Ryanair plans cheap trans-Atlantic flights
Internatonal Herald Tribune, 12-Nov-08
Budget airline Ryanair plans to offer trans-Atlantic flights as cheap as 10 euros ($12.70) before taxes to several U.S. cities from Britain and Ireland, a company official said, according to a newspaper report Sunday.
The Irish airline wants to offer services from London's Stansted and Dublin airports to New York, Florida, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Boston, Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary was quoted as saying in an interview with Britain's News of the World tabloid.
Ryanair Holdings PLC spokeswoman Pauline McAlester said she could not confirm the plan before an official announcement Monday when the company's half yearly results — expected to show a fall in profits as a result of slowing consumer demand — are announced.
"Economy class will be very cheap — around 10 euros. But our business class will be very expensive. There's always 10-15 percent who'll pay whatever it costs for a wide seat," O'Leary was quoted as saying.
Last month, the airline closed a base in Valencia, ending 70 weekly flights to the city in southern Spain.
But O'Leary hopes Ryanair could snap up aircraft from struggling rivals to create a new trans-Atlantic service, the newspaper said.
"We'll just have to keep flying more aircraft, opening up more routes and offering people more cheap flights," he was quoted as saying.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Interview with Room to Read's John Wood
Room to Read's John Wood: Bringing the Power of Education to Children around the World
Knowledge Wharton, 23-Dec-08
After a trek in the Himalayas brought him face-to-face with extreme poverty and illiteracy, John Wood left his position as a director of business development at Microsoft to found Room to Read, an award-winning international education organization. Under his leadership, more than 1.7 million children in the developing world now have access to enhanced educational opportunities. Room to Read to date has opened 725 schools and 7,000 bilingual libraries, and funded more than 7,000 scholarships for girls. Wood talked with Knowledge@Wharton about the launch of Room to Read, the book he wrote called Leaving Microsoft to Change the World and his personal definition of success ...
Knowledge Wharton, 23-Dec-08
After a trek in the Himalayas brought him face-to-face with extreme poverty and illiteracy, John Wood left his position as a director of business development at Microsoft to found Room to Read, an award-winning international education organization. Under his leadership, more than 1.7 million children in the developing world now have access to enhanced educational opportunities. Room to Read to date has opened 725 schools and 7,000 bilingual libraries, and funded more than 7,000 scholarships for girls. Wood talked with Knowledge@Wharton about the launch of Room to Read, the book he wrote called Leaving Microsoft to Change the World and his personal definition of success ...Sunday, December 21, 2008
Doctors seek greener pastures abroad
Doctors seek greener pastures abroad
ekantipur, 6-Dec-08
By B BASNET
Dr. Nitesh Sharma (name changed) is burning midnight oil, studying voluminous books on medical sciences. Sharma, who got his MBBS degree from Calcutta Medical College last year, knows all too well that making it through the US Medical Licensing Exam (USMLE) will not be easy. That is why, leaving medical practice aside, he is studying really hard.
Only those doctors, who make it through the USMLE, can practise medicine in the US.
Sharma is not alone in this endeavour. Holding part-time jobs, scores of doctors are studying really hard to go abroad and land better paying jobs.
Discouraged by the lack of opportunities in Nepal, more and more Nepali medical graduates are heading West, especially to the US. Thanks to ease of movement facilitated by globalisation and increasing demand for medical professionals even in developed countries, almost every Nepali medical graduate wants to go abroad to preferably the United States.
A preliminary research conducted by students at Maharajgunj-based Institute of Medicine (IOM) found that of the 44 Nepali students, who obtained MBBS degree from the institute this year, 34 are preparing for USMLE. "Some of them have submitted USMLE forms, while others are filling them," says Maniraj Neupane, an MBBS student.
According to Dr Subash Pyakurel, director at RISE, an institute that counsels people on medical career, more than 250 medical graduates from Nepal are going abroad annually, mainly to the US.
"This trend is on the rise," says Dr Pyakurel, who did well in USMLE and went to the US but had to return to Nepal three years ago due to medical problems.
Those medical graduates, who get good scores in USMLE, can gets admission in US medical colleges, where they can work and further their studies side by side. Besides the US, the UK, Australia, South Africa, and Gulf countries are other sought-after destinations for professions in white robes, he said.
Nepal's 11 medical colleges produce at least 700 doctors every year. Dr. Pyakurel estimates that another 500 Nepalis return home from after obtaining MBBS degree in China, Bangladesh, Phillipines, India, Pakistan and a number of other countries.
According to Nepal Medical Council (NMC), there are 8,076 registered doctors in Nepal. The number of doctors seeking the NMC licence is on the rise.
In the year 2007 alone, 870 graduates passed NMC test and got the licence. Only 488 had received medical licence in 2003. Many of the registered doctors have left for Europe and the US, according to sources at the Council.
"Every year, around 300 doctors manage to go to the US and other developed countries. This figure is dismal in comparison to number of Nepalis, who obtain MBBS degree from Nepali institutions every year."
"It is good that they are leaving for the USA and other countries as the country cannot absorb such a large number of doctors," he adds.
Health professionals say low pay, lack of research facilities and lack of opportunities for further education in Nepal are among the major factors that have prompted exodus of doctors to the west.
A student invests up to three million rupees to obtain a medical degree. "It is difficult to get back the investment through government salary," says Neupane.
Lack of basic medical equipment in district hospitals deters doctors. "Our district hospitals do not even have basic medical equipment. This discourages our doctors," accepts Dr. Sudha Sharma, acting secretary at the Ministry of Public Health.
On top of that, there are just a handful of seats in Nepali medical colleges for postgraduate studies. According to Dr Sharma, there are only 200 postgraduate seats in Nepal every year.
Dr. Sharma maintains that brain-drain will affect the country. According to her, those going abroad are cream of society. "All of us should work together to create a conducive environment for these doctors," she adds.
Dr Subaj Bhattarai, who is also preparing for USMLE, counters Sharma, "Unlike Nepal, the US provides lots of opportunities for doctors."
Like it or not, the young doctors will not stop chasing the American dream, it seems.
