Frost & Sullivan will be organising a summit entitled Digital Nepal in association with the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology in Kathmandu on August 3. The event aims to bring the private sector, research institutions, Nepali youths and the government together to share their ideas and collaborate to develop a future of digital vision in Nepal. The conference will also share inspirational digital stories from around the globe including Nepal to motivate youths and next generation entrepreneurs in Nepal to think digital first to become successful. Krishana Prasain of the Post met with Manoj Menon, senior partner and managing director, Asia Pacific of Frost & Sullivan, to talk about the Digital Nepal event and Frost & Sullivan’s achievements and future plans in Nepal. Excerpts:

How can Nepal achieve economic growth by adopting digital technology?

The advantage of digital technology is information, and with information we can work more efficiently. Uber is a good example of the digital economy. Around 90 percent of the cars in the world are staying idle in the parking lot. But the moment you connect the car and driver and put the information in the app, one can use the car more efficiently. So Uber unlocked the capacity in the economy and it made everyone who owns a car a businessman. Digital helps in solving problems in a very clear manner. We think that digital can have big impact on every aspect of Nepali society. Through the use of digital technology, Nepal can make improvements in different sectors such as agriculture, health and education. Similarly, digital technology adds efficiency in productivity and services. Digitisation will also help in achieving the prime minister’s vision for 2022. We can create jobs related to the knowledge economy here for which educated youths are heading to foreign countries.

What are the major accomplishments of Frost & Sullivan?

Nepal is emerging as a global innovation centre of research for Frost & Sullivan. We have almost 20 employees who are doing global market research. We hired and trained young Nepali graduates and postgraduate students, and we are still aggressively looking for more people. We hope that the number of employees will increase from 20 to 50 to 100 over the next two years. Nepal can start doing global work which is the single biggest achievement for us. We have opened several projects locally including some in the telecom industry. Similarly, we have done some work in the manufacturing industry, helping large companies to review their manufacturing processes for efficient production and to benchmark them so that they can improve their efficiency and productivity. We did the Nepal Business Excellency Award last year which was successful. And we are very excited about the upcoming event.

Is the company suggesting to its clients in other countries to invest in Nepal?

We did one summit last year in which we talked about investment and growth opportunities in Nepal. With a stable government in the country, we hope that more foreign investors will show interest in making investments in Nepal. The purpose of organising the Digital Nepal event is to discuss growth opportunities and economic transformation in Nepal and educate the world about Nepal.

How has Frost & Sullivan been received here?

We have been received quite well here. We have done work for different government agencies and private sector companies in the last two and a half years. We have got a good start, and we are looking to do much better.

What are your plans for business expansion in Nepal?

We will continue to invest in expanding our global research centres here. We are looking at some partnerships with some of the big universities so that we can work together to train and groom the talents. Similarly, we are willing to do more local work here. Advertising agencies are also doing great business here, and we are in a good position to be able to support them because we have a good mixture of global talent and local talent who can work very nicely and support their information needs so that they can make better business.