NEPAL ECONOMIC FORUM - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Executive Board Member, NEF
Alpa has over two decades of work experience in various sectors such as the hospitality industry, travel and tourism, medical research and services, events, and even in development organizations. Some organizations that she got to work with are Hotel Soaltee, Everest Express Tours and Travels, King Mahendra Trust for Nature Conservation, Himalaya Tea Gardens, CIWEC Clinic, World Wildlife Fund, Mountain Air, DANIDA, Shechen Clinic, etc.
She began her career began in audit, finance, and accounting, and transitioned successfully to operations, procurements, and management. The segue led her to do what she loves, professionally help organize individuals and businesses. Alpa has extensive experience in mentoring and especially enjoys mentoring young minds to help them with their career aspirations and business goals.
In 2012, she founded GO Nepal, a business with a vision to provide professional support to individuals, local and foreign corporates, small and medium enterprises, start-up business ventures as well as not-for-profits and charitable foreign entities that wish to work in Nepal. GO Nepal has a diverse portfolio of clients including beed Management, Tai Ping Carpets in Hongkong, Baabuk Shoes in Switzerland, Everest Bank in Nepal, Timro Concept Store in Nepal, Child Aid Network in Germany, Evoke Café and Bistro in Nepal, 6 Degree Academy for Women and many more.
Amish Raj Mulmi is the author of All Roads Lead North: Nepal's Turn to China (Context India/Hurst UK/Oxford University Press US). His writings have been published in The Himalayan Arc: Journeys East of South East (HarperCollins India, 2018) and Best Asian Speculative Fiction (Kitaab, 2018). He has written for, among others, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Al Jazeera, Roads and Kingdoms, Himal Southasia, India Today, The Kathmandu Post and The Record. He is consulting editor at Writer's Side Literary Agency, and has previously worked for Juggernaut Books and Hachette India. He is from Pokhara.
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor
- Senior Fellow
Apekshya Shah is an Assistant Professor in the Department of International Relations and Diplomacy at Tribhuvan University. She has been teaching several modules as part of the master's program at the department since 2014. Her core areas of expertise lie in diplomacy, foreign policy, and public policy. Prior to this, she was the Opinion Editor of the Kathmandu Post, the leading English daily of Nepal.
She holds a Postgraduate degree in Diplomacy and Foreign Policy from City, University of London, and a bachelor (with honors) degree in Political Science from Delhi University. In 2020, she was selected as a Distinguished Humphrey fellow by the United States Department of State for a Leadership Program under which she attended an Executive Education Course on "Leadership for the 21st Century" at the Harvard Kennedy School.
She is the technical lead for Nepal and the World, an Incubation Program under Nepal Economic Forum that aims to explore Nepal's foreign policy and diplomacy in the context of a globalized world and support public debates in the field of foreign affairs especially in relations to the economy.
Job Titles:
- Senior Advisor at National Planning Commission
Arnico Panday is a Senior Advisor at National Planning Commission, Nepal. He is an atmospheric scientist and educator with an extensive experience in the interface between the science and policy of climate change, air pollution, and sustainable development. Since February 2020, he has been the CEO of Ullens Education Foundation, which is building Nepal's first residential liberal arts college, designing a curriculum to train 21st-century leaders in a campus that will be a model of sustainable design. He is also a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Integrated Development Studies, Nepal.
Job Titles:
- Senior Fellow
- Project Manager at Deerhold Ltd
Ashraya Dixit is currently a Project Manager at Deerhold Ltd., an American company providing software development and IT services to clients around the globe. His exploration has involved the study of the development, use, and impact of market-ready technological solution in developing markets. In the past, he has engaged in building innovation as a firm's strategic objective, shape objectives to global trends and opportunities, and accelerate firms to become technology-enabled services. Previously, he was in Boston's investment industry covering global stocks and driving research on disruptive and responsible investment themes. Additionally, he helped a multi-family office find best-in-class fund managers across asset classes.
He has a Master of International Business from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He also has a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Mathematics from Grinnell College.
He is the technical lead of Center for Digital Transformation, an Incubation Program under Nepal Economic Forum that addresses cross-cutting themes related to digital adoption and revolution in emerging and frontier markets of Asia and Africa.
Bibek is an energy expert with significant experience in providing technical and advisory support to governments, bilateral/multilateral institutions, and private sector clients in emerging and frontier economies on issues including electricity markets, energy access, investment mobilization, infrastructure roll-outs, circular economy, and low carbon energy transition initiatives among others.
