🇳🇵Nepali Startup in Africa

_{July 30, 2024}

Top Weekly Highlights

🌎 Sansar ma Nepali: Celebrities travelling to US, tragic deaths in UK & Texas
💪🏼 Nepali ley garcha: Nepali Startup in Africa
🦜 Rajniti Guff: Rejected because of sexual abuse allegations
💰 Economy: Massive FDI increase, zero-collateral loans for foreign workers
📆 Events: Find a Nepali partner in New York, Yeti Cup 2024 in Canada

Sansar ma Nepali

📸 Celebrities bidesh tira: More than a dozen Nepali celebrities, including Sadikchya Shrestha, Aanchal Sharma, Anoop Bikram Shahi flew to New York to attend the sixth edition of Miss Nepal North America. Scheduled to be held at the Melrose Ballroom on August 3, this year the pageant received 125 applications from Canada and United States.

😢 Tragedy in the UK: A 20 year old man with Nepali origin was found dead 500 meters below a cliff in Sussex. The Yeti Nepali Association UK was leading search efforts for the young man who also used to volunteer for them. Police are still investigating the reason behind his disappearance and death.

😓 Tragedy in Texas: Two gunmen have shot and killed a Nepali man, Dipak Oli, in McLennan County, Texas. Dipak was working at a truckstop when two men entered the shop and started shooting when Dipak tried to run. He is survived by his wife and a daughter who have been notified by the authorities.

🏏 Cricket toli Canada ma: Three Nepali players are participating in the ongoing Global T20 in Canada. Sandeep Lamichhane and Dipendra Singh Airee are playing for Vancouver Knights and National Captain Rohit Paudel is playing for Toronto Nationals. You can watch match highlights on this channel here (not available in Canada).

🎡 Creator’s Mela: More than 1,000 creators participated in the annual Creator Mela organized by the US Embassy in Kathmandu. Priyanka Karki, Wangden Sherpa, and Nischal Basnet were among the attendees. There were 19 interactive workshop sessions on growing social media presence.

Nepali ley garcha!

Nepali Startup Founder in Africa

Meet Dr. Rupesh Regmi, a PhD holder and founder of WiseAdmit, an Educational Technology startup that helps students from Africa and South Asia access affordable world-class higher education in China.

Rupesh’s journey began as a student and later as a recruiter of international students at Nanjing University of Aeronautics & Astronautics, where he spent eight years in this role.

This experience was more than just a job—it was the seed that would grow into WiseAdmit. Drawing on his deep understanding of the complexities involved, and the need for affordability when accessing colleges - especially students from developing countries - Rupesh launched the startup from a cafe in downtown Vancouver.

Within three days of launching the site, he got his first paying customer, a student from Bangladesh. This student went on to study in China and will be graduating next year.

WiseAdmit’s success is reflected in its business deals. The company has signed long-term contracts, each worth half a million USD, with several prominent Chinese universities. It has also opened local offices in Kenya and DR Congo.

But Rupesh has bigger ambitions.

His goal is to empower 100,000 students towards affordable higher education access, and he is working on opening his seed round soon to raise USD 1 million.

The company was valued at USD 1.5 million during the last round of investment in early 2023.

Follow Rupesh’s journey on LinkedIn.

🏔️ (K2 in 24-hours)²: Siddhi Bahadur Tamang has scaled the world’s second highest peak (K2) twice in just 24 hours, making the most successful ascent of Mt. K2 by an individual climber. K2 is considered to be one of the hardest 8,000m+ mountains to climb. Tamang has successfully summited six times.

🥳 New Debate Record: The Nepali National Debate Team set a new record by reaching the Round of 16 at the World Schools Debating Championship (WSDC) in Serbia. They won five out of eight preliminary rounds and defeated the UAE in the Round of 32. Despite losing to Qatar, this performance placed Nepal among the top 16 out of 68 countries.

🗳️ Nepali in Californian Board: Pritesh Karki, a businessman of Nepali origin, has been appointed to the Housing and Community Development Advisory Board in Alameda, California. Karki will serve for four years. Alameda is in the San Francisco bay area and is the 7th most populous county in California.

🏊‍♀️ Paris ma Nepali Olympians: Seven athletes are representing Nepal in the Paris Olympic games. Although four of the athletes have already been eliminated, Alexandar Shah set a new national record for the 100m freestyle heat

🇺🇳 Nepal becomes VP: Nepal was elected Vice-President for the Asia-Pacific states of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). ECOSOC helps countries work together to improve the economy and reach the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

🏋️‍♀️ Strength-lifting Champions: Nepal won gold at the 11th International Strength Lifting Championship in Kazakhstan. From July 15 to 19, Kedareswor Man Sthapit secured the gold medal in the bench press category. The Nepal team won about 11 medals in total and will return home today.

