Gautam, who moved to the UK in November 2002 with his mother to join his father, had set up a mobile phone accessory company, London Magic Store, which now has a staff of 13 and boasts an annual turnover of more than £3million.
What’s with the name Dario Lopez?
My father is from a Brahmin family fell in love with my mother who came from a Chhetri family. Even though my paternal grandparents accepted my mother, my father’s brothers and sisters still haven’t accepted her.
I didn’t want to be a part of a cruel Gautam family and wanted to leave the past behind, have my own identity and achieve something in life.
How did it all start? What was the first idea?
I registered a website on December 13, 2003, installed a shopping cart and got the website up and running by December 26, 2003. I listed a few items to make the website look like it was up and running, but even after a week not a single person had visited the website.
A Nepali friend then showed me a phone he had for sale on eBay. I saw a lot of things changing every second on the eBay site and it was all to do with mobile phones. I then registered an account using my father’s name as the age requirement was 18.
Over the next few days, I listed some sim cards on the site. They started selling so well that I ran out of stock and struggled to get more supply for them.
I found a supplier who could supply sim cards for about 50p when it was being sold for £10 elsewhere. I ordered around 50 sim cards from a wholesaler. However, it took about four months to get a single order. Business for me thus started from home.
Tell us about your early days in business. Any significant challenges and how did you overcome them?
I learnt as the business grew and my mistakes. I got home by 3 o’clock from school. I then processed orders, replied emails and did my research.
The most difficult part for me was to convince my parents that I would make something out of myself.
Thankfully, there were few people who gave me excellent guidance and supported me towards success of the business.
What are the pros and cons of eBay business?
On the plus side, eBay does all the marketing work and brings customers to buy our products. We’re just the source for the products, make their images and list them. On the negative side, we don’t own the contents eBay has for our store. If someone at eBay clicks the wrong button, our business can collapse overnight.
How much is your business worth now that you’re the number 1 seller? And what makes you the number 1 seller? What’s your biz mantra?
The business itself is worth over a million pounds with an annual turnover of three million pounds. What makes us the number one seller is the number of orders we process.
When I saw others run businesses, I saw how straightforward it was to keep things in place and create business, jobs and money from it. By the time I was 19, I had a BMW and I bought my first house when I was 20. My business mantra, I would say, is to have exactly what customers want at affordable prices.
What’s next?
My immediate plans are to continue with expansion of the high street retail side of the business, expand our eBay operations to Europe, Canada and America. I have plans to launch a social networking website which will be quite different from Facebook, Twitter or G+ but it is on similar ideas.
This project isn’t going to compete with Facebook or Twitter but it’ll be another website for people to stay connected.
Tell us something about Ravensbourne 2011, the event that you sponsored and other philanthropic works.
We decided to sponsor this event just after we received our first official report from eBay saying we were number 1 seller on eBay. It’s UK’s best digital design college. The producer of King’s Speech graduated from Ravensbourne.
We have an annual fund for charities. We use 50% of the fund for global disasters and donate 50% to charities. We currently support Red Cross and Help Nepal. Because I’ve been so busy, I’ve been donating online to Red Cross and through Micro Loan site Kiva.org.
Any plans in Nepal – business or philanthropy?
Commercially, I have no immediate plans. But as the Internet infrastructure in Nepal gets better, I’m sure I’ll be there with some new ideas. I have plans to donate 10p per order to Help Nepal for the month of October 2011. I also want to contribute to Amarpur, the place I was born.
Any advice to young Nepalis back home who want to kick-start a business?
Always have a positive attitude towards life and give your 100 per cent until you achieve your goals. It’s always a good idea to try and do something that hasn’t been done before. If education isn’t for you, then don’t pursue it too much. A bit of warning though: You do need to understand basic things in life and must have the desire to learn.
Final words!
If you believe you can do something, pursue it with your every heartbeat. I would like to thank all Nepalis for their support. I hope I’ve made the country proud and I hope to bring you many more success stories in the future. Lastly, I would like to share one thing I’ve learnt: Always do more than you’re expected.
Related story
Last rites of Nepali national –Sudip Neupane– killed in Kashmir...
