--By Gaurav Aryal

 

Muktishree Group of Companies, one of the emerging business houses of Nepal, has ambitious plans to grow as a successful enterprise that benefits the national economy and people at large. The group has a clear vision to create employment opportunity for 100,000 people in a decade. According to Arun Raj Sumargi, Founder of the group, this target is not only their vision but also a motto.

 

“We are not saying that we will employ 100,000 workers in one of our industries but we want to be the creator of employment to these many people through forward and backward linkages,” Sumargi explains. To achieve this goal, the group is looking forward to explore sectors such as tourism, hydropower, telecommunication and manufacturing and take them to a new level. He believes that the group’s investment in these sectors would be greatly contributing to create direct as well as indirect employment to people through both forward and backward linkages. Sumargi says, “As entrepreneurs, we try to understand the need of the people as well as of the state, find a meeting point and work on that. Such projects are supported by people also.”

 

New Attractions

Muktishree group sees huge business potentials in the biggest scarcity the nation is currently facing – energy crisis. For over a decade, the group has been consistently working on setting a foothold in the energy production industry. “Energy crisis is the biggest headache for Nepal now. We are focused on how to find a solution to this problem and working with an aim to create large number of jobs in the country and help to increase domestic production,” explains Sumargi.

 

The group has a number of hydropower projects ranging from small to megaprojects. According to Sumargi, a 32 MW hydropower project is currently under development in Dhading. He says that there are other megaprojects in the pipeline. “We are in the process of finalising a 600 MW project in the near future,” he reveals adding that the group is also eyeing large projects like Upper Karnali. He adds that the agreement with foreign investors is not yet finalised because of changing political scenario as large project cannot be completed without foreign investments. He believes that apart from foreign investment, large project also need technical and managerial resources from abroad. 

 

Along with the hydropower generation, the group is coming up with a large scale cement factory in Surkhet.  Sumargi says that the first phase work of the factory has been completed along with construction of the road leading to the factory site. The group has also been exploring potentialities of producing new varieties of cement that have been not produced earlier in Nepal.

 

Similarly, the group is planning to establish a four to five star hotel in a prime location of Kathmandu. Sumargi says that land acquisition process for this venture has been completed and talks to find an international hotel chain for partnership are underway.

 

Corporate Philosophy

Muktishree group is working to develop itself as a model business group. Sumargi says, “Rather than just making money and enjoying the wealth, we are looking on how to create greater benefits for the people.” He says that cooperation and understanding is the way of working and making business decisions. “We discuss every major issue and if two among five of us give different suggestions we think over that from different angles. We cooperate with each other, have positive thinking and communal thoughts and it has always been working for us,” says Sumargi. He adds that if someone raises question over the group’s activities, they try to find the reasons and point out the weakness so that they can improve themselves.

 

The group has also kept its family values, culture and tradition intact. Sumargi shares his belief, “Businesses guided solely on individual thinking and philosophies have vanished in the long run. We believe that the culture, tradition and belief must be kept intact. The name, culture and tradition we inherited from our father will be continued also in the future.”

 

Specialisation Areas

The group has always prioritised those industries that could utilise local resources and generate employment to local people. Sumargi says that the country can become self sustained only when local resources could be properly utilised within the country. “Industries based on raw material imports would only be a short term business,” he says giving examples of carpet and garment industries. He says that there are prospects of Nepal being self sustaining in tourism, hydropower and mining. 

 

Along with usage of local resources, the group has always focused on local market. Though it exports some of its  mining products and drinking, those exports have been a means to get international recognition for the group. Currently, mineral water under Himalayas’ ONTOP brand is being exported to Middle East, Hong Kong, Korea , Japan and next month the company is exporting it to Gulf countries too. The water plant in Rasuwa produces 120,000 bottles per shift and the company is planning to produce in three shifts every day to increase the supply to new markets. According to Sumargi, the brand was listed among one of the best water among 11 countries during an exhibition of water producers in China. Likewise, 90 per cent of water is being consumed in Nepal while 10 per cent is currently being exported.

 

The group’s current area of specialisation in manufacturing and service industry came after the group started looking into new areas of business after 1990’s changing political environment. Young entrepreneurs from Hetauda came to Kathmandu with a vision to supply aggregates to Kathmandu via the ropeway but could not be realised for various reasons. Then the company ventured into the telecommunication sector and launched the then Mero Mobile brand of GSM telephony service that brought the group into limelight.

 

Growth and Development

The group started with a mineral based industry by Madhav Raj Sumargi in 1972. During that time, he also had timber and transportation business, but these were closed down later. However, the mining and mineral based industry is still intact with the group. 

 

The group has now developed into a conglomerate of around 21 businesses. Sumargi says that talking about group’s turnover is too early as the group is still in its growth phase. “We are still investing and under development, so we are in loan,” says Sumargi. The group has so far invested Rs 100 billion in various sectors. Sumargi says that the investment is made through both foreign and domestic partners.

 

The group has created 5000 direct employment and out of them, 1100 are in Makwanpur alone and in its companies based in Bhairahawa, Hetauda, Surkhet, Dang, Kathmandu and Rasuwa. Similarly, the group is coming up with a teaching hospital soon. And Sumargi says that the hospital will be based in Makwanpur. Though the group has numerous plans in its pipeline, Sumargi says that the national political situation would be the determining factor for new moves.