Says a doctor, "After all, America is America. Who doesn't want to go to America and settle there?"
ekantipur, 6-Dec-08
By B BASNET
Dr. Nitesh Sharma (name changed) is burning midnight oil, studying voluminous books on medical sciences. Sharma, who got his MBBS degree from Calcutta Medical College last year, knows all too well that making it through the US Medical Licensing Exam (USMLE) will not be easy. That is why, leaving medical practice aside, he is studying really hard.
Only those doctors, who make it through the USMLE, can practise medicine in the US.
Sharma is not alone in this endeavour. Holding part-time jobs, scores of doctors are studying really hard to go abroad and land better paying jobs.
Discouraged by the lack of opportunities in Nepal, more and more Nepali medical graduates are heading West, especially to the US. Thanks to ease of movement facilitated by globalisation and increasing demand for medical professionals even in developed countries, almost every Nepali medical graduate wants to go abroad to preferably the United States.
A preliminary research conducted by students at Maharajgunj-based Institute of Medicine (IOM) found that of the 44 Nepali students, who obtained MBBS degree from the institute this year, 34 are preparing for USMLE. "Some of them have submitted USMLE forms, while others are filling them," says Maniraj Neupane, an MBBS student.
According to Dr Subash Pyakurel, director at RISE, an institute that counsels people on medical career, more than 250 medical graduates from Nepal are going abroad annually, mainly to the US.
"This trend is on the rise," says Dr Pyakurel, who did well in USMLE and went to the US but had to return to Nepal three years ago due to medical problems.
Those medical graduates, who get good scores in USMLE, can gets admission in US medical colleges, where they can work and further their studies side by side. Besides the US, the UK, Australia, South Africa, and Gulf countries are other sought-after destinations for professions in white robes, he said.
Nepal's 11 medical colleges produce at least 700 doctors every year. Dr. Pyakurel estimates that another 500 Nepalis return home from after obtaining MBBS degree in China, Bangladesh, Phillipines, India, Pakistan and a number of other countries.
According to Nepal Medical Council (NMC), there are 8,076 registered doctors in Nepal. The number of doctors seeking the NMC licence is on the rise.
In the year 2007 alone, 870 graduates passed NMC test and got the licence. Only 488 had received medical licence in 2003. Many of the registered doctors have left for Europe and the US, according to sources at the Council.
"Every year, around 300 doctors manage to go to the US and other developed countries. This figure is dismal in comparison to number of Nepalis, who obtain MBBS degree from Nepali institutions every year."
"It is good that they are leaving for the USA and other countries as the country cannot absorb such a large number of doctors," he adds.
Health professionals say low pay, lack of research facilities and lack of opportunities for further education in Nepal are among the major factors that have prompted exodus of doctors to the west.
A student invests up to three million rupees to obtain a medical degree. "It is difficult to get back the investment through government salary," says Neupane.
Lack of basic medical equipment in district hospitals deters doctors. "Our district hospitals do not even have basic medical equipment. This discourages our doctors," accepts Dr. Sudha Sharma, acting secretary at the Ministry of Public Health.
On top of that, there are just a handful of seats in Nepali medical colleges for postgraduate studies. According to Dr Sharma, there are only 200 postgraduate seats in Nepal every year.
Dr. Sharma maintains that brain-drain will affect the country. According to her, those going abroad are cream of society. "All of us should work together to create a conducive environment for these doctors," she adds.
Dr Subaj Bhattarai, who is also preparing for USMLE, counters Sharma, "Unlike Nepal, the US provides lots of opportunities for doctors."
Like it or not, the young doctors will not stop chasing the American dream, it seems.
Says a doctor, "After all, America is America. Who doesn't want to go to America and settle there?"
Monday, December 15, 2008
Is Nepal hijacking Indian Idol?
Is Nepal hijacking Indian Idol?
The Times of India, 5-Dec-08
When the third edition of Indian Idol 3 ended last year with Prashant Tamang beating his rival Amit Paul, the victory was due to the overwhelming votes that the Darjeeling boy received. Contributing generously to the votes were Tamang’s fans from Nepal who collected funds to send SMSes in his support, at times crossing over into India to vote for their favourite.
Though at least two of the judges – Alisha Chinoy and Javed Akhtar – felt Paul was the better singer, they both had to agree that the final decision was left to the voice of the people.
This year, as Indian Idol 4 is in full swing, is the public voice from Nepal out to swamp the Indian voice?
For the first time in the history of the contest, a mobile telephone company from Nepal has tied up with a publishing company to enable people from Nepal to vote directly from Nepal.
“When Prashant Tamang became the Indian Idol last year ... the people of Nepal had a big hand in Prashant’s win,” announced the local Himalayan Times daily Friday whose publishers International Media Network Nepal Private Ltd has started a scheme with Mero Mobile, Nepal’s sole private mobile phone services provider that was promoted three years ago by deposed king Gyanendra’s son-in-law, to enable direct SMS voting from Nepal.
“This year, Nepali fans of Indian Idol need not go to all this trouble to vote for the next Indian Idol,” the announcement said, referring to the border-crossings. Instead, those wanting to vote can use a Mero Mobile number from Nepal 12 hours daily from Friday to Saturday.
Last year, the enterprising pair had conducted a trial run, which consisted of asking people to predict the winner and win prizes. The direct vote offer comes following the fan frenzy created by Prashant. This year too, there is a contender of Nepali origin among the 14 finalists – Kapil Thapa, the army man from Dehra Dun, and the obvious strategy is to bank on the fan following he might arouse in Nepal.
The question is, can or should the Indian Idol be decided by Nepal? Would America accept the results if Nepalis managed to vote from Nepal or raised funds to abet a Nepali-origin contestant’s victory in American Idols? For that matter, would Nepalis accept it peaceably if Indians vote during the Nepali editions of the Idol in Nepal and push the winner they want?
SMS voting is a bad yardstick due to its sheer anonymity. Perhaps it is time the organisers of Indian Idol give it some thought and lay down guidelines.
