In August, 2019, I visited Kathmandu, Nepal again, exactly one year after the last visit. No, it wsa not to hike Mt. Everest. I wish. In fact, I was thinking of doing it this year, but my prolonged illness early this year scared me off. But, I still dream on.
On the way from CNX to BKK, I was given unusually a window seat and I was able to take a rare shot of the airplane wing and the scenery.
This time, the primary purpose was to conduct the SfK MBA Boot Camp Training Kathmandu for two weeks. A total of nine people, mostly Korean fishermen in Nepal, graduated with either Certificate of Completion or Certificate of Participation. William Wonmin Son and I covered the entire training. It is a little burdensome for two lecturers to cover the entire two weeks.
The most diligent participants were Peter Sung Kwang Kim, Tae Hwan Hur, who is running a guest house and a private institute as a ministry, Jae Myun Park who is running a guest house, and surprisingly Jae Hoon Jun, the President of the Fisheremen's Association. We will see what the Lord has in store for them.
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| Mr. Hur, Mr. Park and Mr. Kim |
Also notable was Sanmi Cho who is helping her husband in training fashion designers and later making clothes even to be exported. She is also a specialist in making Korean traditional cakes.
Inhee Yang who is running a bakery, namely Korean Makery, with her husband showed a strong desire to learn. She finished up a training at Nemo House and attended this training again.
Also, I took advantage of the visit to meet up with other people who were in Kathmandu, Nepal.
Sunghoon Koh was the Country Representative of KOICA in Nepal. He served in Nepal for longer than 10 years prior to this assignment with Good Neighbors International, a Korean INGO. I met him in Bangkok while he was serving GNI by providing training for Korean expats as well as local leadership of GNI's ministry units in Asia.
Peter Kim was leading the Business Department of the Korean Fishermen's Association and responsible for organizing and hosting the SfK BCT. He has been running a skin care clinic and participating in joint ventures with Napali investors in several cafe projects. He and his wife are now preparing to set up and operate their own Nuri91 Cafe Restaurant as a missional business. Look forward to seeing a success story through this couple.
I met up with Catherin, a Malaysian working in Nepal and also serving Great Commission Companies, an informal network of ministers in Nepal. I met her last year at a couple of gatherings where I gave a lecture. She got me introduced to a couple of Mexican entrepreneurs running a Mexican restaurant and a Nepali who is serving as the Country Director of a Christian INGO.
I met up with the new leadership of Beauty for Ashes: Olivia and Phil. Olivia is the new MD and Phil handles finance. They seemed to be doing well, by cleaning up the old inventory and increasing the sales.
I had a meeting with Pitambar, General Manager of ECEC, a teacher training business started by a Dutch missionary and handed over to Pitambar. Their annual sales were at $300,000 with profitability. He asked for the opportunity to participate in SfK Boot Camp Training and I made an offer to participate in SfK Missional Business Community. He will discuss with his leadership and get back to me.
I also met up with Corban at Purnna, a freedom business making garment products being exported primarily to the U.S. as private brand products. They employ approximately 70 people and were looking for a financing to purchase a parcel of land to build their own manufacturing plant. They reported the previous fiscal year sales at $500,000 with profitability. They were successful in obtaining a loan through IBEX, but they are also considering joining SfK MBC. We will see what the Lord has in mind.
Together with William Son, I had a brief meeting with Ms Song who set up and is running a Korean bakery, namely 12 Baskets. Her bakery seems to be doing well based on good training from a competent teacher and her intuitive business management skills and remarkable people skills. I prayed for God's grace upon this business.
William Son and I were invited for dinner by a couple who have been living in Nepal for the past 14 years or so, Currently they run a chicken restaurant. They seem to be doing well. Any success story in the field makes me encouraged and inspired.
We stayed at Grace Hotel, a new hotel, and the training also took place there. The scenery from the hotel room was beautiful.
The hotel owner also owns the best known coffee shop, namely Kathmandu Coffee. That is we had breakfast every morning. I ended up meeting a lot of people over there as well.
Foods are an integral part of any culture and I enjoyed a variety of Nepali foods. And some Korean as well.
It was unfortunate that I missed the opportunity to pay tribute to Mt. Everest, but you cannot get everything you want. Perhaps next time. - Jeffrey Lee
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