His works in recent years include leading the design of a multidisciplinary energy-climate portfolio for Belgian cooperation in Mozambique and previously, between 2016 to 2022, managing a power infrastructure portfolio in Rwanda contributing to strengthening and modernizing its electricity sector in the country.
Also, he has worked on a broad range of energy alternatives, from setting up small-scale electricity generation technologies and distribution grids in the far-flung rural hills of Nepal to working as an advisor to the Alternative Energy Promotion Center, an apex government entity for the promotion of renewables in Nepal.
Bibek holds a master's degree in energy management from the University of Twente, Netherlands, and a bachelor's in civil engineering from Tribhuvan University, Nepal. He has published numerous articles on energy markets, climate change, and public policy in popular press and journals.
Job Titles:
- Senior Distinguished Fellow
Bibhakar Shakya has worked for over 25 years collaborating projects with international organizations, development aid agencies, public sectors, and private industries in the USA, Qatar, and Nepal. He has accomplished projects primarily in energy-economic modelling, economic impact analysis, labor policy and green jobs, climate change adaptation, and sustainable development.
Currently, he is working as a Senior Economist and Principal Consultant based in Richmond, Virginia. Previously, he worked as a Senior Economist and Policy Expert at the Program Management Office, Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy in Doha, Qatar. During his time in Doha, he managed the infrastructural development for the World Cup 2022 which included eight football stadiums, transportation, and hospitality sectors in Doha. In addition, he was involved in modelling the effort on the transition of urban energy systems towards efficiency and sustainability under Doha's smart city project.
He has received a PhD in Environmental and Resource Economics from the Ohio State University, USA.
Diva Shrestha's professional journey includes eight years of senior leadership roles in admissions and financial aid offices at Nazareth Bucknell University, and Colby College in the U.S. As the Director at Nepal Leadership Academy, an organization demystifying the definition of leadership through teaching and research.
She is particularly interested in studying and identifying leadership practices that inculcate behaviour and mindset change towards progress and impact. She is passionate about developing the leadership capabilities of change-agents and believes that change is only effective if citizens from different generations, genders, socio-economic and cultural backgrounds co-define the country's evolving perspectives. She served as a Board Member for ‘Nepal ko Yuwa' (Daayitwa U.S.) and co-led the Nepal Rising campaign.
She has a master's in Public Policy with a concentration in International Development and Education Policy from the University of Maryland, College Park, and a Bachelors from Nazareth College in Rochester, New York.
She is the technical lead of Global Nepali Network, an Incubation Program under Nepal Economic Forum, a platform that aims to connect Nepali communities and individuals who reside in different countries across the globe but are united by a common connection and love for Nepal.
Job Titles:
- Senior Distinguished Fellow
- Specialist
Giuseppe Savino is a specialist in migration policies. He builds on his experience in the field of South Asia's labor migration to propose implementable solutions addressing dysfunctionalities affecting migrants' recruitment processes. With over thirty years of professional experience in investment banking and financial markets, he shifted his area of expertise to migration policy in 2014, mainly by developing financial solutions for migrants with a view to reducing the cost of migration. He is the founder of ‘Migration Protocol', a consultancy firm specializing in migration.
As a labor migration consultant, he has worked with UKAid Nepal, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) both in Nepal and Bangladesh, and with other major national and international migration stakeholders. His work addresses topics ranging from migration market inefficiencies leading to over- indebtedness and destitution to migrants' socio-economic reintegration in their country of origin. As a policy advisor, he has worked closely with various governments to develop improved migration regulation, including cost reduction and positive use of remittances.
He has a Postgraduate Degree in International Politics obtained with Magna Cum Laude (Grande Distinction) at the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) and a university degree in economics from the Centre Universitaire Luxembourgeois.
Job Titles:
- Advisory Board Member, NEF
Kul Chandra Gautam is a former senior official of the United Nations, a distinguished diplomat and a development professional. Owing to his extensive experience in international diplomacy, development cooperation and humanitarian assistance, he serves on the boards of several international and national organizations, charitable foundations, and public-private partnerships. In Nepal, he advises senior politicians and civil society leadership on issues related to socio-economic development, peace, democracy, and human rights.
Previously, he served as Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations, and Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF. In an international career spanning over three decades in many countries and continents, he worked at the policy and managerial level to promote the rights and wellbeing of children, women, and people in poverty through international development cooperation and humanitarian assistance.
Over the course of his long and distinguished career at the United Nations, he engaged with government leaders, donor agencies, multilateral organizations, NGOs and the corporate sector in policy dialogue, advocacy and resource mobilization. At the global level, he was responsible for the highest levels of policy making at the United Nations, including the General Assembly, the Security Council, ECOSOC and the UNICEF Executive Board. In addition, he supervised UNICEF cooperation in over 150 developing countries.