The Times of India, 5-Dec-08
When the third edition of Indian Idol 3 ended last year with Prashant Tamang beating his rival Amit Paul, the victory was due to the overwhelming votes that the Darjeeling boy received. Contributing generously to the votes were Tamang’s fans from Nepal who collected funds to send SMSes in his support, at times crossing over into India to vote for their favourite.
Though at least two of the judges – Alisha Chinoy and Javed Akhtar – felt Paul was the better singer, they both had to agree that the final decision was left to the voice of the people.This year, as Indian Idol 4 is in full swing, is the public voice from Nepal out to swamp the Indian voice?
For the first time in the history of the contest, a mobile telephone company from Nepal has tied up with a publishing company to enable people from Nepal to vote directly from Nepal.
“When Prashant Tamang became the Indian Idol last year ... the people of Nepal had a big hand in Prashant’s win,” announced the local Himalayan Times daily Friday whose publishers International Media Network Nepal Private Ltd has started a scheme with Mero Mobile, Nepal’s sole private mobile phone services provider that was promoted three years ago by deposed king Gyanendra’s son-in-law, to enable direct SMS voting from Nepal.
“This year, Nepali fans of Indian Idol need not go to all this trouble to vote for the next Indian Idol,” the announcement said, referring to the border-crossings. Instead, those wanting to vote can use a Mero Mobile number from Nepal 12 hours daily from Friday to Saturday.
Last year, the enterprising pair had conducted a trial run, which consisted of asking people to predict the winner and win prizes. The direct vote offer comes following the fan frenzy created by Prashant. This year too, there is a contender of Nepali origin among the 14 finalists – Kapil Thapa, the army man from Dehra Dun, and the obvious strategy is to bank on the fan following he might arouse in Nepal.
The question is, can or should the Indian Idol be decided by Nepal? Would America accept the results if Nepalis managed to vote from Nepal or raised funds to abet a Nepali-origin contestant’s victory in American Idols? For that matter, would Nepalis accept it peaceably if Indians vote during the Nepali editions of the Idol in Nepal and push the winner they want?
SMS voting is a bad yardstick due to its sheer anonymity. Perhaps it is time the organisers of Indian Idol give it some thought and lay down guidelines.
Friday, December 12, 2008
Credit Suisse to Eliminate 5,300 Jobs After Losses
Credit Suisse to Eliminate 5,300 Jobs After Losses
Bloomberg, 4-Dec-08
By Elena Logutenkova and Christian Baumgaertel
Credit Suisse Group AG, Switzerland’s second-largest bank, will eliminate 5,300 jobs and scrap bonuses for its top executives after about 3 billion francs ($2.5 billion) of losses in the past two months.
The job cuts, which amount to 11 percent of the workforce, include about 3,800 at the securities unit, Zurich-based Credit Suisse said today. The 2 billion francs in savings will help the bank weather “continuing challenging market conditions,” Chief Executive Officer Brady Dougan said in a statement.
Dougan, Chairman Walter Kielholz and Paul Calello, head of the investment bank, will forgo bonuses for 2008 after about 5.2 billion francs in net losses so far this year. Banks and insurers worldwide have reported about 200,000 job cuts and more than $970 billion in credit losses and markdowns since the global financial crisis began, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Credit Suisse rose 10 percent in Swiss trading.
“While the job cuts in investment banking are strategically right, it raises the question why they didn’t do this two quarters ago,” said Christoph Berger, a Frankfurt-based fund manager at Cominvest Asset Management, who helps manage about $100 billion, including Credit Suisse shares.
Credit Suisse rose 2.8 francs to 30.5 francs, leaving the shares down 55 percent this year. UBS AG, Switzerland’s largest bank and the lender with the highest losses in Europe from the credit crisis, has dropped 69 percent over the period.
No Need for Aid
Most of the job cuts will occur by the end of next June, and will include support positions in both asset management and private banking. The reductions will be concentrated in the U.S., where the investment-banking business is bigger, Dougan said. Credit Suisse said earlier this week it will eliminate 650 employees in London.
Today’s announcement brings total job cuts at Credit Suisse to 7,390, compared with 9,000 at UBS. UBS agreed in October to a $59.2 billion aid package from the Swiss government and the central bank to relieve it of risky assets, while Credit Suisse declined assistance.
Dougan, 49, who took over as CEO in May 2007 after heading the investment bank for three years, foresees no circumstances under which state aid would be required, he told reporters on a conference call today. The bank should still be able to achieve a 20 percent return on equity over the business cycle after the reorganization, he said.
‘Disappointing’
Standard & Poor’s said today it will review by the end of the year whether to lower Credit Suisse’s A+ long-term counterparty credit rating because of “larger-than-expected” losses following a “disappointing” third quarter.
The nation’s financial regulator said today it agreed with UBS and Credit Suisse on higher requirements on risk-weighted capital and the introduction of a leverage ratio to improve their ability to sustain losses.
Credit Suisse raised 10 billion francs from investors in Qatar, Israel and Saudi Arabia in October to raise its Tier 1 capital ratio, a gauge of a bank’s ability to absorb losses, to about 13.7 percent. The company said today it expects a ratio of about 13 percent at the end of this year.
Investment banks globally are grappling with widening losses after the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. in September locked up credit markets and sent stocks tumbling. Top executives at competitors including UBS, Deutsche Bank AG and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. are also forgoing bonuses this year.
Nomura
Nomura Holdings Inc. is firing as many as 1,000 employees in London, the company said today, after worsening financial markets and costs related to buying parts of Lehman pushed the shares to a 26-year low.
Commerzbank AG plans to close Dresdner Kleinwort Ltd.’s regional U.K. mergers and acquisitions business as it integrates the securities unit of Dresdner Bank, spokesman Reiner Rossmann said. Frankfurt-based Commerzbank said in September it would cut about 1,300 jobs at Dresdner Kleinwort and its own investment bank after agreeing to buy Dresdner from Allianz SE.
Credit Suisse “missed the opportunity to be the global banking star,” JPMorgan Chase & Co. analysts including Kian Abouhossein said in a note. Nevertheless, “we believe CEO Dougan has the ability to turn the investment bank around.”
