Congratulations Ashu.  Reading your articles here in Sajha and at Nepalitimes has always been a delight.  Hope to see you back in sajha soon as the hiatus has been long enough (don't you think so?).  All the best.

 

http://www.nepalitimes.com/issue/374/BizNews/14179

Tiwari, Aryal at Himalmedia

Himalmedia announced Wednesday the appointment of Ashutosh Tiwari as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the publication house and Kundan Aryal as editor of Himal Khabarpatrika.

Aryal is a journalist of long-standing, and served as editor of the political weeklies Budhabar and Dristi and was also Secretary General of the human rights organisation Insec. He replaces Shiva Gaunle, who is leaving to be even more active at the Federation of Nepalese Journalists, where he is presently Vice-President of the Central Region chapter.

Tiwari, a Harvard graduate, set up and managed Business Service Aadhar for German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) in Kathmandu. For the last three years, he was in Dhaka at the World Bank's International Finance Corporation (IFC) where he advised companies in ready-made garments, agribusiness and light engineering sectors. For the past five years he has also been a contributor to the fortnightly Strictly Business column in this paper

many congratulations ashu! grabbing the bull by its horns, i am sure you will have one fantabulous ride. couldn't agree more on your assessment on the fulfillment of life. all the best.
------

I would also like to let Sajha friends know that Ashu is now a valued member of Nepal Democracy Forum (nepaldemocracy Google group) too

Nepe ji,
glad to hear that nepal"democracy" group has finally included the member who did not necessarily meet all the criteria the "closed" but "democratic" forum had set for its members during its inception and hence had happily declined(?) the approval of his membership. not that it's any of my business as i don't happen to be any part of the group, but just curious: what made the forum make this welcoming stride? perhaps, a step towards-- being democratic? err...i mean being more open?

Ohh man, I never realized that there were people of this varied interests and stage of life in Sajha. Sometimes it makes me wonder, is it not that the younger generation frequents Sajha the most? Aren't most people coming to this site in their 20s?

On the topic, congratulations to Ashu...good luck!!! You still frequent Sajha despite all the busy schedule? Thats impressive!!!

Ashu Ji,
Congratulations!  Lately I have been enjoying your writing in Nepali Times and will be looking forward to more gray analysis (you know what I mean)!

Accountants talk either black or red!

Your's faithfully,

Prajesh

Eggcellent Smithers!!  When I started this thread I never expected the turn out to be this vibrant.  Even stalwarts such as Nepe and Deep have come forth (a first for any of my postings) including Ashu himself.  IMO, this has been my best thread ever...Anyway, am not here to steal Ashu's thunder.  LOL 

Someone started a thread here a few months ago where the jist of the matter concerned peeps who returned back to Nepal being stereotyped by society there as a "failure" or someone who couldn't make it here in the US.  I can now say without hesitation that this myth has been laid to rest by Ashu and a few others who have taken this unconventional route and ended up hitting it BIG time there.  The US, often cherished as the land of the state that "overflows with milk and honey", cannot IMO, be regarded in the same stature that it had when I got here some 9 years ago...The economic fundamentals have been downright depressing ever since the dot com collapse around 2000, the political scene has seen one major disaster/scandal after another and along with the whole war issue, these have collectively brought about what I feel is an end to America's glory days.  Hell, even our lil midget brothers, the Canadians make more $$ in real terms since the USD/CAD is around 0.97 (from 1.60 circa '99-00...Ain't that a bitch??).  I hope I can be proven wrong in my analysis by someone with access to better research than I currently have.  However, most technical indicators for the US economy's major economic data and the USD FX rate currently trigger a long-term Sell off in the USD long as the leading indicators still show no signs of coming back from the coma its in.  Whats more?  The equity markets are being artifically stimulated but keep geting hammered a few days after the FOMC meetings and I keep wondering how long should I endure such a roller coaster with my 401k, IRAs and the compnay stock that had been provided as an incentive (the worth of which has been falling like a rock).  All these in itself is a major motive for me to be start being paid in Euros now, that is, only if they had such an incentive here.  I assume that being a Nepali from the land of the Gurkhas, mercinary instincts run in our blood and moving into another IB in Europe or Asia doesn't look like a darn distant dream anymore.  Or could it be that going back to Nepal to pursue what Ashu did end up becoming a motivating factor for me to return?  I guess, only time will tell. 

