Entrepreneur:
The long and winding road

By Baishali Bomjan

With one computer, a limited budget and undying enthusiasm, Deepesh Pradhan, chief operations officer of Yomari, broke new grounds in the IT industry in Nepal. Six years from inception he leads one of the foremost web designing and software programming companies.

Excellence is the gradual result of always striving to do better. No one knows this better than Deepesh. Hard work and an undying desire to make a splash in web designing and software programming is the key to his success. But success was not immediate. He faced more than his fair share of failures and frustrations. Yet, he doggedly pursued his dream without giving up the fight. Today, Yomari is a huge success. It has developed and designed Nepal Home Page, one of Nepal’s most popular interactive website with a daily hit list of around 3500 visitors.

After graduating as a computer engineer, Deepesh was determined to utilise his knowledge to do something different. He shared the idea of starting his own company with his brother Rupesh and friend Rajendra Shrestha who were equally enthusiastic. He vividly recalls the days when they were fresh graduates, “After long hours and days of planning our careers, we wanted to do something Nepal had never seen before. Rupesh and Rajendra had ample experience in web-programming and with my computer engineering background, we felt that it was the right time to start Yomari Inc- a web designing and software programming company.”

So with Deepesh, a computer expert from Jagatguru Malikarjun Institute of Technology (JMIT), India, Rupesh, a web developer, and Rajendra, a client-server applications expert, Yomari Inc blended into a perfect team. It was a matter of the right people at the right time seeking the right opportunities.

With a thirst for knowledge, and a burning need to achieve something that he could be proud of, he was determined to get to the top. “The zeal to start something different is what has brought me this far,” says Deepesh. But it wasn’t as easy as they thought it would be. Rupesh and Rajendra, based in the United States, left him alone to set up the company in Nepal. He recalls the challenges of running door-to-door, getting projects and clients for their new venture. “My bedroom was my office with just one computer. I didn’t even have the basic resources to call Yomari a company then,” says Deepesh who now has over 18 employees under him. But the team spirit despite the distance proved decisive. “We’ve always had a very clear understanding of our responsibilities and so we could take care of various areas of the business and that has proven to be one of our major strengths.”

While Deepesh was making things happen in Nepal, Rajendra and Rupesh were involved with the technical and administrative aspect of the business like server management, hosting websites and setting targets.

He started from scratch and still remembers the early days of his struggle. “There were times when I would be out on marketing calls and there would be no one to receive the phone calls because I could not afford to hire anyone then.” He goes on to confess, “I did not get a single client for the first eight months, and my efforts seemed futile.” But it was sheer determination and complete focus on his part that saw him through these disappointments. “Initially most of my experiments failed even though I put in my best. But I am glad I was not discouraged by failure. The only secret to success is preparation, hard work and learning from failure.”