Credit Suisse’s investment bank will scale back operations in complex products and exit some proprietary trading. The unit had a “significant” pretax loss in October and November as it cut risks in “challenging” markets, Credit Suisse said.
‘Challenging’ Markets
Christoffer Malmer, an analyst with Goldman, estimated on the conference call that Credit Suisse’s securities unit probably recorded a loss of about 5 billion francs for the two months. Dougan declined to confirm the number.
“Investment banking will remain a valuable contributor to the integrated bank with lower volatility and attractive risk returns,” Credit Suisse said in the statement.
The bank will take a charge of 900 million francs for the reorganization measures, mostly in the fourth quarter, which isn’t yet reflected in the net loss estimate.
Credit Suisse’s private banking operations were “solidly profitable” during October and November, Dougan said on the conference call. The bank as a whole had a “modest” profit in November.
The Swiss company will “judiciously invest in the growth of private banking globally,” Dougan said. The business hired 370 new client advisers by the end of November, more than the targeted 330 for 2008, and had “solid” new asset inflows so far, Credit Suisse said.
Bloomberg, 4-Dec-08
By Elena Logutenkova and Christian Baumgaertel
Credit Suisse Group AG, Switzerland’s second-largest bank, will eliminate 5,300 jobs and scrap bonuses for its top executives after about 3 billion francs ($2.5 billion) of losses in the past two months.
The job cuts, which amount to 11 percent of the workforce, include about 3,800 at the securities unit, Zurich-based Credit Suisse said today. The 2 billion francs in savings will help the bank weather “continuing challenging market conditions,” Chief Executive Officer Brady Dougan said in a statement.Dougan, Chairman Walter Kielholz and Paul Calello, head of the investment bank, will forgo bonuses for 2008 after about 5.2 billion francs in net losses so far this year. Banks and insurers worldwide have reported about 200,000 job cuts and more than $970 billion in credit losses and markdowns since the global financial crisis began, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Credit Suisse rose 10 percent in Swiss trading.
“While the job cuts in investment banking are strategically right, it raises the question why they didn’t do this two quarters ago,” said Christoph Berger, a Frankfurt-based fund manager at Cominvest Asset Management, who helps manage about $100 billion, including Credit Suisse shares.
Credit Suisse rose 2.8 francs to 30.5 francs, leaving the shares down 55 percent this year. UBS AG, Switzerland’s largest bank and the lender with the highest losses in Europe from the credit crisis, has dropped 69 percent over the period.
No Need for Aid
Most of the job cuts will occur by the end of next June, and will include support positions in both asset management and private banking. The reductions will be concentrated in the U.S., where the investment-banking business is bigger, Dougan said. Credit Suisse said earlier this week it will eliminate 650 employees in London.
Today’s announcement brings total job cuts at Credit Suisse to 7,390, compared with 9,000 at UBS. UBS agreed in October to a $59.2 billion aid package from the Swiss government and the central bank to relieve it of risky assets, while Credit Suisse declined assistance.
Dougan, 49, who took over as CEO in May 2007 after heading the investment bank for three years, foresees no circumstances under which state aid would be required, he told reporters on a conference call today. The bank should still be able to achieve a 20 percent return on equity over the business cycle after the reorganization, he said.
‘Disappointing’
Standard & Poor’s said today it will review by the end of the year whether to lower Credit Suisse’s A+ long-term counterparty credit rating because of “larger-than-expected” losses following a “disappointing” third quarter.
The nation’s financial regulator said today it agreed with UBS and Credit Suisse on higher requirements on risk-weighted capital and the introduction of a leverage ratio to improve their ability to sustain losses.Credit Suisse raised 10 billion francs from investors in Qatar, Israel and Saudi Arabia in October to raise its Tier 1 capital ratio, a gauge of a bank’s ability to absorb losses, to about 13.7 percent. The company said today it expects a ratio of about 13 percent at the end of this year.
Investment banks globally are grappling with widening losses after the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. in September locked up credit markets and sent stocks tumbling. Top executives at competitors including UBS, Deutsche Bank AG and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. are also forgoing bonuses this year.
Nomura
Nomura Holdings Inc. is firing as many as 1,000 employees in London, the company said today, after worsening financial markets and costs related to buying parts of Lehman pushed the shares to a 26-year low.
Commerzbank AG plans to close Dresdner Kleinwort Ltd.’s regional U.K. mergers and acquisitions business as it integrates the securities unit of Dresdner Bank, spokesman Reiner Rossmann said. Frankfurt-based Commerzbank said in September it would cut about 1,300 jobs at Dresdner Kleinwort and its own investment bank after agreeing to buy Dresdner from Allianz SE.
Credit Suisse “missed the opportunity to be the global banking star,” JPMorgan Chase & Co. analysts including Kian Abouhossein said in a note. Nevertheless, “we believe CEO Dougan has the ability to turn the investment bank around.”
Credit Suisse’s investment bank will scale back operations in complex products and exit some proprietary trading. The unit had a “significant” pretax loss in October and November as it cut risks in “challenging” markets, Credit Suisse said.
‘Challenging’ Markets
Christoffer Malmer, an analyst with Goldman, estimated on the conference call that Credit Suisse’s securities unit probably recorded a loss of about 5 billion francs for the two months. Dougan declined to confirm the number.
“Investment banking will remain a valuable contributor to the integrated bank with lower volatility and attractive risk returns,” Credit Suisse said in the statement.
The bank will take a charge of 900 million francs for the reorganization measures, mostly in the fourth quarter, which isn’t yet reflected in the net loss estimate.
Credit Suisse’s private banking operations were “solidly profitable” during October and November, Dougan said on the conference call. The bank as a whole had a “modest” profit in November.