 

Getting back to the jist of this thread, thanks Ashu for your kind words and will let you know of any glitches I feel you'd want to know about (including add ons) in any of Himal's publications.  BTW, my regards to Tsering Choden who is/was (??) in the Wave editorial team.  All the best!

baaf ray baaf!
kasto lamo thread!

Sheetalb, thank you for your wishes. I wonder who you are!
Fabolus, interesting thoughts there!

DWI, thank you. Don't worry, I am not going to get hung up on the title here. My focus will be on results, results and nothing but verifiably true results, and not on clever management-speak. So do wish me luck. That said, yes, there are many stable Nepali private companies that want to hire good people at the top but simply don't know how to lay down processes to start attracting such people.

Nepe, thank you, too. Your observations are interesting. Regrettably, given  the competitive nature of this industry (and that's a good thing), I cannot share what HM is going to do to make itself stand out. But please do follow the publications with a critical eye (and feel free to email me your critical comments, observations and suggestions), and hopefully you will see
positive changes in small but sure steps in times ahead. In other words, there will be no one-stroke mega revolution, but there will be many iterative/experimental evolutionary steps toward betterment

Amazing, thank you.
LK, thank you for your wishes too.

Bibas, thank you. Yes, in my free time, I do make it a point to visit Sajha from time to time just to see what's up. That's all. Busy or not, I find the line between"strictly work" and "strictly play" blurring all the more with all
these user-friendly technological advances .. .

Prajesh-ji: Many thanks for your kind words. Yes, "gray stuff" indeed. 

Samsara, I understand what you are saying, but let me share this. In commercial banking, people are looking for good top-level managers in KTM. With so mnay new commercial banks that have opened up and are opening up, there is a severe shortage of top-level bank managers
in Nepal. The pay is usually quite good -- Rs. 3 lakh+ a month, if not more,
if the directors value your background. [I know this might come as a shock to many of you who left Nepal 10 years ago, but a lot has changed in Nepal for now.]

Sure, there is no IBanking as such in Nepal, and no private equity/buy-out firms to speak of. The banking work here can be  'plain old vanilla' to those of you who are analysts/associates on Wall Street/London, but I do see a bright future for people like you in Nepal in two to three years when further opportunities open up to do sophisticated financial stuff.

My (unsolicited) suggestion: Start working on strengtehing your Nepal/Asia connections /networks now so that you are 'on the radar' here, and when opportunities open up, you can make appropriate transitions. I'll be happy
to share what I know for your success.

oohi
ashu

Ashu, thank you so much for the advice which was necessary as I, thinking myself to be the top dog had stopped heeding others' opinions a long time ago.  But damn, NPR 300K for a job in retail banking doing plain vanilla products?  That is really impressive considering the fact that exotic products WILL eventually make its way into the Financial institutions there.  I believe, it wouldn't take more than a decade at the most.  Why?  Because talking about the trading side which I am familiar with, I've worked with various Indian/Chinese/S.Asian Banks on some of the craziest high-risk exotic products out there which most banks here shun (the IBs here try to stay at strictly pricing these at a profit selling it to the Asians and hedge their deals using traditional vanilla products.  All the crazy specualtion in the West came down significantly after the Barings, Enron and Amaranth fiasco.  However, it isn't surprising to see a few cowboys at every IB who are given that God-gifted right).  Derivatives as we all know could make or completely break you, a double-edged sword if you may.  Now, think about Exotic Derivatives: The risk magnitude is even greater.  I truly have no idea how the South Asian are hedging aginst their positions as there is no way any other bank would buy these products from them at the premiums they paid to begin with and it absurdly seems to me that they are specualting to lose more than they would gain, ala going to Vegas and betting against the house.  Amazing though, I'm sure in time this knowledge will seep into the Nepali banks from the Indian speculators/exotic traders and it is then that most Nepali analyst/associates on the Street can finally see the opportunity costs in heading back to Nepal for the same comfort of working in these products here (by then newer and risker derivatives might be existant here in the West making current exotics seem like vanillas.  LOL).  BTW, Pls note that I am not taking about pure IB facets such as M&A including private equity, etc.  It may be a little different for that sector though.

Right now, though the money in Nepal is more than what one could make in retail/domestic banking here, it still pales in comparison to what the average associate on the Street today could make.  But taking the standard of living as a determining factor, going back to Nepal seems a more rational choice.  Lets see what unfurls in the Samsara's life.