was also new to the denizens of the kathmandu Valley then.
“It was in 1994/95 that computer institutes started opening, and I joined one to learn the basics,” recalls the 37-year-old. During the learning phase, he was offered a job as a marketing officer at WorldLink, an ISP company, which he accepted without hesitation.
“As a marketing officer, it was quite a job to convince people to make them buy the company’s services back then, as email and Internet had just been introduced when I joined WorldLink. And the facility was known only to foreigners and a few trekking and traveling agencies,” recalls the entrepreneur.
Nevertheless, for Roka, Internet and email were a boon.
“So much could be done through it, from product selling to putting your country on the global map,” he opines. Utilizing the Internet’s facilities, he and his friends developed viewnepal.com.np, a website solely dedicated to tourism, with the objective of establishing Nepal as a tourist destination site.
After collecting three years of experience and a good grounding on IT, Roka was ready to take off and start his own venture. He and his friends registered ViewNepal as a web-hosting company in 1999.And gradually; viewnepal.com.np took the form of a business website.
At present, even though his friends have left him as partners, Roka is still in the business despite the turbulences he has faced in this sector.
“It was with three chairs, a table and a computer that the company was started in Thamel,” informs the father of two. With his savings from previous works, he had even bought a computer worth Rs 96,000, which he shifted to the office later.
Now, with its head office in Thamel, ViewNepal has its working force settled in New Baneshwor. Initially, the company started developing websites for the local market, and focused mainly on hotel tourism and trekking organizations.
Doing his estimation, Roka observes, “From 2004 to 2007, it wasn’t an easy ride. The country’s political instability had hampered the tourism sector, and our company solely relied on the local market. The company was unable to collect money despite selling its services, and thus, I had to handle all the operation costs from my pocket.”
However, the crisis gave Roka an opportunity to expand the company’s business. Utilizing his networks, and as the company was based in the tourist hub of Thamel, the company started outsourcing its services in 2007, which brought the company back in business.
Currently, ViewNepal hosts more than 400 local and 1,500 international websites, and specializes in ecommerce and auction sites. “The company’s auction software is quite popular among the clients,” informs the entrepreneur.
Apart from his venture, the man is also actively involved in the Lions Club of Kathmandu, Samakhushi district, for the past 12 years. “Currently, we’re building an old-age home in Lamjung and have funded the education of 60 students from seven districts of the country. And six of them belong to Baglung,” he informs.
Along with providing funds for education, Roka, with the help of the Lions Club, is also planning to set up 60 computers at the Tribhuvan Secondary School of Baglung where Roka did his schooling.
“Going to school has become a priority now,” adds Roka, who visits his village during festivals and for Lions Club works. And at present, the number of young people soldiering in India has decreased by 50%, informs the entrepreneur.
It was education that helped Roka bring forth what was within him, and he hopes that academic learning will do the same to others.
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