The Swiss company will “judiciously invest in the growth of private banking globally,” Dougan said. The business hired 370 new client advisers by the end of November, more than the targeted 330 for 2008, and had “solid” new asset inflows so far, Credit Suisse said.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Saturday, December 06, 2008
Founder of EcoSystems Pvt Ltd
Moving Goods Through Nepal's Fragile Countryside
Stanford Business Magazine, May 2003
By David Sowerwine, MBA '72
We landed in Kathmandu in the December chill of 1991. I had been recruited as the business advisor in a U.S. Agency for International Development initiative to "kick-start" agribusiness activity in Nepal. That plan changed direction many times. Now 11 monsoons later, Nepal is still home to my wife, Haydi, and me, a place of ongoing adventure, challenge, learning, and satisfaction.
In the West contracts provide the framework necessary to encourage investment and resolve economic and social problems. In Nepal these rules are, at best, only at the discussion stage. Nepal is really a "low trust" country. Court decisions are ignored, and contracts are essentially unenforceable. A fellow foreign investor has had three Supreme Court decisions in his favor and has yet to collect from his former Nepali joint venture partners. The habits and mindset of a feudal society—authoritarian government, self-aggrandizement, and fatalism—block needed reforms. The resulting economic stagnation together with Nepal's exploding population—nearly a fivefold increase since the early 1950s—have brought deep and increasing poverty. Another consequence has been a confused Maoist revolutionary movement whose six years of violence may only now be transforming, we hope, into a reform movement.
Nonetheless, I have found many opportunities to get involved. In 1993 Nepali friends provided the necessary visas and asked us to stay to help address some of these issues. My corporate experience seemed relevant—Esso in the Far East, Dole/Castle & Cooke in Latin America, Raychem and small startups in the San Francisco Bay Area. Financially, we were lucky: The rent from two homes in Menlo Park was enough to cover living expenses and allowed us to hire good employees and start a Nepali business called EcoSystems Pvt. Ltd.
We made two false starts. At first we sought permission to build a network of video-based rural education centers, which stalled when we were informed by one of the bureaucracies that all tapes would have to be censored (conveniently by the very same bureaucrats, for a significant payment) and that our needed permit would not appear, since we had failed to do a proper Ganesh puja (god of wealth offering)—code for a bribe.
The second was an 18-month effort at the invitation of the government to organize a sanitary landfill for Kathmandu's solid waste that would be run as a private business. A Dutch environmental organization funded the engineering. This proposal also encountered unacceptable demands, such as employing all 800 employees of the bloated, moribund public solid waste corporation. The garbage is now being dumped along the holy Bagmati River.
The third attempt succeeded when we finally received government permission to design and build rural transport and energy products. Traditionally, the international banana companies elsewhere in the world have used so-called cableway transport systems to move banana stems from their plantations to the central packing plants. This standard technology, which we took as our starting point, resembles a rural monorail, except that the track is a tightly stretched wire instead of a rail, and the 4-ton trains of bananas are pulled by a person walking along a path beneath the wire.
We first adapted the cableway system to move people safely across rivers where the only alternatives are long walks up or downstream to a bridge, use of a 'tween that involves extremely dangerous hand-over-hand movement on a cable that normally is wound on convenient trees, or no crossing at all. We designed a safe carriage that rolls with pulleys on two wires (four for a big river). Schoolkids using our WireBridges can be seen at www.ecosystemsnepal.com. Gravity propels the passengers half way, and they pull on a climbing rope looped like a tenement clothesline for the rest of the trip. Our people-and-goods-movers now cross 21 rivers and, we estimate, have made more than 500,000 accident-free crossings. There is a long queue of villagers who are counting on us to find cofinancing so that they too can finally get their products to market, their kids to school, and their sick to a health post on our safe WireBridge. Stanford bridge sponsors are welcome.
In the meantime, we are refining another version of this system to become an inexpensive rural monorail. An international development agency whose mandate is to help with eco-friendly, pollution-free transportation is interested in financing a significant prototype within the Kathmandu Valley. If successful, it may evolve into a broad public transit network. There are tens of thousands of kilometers of reasonably level, beautiful river valleys in Nepal and a large swath of the Gangetic Plain where, for lack of an alternative, roads are being bulldozed or cut by hand. The fragile structure of the hills and poor construction techniques guarantee that these roads collapse, trigger landslides, consume arable land, are unusable in the monsoon, and generally are a dreadful environmental and economic choice. The WireRoad, as we call it, will be a kinder, gentler, cheaper solution.
Currently, around 70 percent of the Nepali people live without access to electricity. While Nepal has large potential for commercial hydropower, the cost of running wires is prohibitive for many areas. Reliable small, mini, and micro hydropower sites are becoming more common, but again will serve only a small part of the population. Solar power is expensive. Our energy-related project, still in an early stage, is to design and build hand- and pedal-driven generators ranging from 10 to 120 watts to provide reliable, inexpensive electricity for lighting, battery recharge, and other applications.
A Nepali partner is not required for a business license, so most of the foreign-owned firms are owned exclusively by their foreign entrepreneurs. Six years ago, facing the risk of losing a visa after having made our investments, some of us formed FIIN, the Forum of International Investors in Nepal (www.fiin.org) (renamed to Foundation for Foreign Investment in Nepal) to coach newcomers, resolve regulatory issues, and help HMG (His Majesty's Government) improve Nepal's investment climate. As a result of this effort, we now have secure visas and an excellent relationship with HMG and its key reformers.
Because of the six-year Maoist rebellion, the royal massacre of June 2001, and 9/11, tourism, a major source of income, has fallen off drastically. The recent announcement of a cease-fire has many hopeful that the necessary reforms by both HMG and the insurgents may radically improve the climate for change, restore the attraction of Nepal for tourists, and provide renewed hope for the suffering people and damaged economy. In spite of the past security threats, killings and bombings, which we know have had extremely negative reporting in the American press, we ourselves have never felt at personal risk, which is not to say that we have not been discouraged by what has been happening in this beautiful little country.
Additionally, building on the trust established through EcoSystems and FIIN, I have been coaching one of Nepal's district governments to shift the entire development process into a public-private partnership mode, where the public schools, health facilities, agricultural development, and other aspects of physical and social infrastructure would be contracted to private providers on performance-based agreements. In this scenario, the providers will be paid in accordance with their performance record. Several international donors will be needed to subsidize the public's obligations in this partnership during a transition period of 10 years while the local tax and income base is expanded to support the partnership's ongoing service costs.
