Nepali Times
ASHUTOSH TIWARI
Strictly Business
The road ahead


ASHUTOSH TIWARI


Radhesh Pant's appointment as the CEO of the newly-formed Nepal Investment Board came as a breath of fresh air for people in the business circle. However, Nepal's politically partisan environment has meant that his appointment is already embroiled in controversy.

On paper, Pant, a seasoned banker, is among a handful of Nepalis who fit the job description and his past credentials confirm that he is capable of attracting new investors. But there is an inherent downside of being appointed the head of a government-created enterprise.

Most government-created enterprises are formed through a similar process: a multilateral donor agency comes up with a bright idea of starting a public-private enterprise; the idea then goes through months or sometimes years of gestation period; at some point, the parliament sets up guidelines for the enterprise and the government then promises to recruit the "most qualified" person.

Problems emerge once the head of the enterprise is appointed. The government slowly starts to interfere in the functioning of the enterprise, often in blatant violation of the guidelines. Within a few years the promising CEO is forced to quit and is replaced by political sycophants. As a result the enterprise becomes just another lucrative employment centre for political party cadres.

Nepal Tourism Board is a prime example of such a convoluted process. The Investment Board and Pant are also highly susceptible to political games. Their success will depend on how Pant goes about creating a professional culture within his organization and how well he keeps up with investors' expectations.

The investment sector relies heavily on three variables: perceptions, consistency and reliability and a diverse, competent, and professional staff is best suited to deliver these goals. Pant as CEO will need to pay careful attention to the hiring process. Staff can be locals or foreigners but their appointments should be entirely based on their qualifications, not their political affiliations. Only by controlling the type of people who work in the institution will Pant be able to deliver positive results, keep investors happy and avoid unwanted interference.

Pant must also be able to gain confidence of investors and maintain their support for an extended period of time. His top priority should be to address the concerns that investors already have about Nepal from political instability to the enforcement of contracts to labour union disputes. However, the board alone cannot solve such serious issues and will need political and public support from the PM's office as well as the media.

As Pant gets ready to undertake his responsibilities his peers, as well as young Nepali professionals will be closely scrutinizing his performance. Here's wishing him success because Nepal desperately needs to attract investors and develop its power, infrastructure and agricultural sectors.

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1. FunkyMonkey
It's 'Pant' not 'Panth'

2. DG
#1 Funky Monkey.
 You mean a trouser ,a pantaloon?...A. Mr. PANT.
 


3. DG
PS;
 Panth means a path, a way, an -ism./marga.
You can choose either as you like.
 A Panth is a Panth ,is a Panth.
 Likewise:
 A Pant is a Pant ,is a Pant , no matter how you call it.
 ...    ...   ...wait how it smells.


4. Underwear
#1, #2 and #3,
Whatever it will or will not mean, a name is a name. It should be written the way the name bearer wants. Period. If I choose to write my name as Underwear, you cannot make it Underwar just because you believe names should bear meanings. Idiots.


5. FunkyMonkey
My comment was for Mr. Tiwari, who probably won't like his name printed as Mr. Tewari or Mr. Teewaari or Mr. Tee-War-ee. And it is surprising to see NT or Mr. Tiwari not making that correction even when I pointed it out. Such corrections are routinely seen in New York Times articles, and it's a good journalistic practice. For many, their names are what they are and they matter.

6. ushaft
FunkyMonkey,
They seem to have made the correction, but they won't print a statement admitting that a mistake was corrected was made- in turn making all these comments useless. Very unprofessional.

For DG: there are enough names in English which would smell bad in my or someone's language. That is no reason to change the spelling of a name in my language to make it smell good in your language. Please save your English lessons for Dick Cheney.

A quote that might be relevant: "a person's name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language" - Dale Carnegie.


LATEST ISSUE
638
(11 JAN 2013 - 17 JAN 2013)


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