Job Titles:
- Advisory Board Member, NEF
- Chairman of Himalayan General Insurance
Mahendra Krishna Shrestha is the Chairman of Himalayan General Insurance. He has been committed to the financial sector in Nepal for more than two decades. His contribution in heading and shaping some of the leading insurance and banking organizations is greatly valued. For example, he initiated the Himalayan General Insurance Company in 1993 and spearheaded the reform process for Lumbini Bank Limited.
Over the years, he has been involved in a number of additional sectors, including hydropower, telecommunications, health and media. In addition to being a member of all the major local chambers of commerce, he was also the President of the Nepal-Britain Chamber of Commerce and Industry. His background in business enables him to draw varied inferences and holistic perspectives into the economic development dialogue and discussion. According to him, there is an inextricable connection between education policy and national development which he has been cultivating by serving on the Board of Governors of Welham Boys' School in India. He holds a Masters' degree from the Delhi School of Economics (DSE).
Mark Perrin has served for 17 years leading teams and planning operations globally as a former officer in the UK's Royal Marines. His areas of expertise include strategy, operational planning, dealing with complexity, leadership, and personnel development. After a brief stint in the private sector, focused on operations management for PricewaterhouseCoopers, he travelled to Nepal in 2019.
Currently studying for a Master's degree in Sustainable Development at Sussex, he is passionate about issues pertaining to sustainability, particularly related to society and the environment.
He is the Technical Lead for Himalayan Circular Economy Forum (HiCEF), an Incubation Program under Nepal Economic Forum that aims to explore existing circular economy practices, investment opportunities, for knowledge dissemination, replication, and how they can be advanced in Nepal.
Job Titles:
- Researcher
- Advisory Board Member, NEF
Prativa Pandey is a researcher and science entrepreneur who studies the significance and characteristics of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants of Nepal. She is the founder/CEO of Catalyst Technology and Herveda Botanicals, a S&T research and product development company that mainly focuses on value addition through technical interventions to solve existing market problems.
She has been working in the intersection of public, academic and private sectors. She is a Council Member in Science Technology and Innovation Policy Implementation and Promotion Council, and a member of the High-level Industry and Investment Policy Forum, Ministry of Industry Commerce and Supplies, Nepal. She also co-founded two platforms for women and young scientists, Women Scientists Forum Nepal and Young Scientists Forum Nepal, in the initiation of the Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (NAST). She is also a researcher at the Research Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology, and a visiting faculty at Research Centre for Applied Science and Technology, Tribhuvan University, Nepal.
She has over a decade of research and industrial experience with several published research reports, articles, and three US patents. She is an active member of the Intellectual Property Protection Society Nepal. She received the prestigious UNESCO-OWSD Early Career Fellowship 2019 and NAST-NABIL Science and Technology Award 2019 in recognition of her leadership and excellence in STEM. She completed her Ph.D. in Chemistry from Northwestern University (US), Management Certificate from Kellogg School of Management (US), and B.S. Honors in Chemistry from Salem College (US).
Job Titles:
- Executive Board Member, NEF
Shayasta is a communication and development professional with considerable experience in corporate and development communications. She brings a decade of experience in communication strategy and versatile content creation through a fundraising and advocacy lens.
Leveraging on her engagement in a wide gamut of creative communication roles she is engaged as an Executive Board Member at Nepal Economic Forum and Accountability Lab. She currently heads the Communications and Education Department of WWF Nepal and formerly anchored the Business Policy Research Center at Nepal Economic Forum.
She is an MBA graduate from the Australian Catholic University, Sydney, and has authored multiple reports and publications during her decade-long career.
Job Titles:
- Advisory Board Member, NEF
Shraddha Gautam is an international macroeconomics and development specialist with expertise in international trade, investment, industrial and fiscal policy. She holds a masters' degree in International Political Economy from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and an undergraduate degree in Economics (Hons.) from the University of Delhi.
She joined the World Bank Group as a Consultant-Economist in 2020 where she assisted the Macroeconomics Trade and Investment team in conducting the annual Public Expenditure Review. She was involved in analyzing spending allocations of local and provincial governments and determining their revenue potential. She was also engaged in coordinating the Economic Growth and Private Sector technical working group that closely monitors and advocates to build support for key structural reforms in promoting inclusive growth in Nepal.