Haydi and I are often asked by our California friends when we plan to move "home." We say that we hope to stay here as long as our work is rewarding, our health is good, and we can still stay connected with our families. When we think of the number of skilled people available to deal with regional social and environmental problems, we realize that the San Francisco Bay Area has so many and Nepal so few. There is something here for all of us who would try something new with our lives.
Stanford Business Magazine, May 2003
By David Sowerwine, MBA '72
We landed in Kathmandu in the December chill of 1991. I had been recruited as the business advisor in a U.S. Agency for International Development initiative to "kick-start" agribusiness activity in Nepal. That plan changed direction many times. Now 11 monsoons later, Nepal is still home to my wife, Haydi, and me, a place of ongoing adventure, challenge, learning, and satisfaction.
In the West contracts provide the framework necessary to encourage investment and resolve economic and social problems. In Nepal these rules are, at best, only at the discussion stage. Nepal is really a "low trust" country. Court decisions are ignored, and contracts are essentially unenforceable. A fellow foreign investor has had three Supreme Court decisions in his favor and has yet to collect from his former Nepali joint venture partners. The habits and mindset of a feudal society—authoritarian government, self-aggrandizement, and fatalism—block needed reforms. The resulting economic stagnation together with Nepal's exploding population—nearly a fivefold increase since the early 1950s—have brought deep and increasing poverty. Another consequence has been a confused Maoist revolutionary movement whose six years of violence may only now be transforming, we hope, into a reform movement.
Nonetheless, I have found many opportunities to get involved. In 1993 Nepali friends provided the necessary visas and asked us to stay to help address some of these issues. My corporate experience seemed relevant—Esso in the Far East, Dole/Castle & Cooke in Latin America, Raychem and small startups in the San Francisco Bay Area. Financially, we were lucky: The rent from two homes in Menlo Park was enough to cover living expenses and allowed us to hire good employees and start a Nepali business called EcoSystems Pvt. Ltd.We made two false starts. At first we sought permission to build a network of video-based rural education centers, which stalled when we were informed by one of the bureaucracies that all tapes would have to be censored (conveniently by the very same bureaucrats, for a significant payment) and that our needed permit would not appear, since we had failed to do a proper Ganesh puja (god of wealth offering)—code for a bribe.
The second was an 18-month effort at the invitation of the government to organize a sanitary landfill for Kathmandu's solid waste that would be run as a private business. A Dutch environmental organization funded the engineering. This proposal also encountered unacceptable demands, such as employing all 800 employees of the bloated, moribund public solid waste corporation. The garbage is now being dumped along the holy Bagmati River.
The third attempt succeeded when we finally received government permission to design and build rural transport and energy products. Traditionally, the international banana companies elsewhere in the world have used so-called cableway transport systems to move banana stems from their plantations to the central packing plants. This standard technology, which we took as our starting point, resembles a rural monorail, except that the track is a tightly stretched wire instead of a rail, and the 4-ton trains of bananas are pulled by a person walking along a path beneath the wire.
We first adapted the cableway system to move people safely across rivers where the only alternatives are long walks up or downstream to a bridge, use of a 'tween that involves extremely dangerous hand-over-hand movement on a cable that normally is wound on convenient trees, or no crossing at all. We designed a safe carriage that rolls with pulleys on two wires (four for a big river). Schoolkids using our WireBridges can be seen at www.ecosystemsnepal.com. Gravity propels the passengers half way, and they pull on a climbing rope looped like a tenement clothesline for the rest of the trip. Our people-and-goods-movers now cross 21 rivers and, we estimate, have made more than 500,000 accident-free crossings. There is a long queue of villagers who are counting on us to find cofinancing so that they too can finally get their products to market, their kids to school, and their sick to a health post on our safe WireBridge. Stanford bridge sponsors are welcome.
In the meantime, we are refining another version of this system to become an inexpensive rural monorail. An international development agency whose mandate is to help with eco-friendly, pollution-free transportation is interested in financing a significant prototype within the Kathmandu Valley. If successful, it may evolve into a broad public transit network. There are tens of thousands of kilometers of reasonably level, beautiful river valleys in Nepal and a large swath of the Gangetic Plain where, for lack of an alternative, roads are being bulldozed or cut by hand. The fragile structure of the hills and poor construction techniques guarantee that these roads collapse, trigger landslides, consume arable land, are unusable in the monsoon, and generally are a dreadful environmental and economic choice. The WireRoad, as we call it, will be a kinder, gentler, cheaper solution.
Currently, around 70 percent of the Nepali people live without access to electricity. While Nepal has large potential for commercial hydropower, the cost of running wires is prohibitive for many areas. Reliable small, mini, and micro hydropower sites are becoming more common, but again will serve only a small part of the population. Solar power is expensive. Our energy-related project, still in an early stage, is to design and build hand- and pedal-driven generators ranging from 10 to 120 watts to provide reliable, inexpensive electricity for lighting, battery recharge, and other applications.
A Nepali partner is not required for a business license, so most of the foreign-owned firms are owned exclusively by their foreign entrepreneurs. Six years ago, facing the risk of losing a visa after having made our investments, some of us formed FIIN, the Forum of International Investors in Nepal (www.fiin.org) (renamed to Foundation for Foreign Investment in Nepal) to coach newcomers, resolve regulatory issues, and help HMG (His Majesty's Government) improve Nepal's investment climate. As a result of this effort, we now have secure visas and an excellent relationship with HMG and its key reformers.
Because of the six-year Maoist rebellion, the royal massacre of June 2001, and 9/11, tourism, a major source of income, has fallen off drastically. The recent announcement of a cease-fire has many hopeful that the necessary reforms by both HMG and the insurgents may radically improve the climate for change, restore the attraction of Nepal for tourists, and provide renewed hope for the suffering people and damaged economy. In spite of the past security threats, killings and bombings, which we know have had extremely negative reporting in the American press, we ourselves have never felt at personal risk, which is not to say that we have not been discouraged by what has been happening in this beautiful little country.
