“Cooking is my hobby and that is what brought me to the meat products sector.”

Chandra Tiwari of Nina and Hager a brand name in the Nepal market of meat and processing shared his experience and journey as an entrepreneur at Last Thursdays on May 27th 2010, organized by Entrepreneurs of Nepal and Samriddhi, The Prosperity Foundation.

Starting off his business by a small meat shop to creating a brand name like Nina and Hager in the Nepali market was not an overnight job. It was 15 years of hard work as well as his focus on delivering a quality product to the consumer; one of the keys to his success. 

Having received no formal training in meat processing did not deter his focus of providing consumers with quality products. He recounts going to library to search for books to learn about the subject and of seeking help from others if he did not understand something. During that time, sausages were well known in Kathmandu and he wanted to know how they were made. 

This interest took him to Calcutta where he was informed that he could see how there were prepared when you went to buy them. Unfortunately, when he did go to Calcutta just in order to see the methods himself the people had become according to him “clever” and had applied to selling the customers the product without showing how they were made. This still did not discourage him and he went back home more determined and started making sausages with the help of his wife in his kitchen. Mr.Tiwari had a shed where he worked to prepare them although he states most of the work was done in the kitchen. In his modest working place, in addition to all his tools he had 2 fridges for the purpose of de-freezing. “It was like daily practice for me and I kept on improving my methods to make them better”, remembers Mr. Tiwari. 

This brought him in contact with Hager who had been introduced to him by one of this friend. He started talking about meat processing business and asked him questions about his methods and where he did his work. 

Observing his work Hager commented that the method he had been using was 100% wrong and that if he really wanted to learn and work in the business he should come to Germany and that he would arrange everything else and asked him to just arrange his papers. It took Mr. Tiwari 2 years to go to Germany after that.
 He went there on a scholarship on livestock training. His course requirement included 2 year training and one year practice in Germany. After completing his two years training he felt he had achieved some success since many people fail the course and even took 5-6 years to complete it. His interest and age as well as his work garnered appreciation and he became a Butcher chef. He decided to return back home and practice instead of working in Germany as he thought he’d be making a lot of progress if he went back home. 

It was still a long road ahead as coming from a Brahmin family and his profession as a butcher chef earned him many taunts from people when he was just starting. Although with his success and establishment of Nina and Hager product as a brand name has now changed all that. 

Starting his practice was not an easy job since he was not financially stable then although he did own a house. He started his work first by delivering his products on a cycle. His two years course had consisted of one year training under the old method of meat processing and the next with advance technology, and equipment both of which are used in his factory. 

After the production stage marketing was another challenge. Supplying his products in the market where the people questioned whether they would sell since they were so expensive was a tough job.

Slowly the products started selling and were supplied to other markets in the capital. However, it was another 4-5 years before he received any success.

“The hardest part was that even if my products were selling well, I was not receiving any money,” recalls Mr. Tiwari.  With only accounts of money that was due to him, forced Mr. Tiwari to put a hold on his work and he went away from Kathmandu for sometime.. This proved to be fortunate because when he came back home he received many phone calls questioning why he had not been sending supplies and if it was due to withheld payment they’ll pay the money. It was then he found out that his products were selling quite well in the market. 

Although, he is now established and has a very good market more than he had imagined possible, Mr. Tiwari confessed that he was still unable to meet the market demand because of issues regarding quality.

Mr.  Tiwari believes that in the food processing business if you are not directly involved in the process than the quality can be compromised which can lead to failure of a business.

 “People at first thought my products were expensive, but I had always been focused on the quality and I never compromised it”, says Mr. Tiwari.

Regarding the problems faced by entrepreneur like him, he emphasized he problem margin rat in the market from distributors. He lamented how distributors try to increase their margin at every given opportunity which puts suppliers under pressure.

Mr. Tiwari last words to young entrepreneurs were,

“If you’re strong and confident that your products are of quality then you don’t need to be scared of anyone.”