Role of Fresh Blood for Nepal’s Reforms

At a recent event, I listened to entrepreneurs who have been at the helm of their businesses for more than 35 years. Strikingly, the grievances they raised today echoed the ones they raised three decades ago, revolving around the obstacles, negative perspectives, and habit of spotting problems without offering clear solutions. This repetition left me wondering: where are the young people, the next generation of business leaders?

We often claim that politics is dominated by the same old faces who recycle the same rhetoric without meaningful progress. Even in the world of business, the patterns are similar. The same arguments, led by the same individuals through the same lenses, continue to exist. This makes me recall an argument I made many years ago: it is evident that using the same ingredient, same recipe, and same chef will not deliver a different dish. Reflecting on my hospitality career and interests, I have noticed that merely changing the chefs, who tweak the recipe and ingredients for the better, has been responsible for the success of many restaurants. Likewise, even in the business world, we need fresh blood in leadership with innovative ideas, energy, and approaches reflecting the needs of current times.

Nepal saw transformative reforms in the early 1990s, with the emergence of new banks and insurance companies then led by people in their thirties and forties. That energy and the ideas presented then became the pillar for reforms in the financial landscape of Nepal. I clearly recall, as a stock brokerage license holder walking around the stock exchange floor, finding traders mostly under forty. A similar revolution also emerged in the editorial rooms of media houses with the rise of private media in Nepal.

A major drawback of having people in higher positions for too long is that they become complacent and lose connection with the younger crowd. With half of my audience born after the royal massacre and having faint memories of Nepal as a constitutional monarchy, I constantly remind myself of this while crafting presentations. Even when I talk about the earthquake of 2015, I must remember that many of them were merely in primary school when this event occurred. While there is a need for us to rearticulate the arguments we make to our audience, we also need to be mindful of the changes taking place around the globe.

As Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) evolve, the world has become mechanized like never before. During a conversation with a friend who is an entrepreneur working in the tourism sector, I realized how booking processes are increasingly mechanized by programmed interfaces rather than humans. This has led to a rising need for companies to recalibrate the way they engage with their customers, particularly with platforms like Airbnb and booking.com disrupting hotel bookings.

This tendency of youths to lead the revolution of digital payments has been well reflected in Nepal, as was evident at the launch event of Xuno — a global Nepali platform for digital payment solutions. Furthermore, the revolution in the adoption of café culture across Nepal presents both past experience and current trends indicating that youth-led changes can deliver results.

Of course, the government should lead the push for legislative and institutional reforms, but the private sector is also required to collaborate with the government to ensure reforms. This requires young businesspeople to organize themselves differently than their counterparts in previous generations. There is a need to shun events with hours of formality, running after ministers, and focusing on form rather than content, which are the practices obstructing the earlier generations from taking reforms anywhere. Furthermore, it is important to learn from the way Entrepreneurs Organization (EO) and Young President’s Organization (YPO) function. It has always been refreshing to interact with these groups, whose Nepal chapters function like any other global chapter. They have grown over the years, offering a refreshing change from how meetings and events in Nepal usually go, explaining the pull towards these organizations. Since many of these leaders are also part of the large business houses that benefit from these reforms, they are likely to push this working style into the different platforms where they engage with the government.

Nepal’s economic position has transformed over time. While businesses directly linked with political power are affected by the political changes, others are not. However, those with political linkages often shape the narratives, while others focus solely on expanding their businesses. Currently, we have reserves worth USD 18 billion. Hence, there is enough cash to take some risks in making meaningful economic reforms. The macroeconomic indicators are strong, and there is no better time to take bold steps for reforms. With Nepal graduating from a Least Developed Country (LDC) to a middle-income country, the focus should shift towards investment, building an enterprise ecosystem, and job creation. The youth understand this better than the older generation. Therefore, the onus lies on them to lead this change.