Additionally, building on the trust established through EcoSystems and FIIN, I have been coaching one of Nepal's district governments to shift the entire development process into a public-private partnership mode, where the public schools, health facilities, agricultural development, and other aspects of physical and social infrastructure would be contracted to private providers on performance-based agreements. In this scenario, the providers will be paid in accordance with their performance record. Several international donors will be needed to subsidize the public's obligations in this partnership during a transition period of 10 years while the local tax and income base is expanded to support the partnership's ongoing service costs.
Haydi and I are often asked by our California friends when we plan to move "home." We say that we hope to stay here as long as our work is rewarding, our health is good, and we can still stay connected with our families. When we think of the number of skilled people available to deal with regional social and environmental problems, we realize that the San Francisco Bay Area has so many and Nepal so few. There is something here for all of us who would try something new with our lives.
Hoboken's 47% Tax Rise Sparks Exodus Talk in Manhattan Option
Hoboken's 47% Tax Rise Sparks Exodus Talk in Manhattan Option
Bloomberg, 1-Dec-08
By Terrence Dopp
The blue property tax statement Andrew Sapira received in the mail last month from Hoboken, New Jersey, has him questioning whether the city billed as a lower-cost alternative to Manhattan is worth it.
A state monitor, installed after city leaders failed to agree on a budget, ordered a 47 percent increase in property taxes for the 40,000-population community across the river from Wall Street, widely known from its portrayal as a blue-collar shipping port in the Oscar-winning 1954 film ``On the Waterfront,'' starring Marlon Brando. Payment is due today.
Sapira, a 40-year-old doctor who lives in a four- bedroom brownstone on Garden Street, said his annual tax bill for city, county and school services will jump to about $21,000 from $16,000. The married father of two says he may have to move from the city he loves for its restaurants, night life and proximity to New York.
``That's a shame, because it's great here,'' Sapira said outside the tax collector's office in city hall last week after making a payment.
Hoboken, cited in a Business Week and PolicyMap.Com study in September as among communities most vulnerable to a Wall Street decline, is a favorite of young professionals. One-third of residents were 25 to 34 years old in 2000, compared with 14 percent for New Jersey, according to the city's master plan.
New Developments
Renovated brownstones and new construction within the city's one square mile (2.6 square kilometers) boundaries have drawn the rich and famous, including Governor Jon Corzine and New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning. The Maxwell Place waterfront development the governor calls home markets three-bedroom units for more than $1.1 million.
The property tax increase hits citizens at a time when New Jersey's unemployment rate is at a six-year high and with 60 percent of residents telling Quinnipiac University pollsters last month that they are financially worse off than a year ago.
``Businesses are having a hard enough time with the downturn; this is salt in the wounds,'' said Stephen Kilnisan, 58, who owns Traders of Babylon Fine Jewelers at First Street and Willow Avenue and will pay $4,000 more to the city this year. ``The timing couldn't have been worse,'' he said.
The new rates put Hoboken above the average in New Jersey, which had the highest such levies in the country last year. City residents paid an average $5,780 in property taxes in 2007, compared with $6,796 statewide, which was 5.4 percent higher than 2006 as local governments raised their take to cope with less state aid.
Political Squabbles
Discontent is widespread, according to Sapira. ``I blame everyone,'' he said.
Hoboken's finances suffered from political squabbles between the mayor and nine-member council even as the city boomed. New Jersey's local finance board placed Hoboken under state supervision in September after the city missed a deadline for passing a budget for a seventh straight year.
State monitor Judith Tripodi proposed a $120 million budget for the year that began July 1, up from $93 million in fiscal 2008. The higher amount equals about $3,000 per resident. New Brunswick, a city of 50,000 in central New Jersey that is home to Rutgers University, has a budget of $72 million, or $1,449 per resident. The total amount to be raised by municipal taxes in Hoboken surged to $62 million from almost $34 million.
Increases Avoided
Mayor David Roberts, a second-term Democrat whose term expires next year, said that since he took office seven years ago, taxable real estate within Hoboken's borders swelled to more than $10 billion from $2.8 billion.
The city has avoided ``substantial'' tax increases for 16 years, Roberts said, instead using ``one-shot'' revenue items such as selling city assets to balance budgets. Roberts, 52, blamed the council for not amending and passing his spending plan by the start of the fiscal year.
``The citizens of the city are angry at everyone; they're angry at all the bickering and the grandstanding that has taken place,'' Roberts said. ``They feel that because of all the political bickering, they're being punished. And I can't say I disagree with that.''
Councilman Peter Cammarano, 31, said Roberts allowed $10 million more in expenditures than what the council approved in the last fiscal year and provided no suggestions for closing the gap, prompting the budget stalemate. Roberts has said the spending was beyond his control.
Angry Constituents
``You're talking about blunt force trauma,'' Cammarano said. ``People are getting hit at the worst possible time and people are already concerned about the largest asset on their books, which is their home.''
Cammarano said he will pay $250 more each month to his mortgage company, which handles taxes as part of servicing his loan. While the increase, which he likens to ``a small car payment,'' is too much, too fast, there's no option other than to pay, he said.
Property owners aren't the only ones hit by higher taxes, said Nicholas Petruzzelli, a Hoboken Realtor and developer. As many as 60 percent of city residents are renters who will feel the sting as landlords pass on the increase in taxes.
Renters' Pain
Jen Areneo and her husband, who rent a three-bedroom apartment in Hoboken, said the higher taxes will affect the size of the mortgage they can afford when they buy their own place.
``I'm as furious as everyone else,'' Areneo, 31, said as she and a friend watched their children in a playground at Church Square Park.
Corzine, a former Goldman, Sachs & Co. chairman, answering reporters' questions last week during a stop in Jersey City, said he would tell Hoboken residents ``that we are trying to work with them, that we are trying to reduce the rate of growth of property taxes or even try to level them.''
