In a world where taking photos of almost everything, we do have become common, a couple of like-minded individuals decided to create a platform to add value to the photos we take. “Nowadays, the most prominent thing we do has become taking photos and the emergence of smartphones has added a lot to it. But we felt that these photos are worth much more than just dwellers of the virtual world. We believe that photos shouldn’t just be confined within the virtual domain and that’s how we came up with the concept of ‘Jhalko’,” says Niroj Dev Pandey, one of the co-founders of Jhalko. Pratik Aryal, the other co-founder of Jhalko says, “ We wanted to bring back photographs along with its touch-feel factor. We believe that a substantial photo makes the memory of it more valuable than just another upload. We want to bring back the photo printing culture again.”
Jhalko is a platform which allows you to upload your photos, recommend sizes and frames according to the picture quality, and get the printed photos at your doorstep without much ado. It also retouches and reprints old photos. Officially chartered in February 2018, this recently opened company is dedicated to offer convenience to its customers and make sure that their memories from important events are kept intact and fresh. Jhalko has spared many from the hassle of having to go to photo printing stores, give the orders and go back again to receive them. Just a click away and Jhalko brings you your photos wherever you are.
Pratik Aryal, one of the co-founders of Jhalko.
Friends from school, Aryal, and Pandey both came together agreeing upon wanting to revive the photo printing culture yet again like that in the previous generations. Aryal is the CEO of 81e, a management consultancy company and Pandey is the executive director of Gurkha Technology, a company rendering technical and digital services. Jhalko was jointly launched by these two companies. When asked about how the company is working out, they’re happy to say that it is going pretty well. They’re glad to cater to people’s needs and help them bring an important moment from their life into existence.
Niroj Dev Pandey, one of the co-founders of Jhalko.
Catering to people’s needs certainly involves hustling hard. When asked about the challenges of operating Jhalko, they had a few to name. Firstly, people are quite skeptical about trusting a third-party with their photos. Secondly, since Jhalko prioritizes quality, the photos have to match a certain standard of resolution to be uploaded. Many customers try to upload their photos from Facebook or Instagram, however, uploading photos from sites like them reduces the photo quality. So, sometimes it takes time to make a few of our customers understand the photo quality criteria. Thirdly, they also talked about delivery being a major challenge in Nepal provided the hefty traffic.
However, despite the few challenges, the co-founders view Jhalko with full optimism. They’re pleasant to have provided satisfaction to all their customers and to have received no complaints about their final product. With this optimism, their vision of growth for Jhalko is quite exciting. They plan to make Jhalko’s services available not just in Kathmandu but in other cities of Nepal and internationally as well. They’re on the process of integrating an international payment system so that they can cater the needs of people outside Nepal as well. They’re also on the verge of including an online payment system and not just cash on delivery. In the future, they plan to make Jhalko a platform where photos from amateur as well as professional photographers can be sold.
When asked if they had any advice for newbies in the entrepreneurial sector and people just starting out, “Just start out, do it, have a certain level of awareness and patience, and you’ll certainly learn along the way and improve,” was what they had to say. They also mentioned that attitude is extremely important whichever field you wish to work in.
It is companies like Jhalko that have certainly contributed to the budding entrepreneurial ecosystem of Nepal. Dedicated to providing convenience and satisfaction to customers, Jhalko definitely has a long way to go.