The fifteenth batch of Arthalaya was organized from 9th August to 14th August 2012 at Dhulikhel, Nepal. Altogether 24 participants from 16 different colleges attended the program. The age group of the applicants ranged from high school graduates to master’s level; an indicator of how the program was seen as lucrative by all age groups.
A number of interesting topics were chosen in order to facilitate participation and discussion among the students; these included: Rule of Law as a pre-requisite for a lucrative business environment, ‘What motivates people?’ – Figuring out the incentive system behind human resource management and Policy watch on government and markets – What kind of policies are business friendly and what kinds of policies affect business negatively. These ideas were fostered and debated upon in a variety of exciting indoor and outdoor events.
A number of interesting sessions were held by renowned resource persons. Mr. Sudip Gautam, a well-known advocate, briefed the participants on the basics of Rule of Law, the current scenario of the country, the importance of property rights and some issues concerning the current constitution building process as well. The session generated a lot of verbal curiosities, most of which were satisfied by Mr. Gautam.
Another interesting session was facilitated by Ashutosh Tiwari of WaterAid where he discussed the idea of creating a ‘moat’ for a business; an idea aimed to create a better competitive advantage. This was well-received by the participants as they tried out the idea in their own business modules later on.
Other key speakers included Anil Chitrakar and Dr. Bhola Nath Chalise, who both managed to spellbind the crowd with their free-flowing lectures.
One of the primary objectives after attending Arthalaya is that these graduates form an Entrepreneurs’ Club in their colleges or schools, so that they are able to promote entrepreneurship and enterprise building activities among other students. One noticeable achievement right after this Arthalaya was the re-formation of the entrepreneurs’ club at Kantipur Valley College while students elsewhere are also working actively in order to establish respective clubs. Arthalaya continues to grow as Samriddhi, as a proud parent, looks on.