Bloomberg, 1-Dec-08
By Terrence Dopp
The blue property tax statement Andrew Sapira received in the mail last month from Hoboken, New Jersey, has him questioning whether the city billed as a lower-cost alternative to Manhattan is worth it.
A state monitor, installed after city leaders failed to agree on a budget, ordered a 47 percent increase in property taxes for the 40,000-population community across the river from Wall Street, widely known from its portrayal as a blue-collar shipping port in the Oscar-winning 1954 film ``On the Waterfront,'' starring Marlon Brando. Payment is due today.
Sapira, a 40-year-old doctor who lives in a four- bedroom brownstone on Garden Street, said his annual tax bill for city, county and school services will jump to about $21,000 from $16,000. The married father of two says he may have to move from the city he loves for its restaurants, night life and proximity to New York.
``That's a shame, because it's great here,'' Sapira said outside the tax collector's office in city hall last week after making a payment.
Hoboken, cited in a Business Week and PolicyMap.Com study in September as among communities most vulnerable to a Wall Street decline, is a favorite of young professionals. One-third of residents were 25 to 34 years old in 2000, compared with 14 percent for New Jersey, according to the city's master plan.
New Developments
Renovated brownstones and new construction within the city's one square mile (2.6 square kilometers) boundaries have drawn the rich and famous, including Governor Jon Corzine and New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning. The Maxwell Place waterfront development the governor calls home markets three-bedroom units for more than $1.1 million.
The property tax increase hits citizens at a time when New Jersey's unemployment rate is at a six-year high and with 60 percent of residents telling Quinnipiac University pollsters last month that they are financially worse off than a year ago.
``Businesses are having a hard enough time with the downturn; this is salt in the wounds,'' said Stephen Kilnisan, 58, who owns Traders of Babylon Fine Jewelers at First Street and Willow Avenue and will pay $4,000 more to the city this year. ``The timing couldn't have been worse,'' he said.
The new rates put Hoboken above the average in New Jersey, which had the highest such levies in the country last year. City residents paid an average $5,780 in property taxes in 2007, compared with $6,796 statewide, which was 5.4 percent higher than 2006 as local governments raised their take to cope with less state aid.
Political Squabbles
Discontent is widespread, according to Sapira. ``I blame everyone,'' he said.
Hoboken's finances suffered from political squabbles between the mayor and nine-member council even as the city boomed. New Jersey's local finance board placed Hoboken under state supervision in September after the city missed a deadline for passing a budget for a seventh straight year.
State monitor Judith Tripodi proposed a $120 million budget for the year that began July 1, up from $93 million in fiscal 2008. The higher amount equals about $3,000 per resident. New Brunswick, a city of 50,000 in central New Jersey that is home to Rutgers University, has a budget of $72 million, or $1,449 per resident. The total amount to be raised by municipal taxes in Hoboken surged to $62 million from almost $34 million.
Increases Avoided
Mayor David Roberts, a second-term Democrat whose term expires next year, said that since he took office seven years ago, taxable real estate within Hoboken's borders swelled to more than $10 billion from $2.8 billion.
The city has avoided ``substantial'' tax increases for 16 years, Roberts said, instead using ``one-shot'' revenue items such as selling city assets to balance budgets. Roberts, 52, blamed the council for not amending and passing his spending plan by the start of the fiscal year.
``The citizens of the city are angry at everyone; they're angry at all the bickering and the grandstanding that has taken place,'' Roberts said. ``They feel that because of all the political bickering, they're being punished. And I can't say I disagree with that.''
Councilman Peter Cammarano, 31, said Roberts allowed $10 million more in expenditures than what the council approved in the last fiscal year and provided no suggestions for closing the gap, prompting the budget stalemate. Roberts has said the spending was beyond his control.
Angry Constituents
``You're talking about blunt force trauma,'' Cammarano said. ``People are getting hit at the worst possible time and people are already concerned about the largest asset on their books, which is their home.''
Cammarano said he will pay $250 more each month to his mortgage company, which handles taxes as part of servicing his loan. While the increase, which he likens to ``a small car payment,'' is too much, too fast, there's no option other than to pay, he said.
Property owners aren't the only ones hit by higher taxes, said Nicholas Petruzzelli, a Hoboken Realtor and developer. As many as 60 percent of city residents are renters who will feel the sting as landlords pass on the increase in taxes.
Renters' Pain
Jen Areneo and her husband, who rent a three-bedroom apartment in Hoboken, said the higher taxes will affect the size of the mortgage they can afford when they buy their own place.
``I'm as furious as everyone else,'' Areneo, 31, said as she and a friend watched their children in a playground at Church Square Park.
Corzine, a former Goldman, Sachs & Co. chairman, answering reporters' questions last week during a stop in Jersey City, said he would tell Hoboken residents ``that we are trying to work with them, that we are trying to reduce the rate of growth of property taxes or even try to level them.''
Forest museum in Pokhara
Forest museum in Pokhara
RSS, 17-Nov-08
The forest product museum has been established for the first time in the premises of Institute of Forestry here.
The museum, constructed targeting students, researchers and tourists, showcases various timber and non-timber products. It is expected to be advantageous to carry out study about forest and its usage.
The museum has included altogether 700 products of timbers and non-timbers, including various 85 species of plant, timber and bamboo, 150 herbs and wildlife leather, said Professor Dr. Abhaya Kumar Das of Institute of Forestry, Pokhara.
He expressed his confidence, "The inception of museum will help undertake intensive study and research about various species of tree, herbs, and plant grown in different climates, altitudes and places."
RSS, 17-Nov-08
The forest product museum has been established for the first time in the premises of Institute of Forestry here.
The museum, constructed targeting students, researchers and tourists, showcases various timber and non-timber products. It is expected to be advantageous to carry out study about forest and its usage.
The museum has included altogether 700 products of timbers and non-timbers, including various 85 species of plant, timber and bamboo, 150 herbs and wildlife leather, said Professor Dr. Abhaya Kumar Das of Institute of Forestry, Pokhara.
He expressed his confidence, "The inception of museum will help undertake intensive study and research about various species of tree, herbs, and plant grown in different climates, altitudes and places."
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