Know any stories/news about Nepalis abroad? Reply to feature them!

Rajnitik & Samajik Guff

Weekly Briefing: What You Need To Know

👎 Just Said No: A Parliamentary committee has rejected the nomination of Krishna Man Pradhan to the post of Election Commissioner. Lawmakers found him unfit due to serious sexual abuse allegations. Despite Pradhan sending a last-minute official letter in order to withdraw, the committee still went ahead to unanimously vote against his nomination.

🙏 Plane Crashes (again): A plane belonging to Shaurya Airlines crashed and caught fire while taking off from the capital on Wednesday, killing 18 people on board and leaving one survivor, Captain Manish R Shakya. This is the fourth fatal crash under Pradip Adhikari, the Director General of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal. May the departed souls rest in peace, and may the government finally come to its senses and split CAAN into two independent bodies - something that international aviation authorities have been asking for years.

🛣️ First Female Mahasachiv: Lila Devi Gadtaula has become the first Female Chief Secretary of Nepal. She will likely have the shortest term as well. In 35 days Gadtaula will turn 58 and will have to automatically retire from service. Currently, 20% (24,143) of civil service employees are female.

🚔 20 barsa ko case: The Supreme Court sentenced former minister Govinda Raj Joshi to nine months in prison and a fine of Rs 6.9 million for corruption. The case was first filed 20 years ago by the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA).

🙏 Yogi jail tira: Police arrested Puskar Khatiwada, an astrologer and religious activist, from his home on Monday. Khatiwada was allegedly conducting a ritual against political leaders, including PM Oli, when he was arrested for cyber crime.

Aarthik Guff

👑 FDI badyo: In the last fiscal year, 402 firms pledged Rs. 61.78 billion (USD 462 million) which would generate 19,500+ jobs. This is the second-highest FDI pledge in Nepal's history. In total, Nepal has received Rs 425.72 billion in FDI pledges over 13 years, but only Rs 148.87 billion has been realized.

🤯 Zero Collateral: The government has announced a new policy that will allow Nepalis who go abroad to take out collateral-free loans, as long as they commit to sending money back home. We are trying to find more details on this policy and will keep you updated.

💶 Electric Surplus (sort of): Nepal now sells more electricity than it buys from India. Last year, Nepal exported Rs 16.93 billion worth of electricity, while importing Rs 16.81 billion. While the difference is negligible, NEA expects the number to increase.

🧱 USD 2.2 Billion for 9 Projects: The Investment Board of Nepal has approved 9 projects worth USD 2.2 billion in the last fiscal year. Out of the nine projects, eight were hydro-related. Two years earlier, five projects (all related to hydro-power) worth USD 1.25 billion was approved.

Sachi ho?

Teta Janu Bhayo?

Nepali Events Roundup Around The World

Aune Karyakram

Mark Your Calendars: Next Week

August 1: Momo Mingle Speed Dating [🇺🇸 New York, NY]
August 2: NPL Australia Cricket Tournament [🇦🇺 Sydney, NSW]
August 3: Sushant KC live [🇺🇸 Harrisburg, PA]
August 3-4: Yeti Cup 2024 [🇨🇦 Vancouver, BC]
August 3-24: John and the Locals [🇪🇺 Various Cities]
August 4: Sushant KC live [🇺🇸 Pittsburg, PA]
August 4: Nima Rumba live [🇺🇸 Los Angeles, CA]

Mark Your Calendars: Next Month

August 10: Nepathya live [🇺🇸 San Francisco, CA]
August 10: Himalayan Mela 2024 [🇨🇦 Toronto, ON]
August 10: Sabin Rai [🇨🇦 London, ON]
August 10: Sushant KC live [🇺🇸 Dallas, TX]
August 15: Vek, Yabesh & Bizen [🇦🇺 Perth, WA]
August 17: Nepathya [🇺🇸 Columbus, OH]
August 18: Sabin Rai [🇨🇦 Vancouver, BC]
August 23: The Edge Band & John and the Locals [🇩🇰 Copenhagen]
August 23: Sabin Rai [🇨🇦 Toronto, ON]
August 24: Nepthya [🇺🇸 Dallas, Texas]
August 25: Vek, Yabesh & Bizen [🇦🇺 Sydney, NSW]
August 30: NASEM Teej Lahar [🇦🇺 Hampton Park, VIC]

👋 Feel free to send in events by replying to this email

yo hapta lai eti nai! Next tuesday, pheri bhetaula hai! ✌️

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— 5MinsNepal Team