She has extensive experience working with government institutions. As a Program and Research Associate at Daayitwa, she worked closely with the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies to address policy gaps in the entrepreneurial eco-system and domestic youth (un)employment in Nepal and has contributed to the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security's (MoLESS) research initiatives aimed at promoting the dignity of labor. She is the co-author of a flagship report on ‘Political Economy of Domestic Youth Employment'. Prior to this, Shraddha was involved in providing research support to the Pocket Area Development program, a Poverty Alleviation Fund initiative.
Job Titles:
- Advisory Board Member, NEF / Executive Board
- Communications Director at Curves
Sneh Rajbhandari is the Communications Director at Curves n' Colors, a private company working in the nexus of art, design and technology to optimize online presence for brands. She has worked as the Director of Communications with Ullens Education Foundation for a year. Additionally, she has worked with the Leadership Team at the Ullens Kindergarten, School and IBDP to deepen communications and relationships within the community during the time of the pandemic. From 2016 to 2018, she was the Public Affairs and Communications Manager at Coca-Cola India Pvt. Ltd, where she managed stakeholder engagement, sustainability (TCCF, water replenishment and recycling), and brand PR on behalf of the INSWA Business Unit.
She was nominated as a Global Shaper for the Kathmandu Hub in 2014 for her work with the local community through INCLUDED. Later she became the Curator for the Hub in 2015, where she co-led the largest project of the hub to date. She is currently a member of the WEF RSB for South Asia where she is part of the working group focused on Accelerating Digital Transformation for Education & SMEs; and a Board Member of the Duke of Edinburgh International Award Nepal.
She initiated her professional career in the development sector, as the Programs Manager and Co-Founder of INCLUDED, a non-profit working to provide education and social services to internal migrant families living in slums and squatter settlements. She is interested in issues related to strategic communications, sustainability, public-private partnership and women in the workforce.
She is a graduate from the London School of Economics with an MSc focused in Development Management.
Job Titles:
- Management Consultant
- Executive Board Member, NEF
Sudip Bhaju is a Management Consultant with over 15 years of experience working in the private sector. He has worked and managed projects in countries such as Bhutan, Cambodia, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Laos, and Rwanda.
He has led many of beed's development and management consultancy projects and has extensive experience providing advisory services, technical assistance, and capacity building to government agencies, private sector, and development partners through analytics (economic impact assessments, investment feasibility, sectoral studies, and market research), policy dialogue, and reform strategy design.
He brings extensive implementation experience in promoting private sector-led growth through country competitiveness, entrepreneurship development, financial inclusion, investment climate, market systems development, public-private dialogue, and policy reform.
He is a recipient of the Fellowships awarded by the United States Department of State for the International Visitors Leadership Program (IVLP) - Global Economy and Trade, and the Government of India for the Emerging Leaders Program at India's leading business school, the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad.
Job Titles:
- Executive Board Member, NEF
Sujeev Shakya is Founder Chair of Nepal Economic Forum, a Kathmandu-based private sector-led economic policy and research institution. He is the Founder Chief Executive Officer of Beed Management, a Kathmandu-based international management company and advisory firm working in Asia and Africa. He is the Senior Advisor, Bhutan and Nepal for Bower Group Asia, a US-based strategic advisory firm. Prior to starting beed in 2008, he worked with one of Nepal's largest business group for 20 years, including as Group President.
He is the author of Unleashing the Vajra - Nepal's Journey Between India and China and Unleashing Nepal - Past Present and Future of the economy both published by Penguin India. In Nepali, he has written Arthat Arthatantra and Arthat Pariwartan, both published by Nepalaya Publications. He writes The Other View column in The Kathmandu Post and has been published by many media outlets and think tanks. His leadership journey is taught as a case study at the Babson College MS Entrepreneurial Leadership program.
A chartered accountant by training, he has a Certificate in Coaching from Columbia University and a Diploma in International Marketing from Boston University.
Job Titles:
- Senior Distinguished Fellow
Suman Basnet is a renewable energy and management professional with over 33 years of experience. Since 2012, he has undertaken independent consulting assignments on project design, assessment, situation analysis, research, capacity building, and facilitation. He has worked extensively for various development, government, and private organizations on policy, governance, and institutional aspects of Nepal's renewable energy sector.
Previously, he was the Nepal Social and Environment Director of SN Power, an International hydropower company based in Norway. Additionally, he served as the Director of the Energy Program in Winrock International Nepal, the Deputy General Manager at Butwal Power Company, and the Energy Development Advisor at the UNDP/Rural Energy Development Programme.
He is the technical Lead of Renewable Energy Center, an Incubation Program under Nepal Economic Forum that strives to be the premier platform for mainstreaming renewable energy issues by engaging multiple stakeholders to articulate discourse that will shape national-level energy policies.