Startup Weekend Tourism

Overview :

Laying low beneath the warmth of  mighty himalayas, our country Nepal is blessed with scenic beauty of captivating Himalayan range. Thousands of tourists flock in during key season to witness the beauty that our country has to offer. Earnings from tourism is definitely one of the biggest contributor to Nepal’s GDP. One of the famous tourist hub in our country Pokhara has been attracting tourists from all over the world and it’s also not a secret that most of the tourist coming into Nepal is Pokhara centric.

Nepal Entrepreneurs’ Hub (NEHUB) organized its third Startup Weekend in Pokhara on the theme Startup Weekend Tourism to mark World Tourism Day 2013 which was observed on 27 September. The event was also the first of its kind to take place outside Kathmandu in Pokhara. The venue for the weekend was Anand Business Hotel, Pokhara.

The schedule for the event was :

Meet, Pitch & Team Up

For Startup Weekend Tourism, a total of 50 participants (11 female, 39 male) participated, out of which 33 participants were from Kathmandu, 13 from Pokhara and 4 represented other districts including Dolpa, Lamjung, Biratnagar and Butwal. A total of 27 pitches, were made on the first day and 9 teams were formed, through voting.  These nine teams worked throughout the weekend.

The list below gives you a basic introduction to the top ideas on Startup Weekend Tourism:

S.N Startup Ideas
1. Best Price Room
2. Couch Surfing
3. Link’O
4. National Blood Donors Directory
5. Problems! Tell us
6. QR Click
7. Rentific It’s Terrific
8. Tourcult
9. YouAssist

Learn & Work

Local mentors and domain experts came throughout the event to coach the teams through the planning process. The team detailed their idea into a business plan. The team presented their ideas in front of the coaches for the feedbacks and comments.

Present & Select

The final day of the Startup Weekend Tourism focused on the validation and work on towards the final pitch to the panel of judges. Mock pitching session was held in front of mock judges which gave the participants the feel of the final pitch and also provided them with suggestion where they can improve. Participants pitched their idea in front of the jury members at the evening. All the worked thoroughly with their team members and resource persons visiting the available mentors.

 

The winning ideas were:

  1. Best Price Room
  2. Rentific It’s Terrific

 

Judges

Birendra Kumar Mishra
Birendra Kumar Mishra

Birendra Kumar Mishra is currently the Director General at the Department of Information Technology. He has served in the Nepal government for the past 27 years in different sectors like Public Service Commission, Office of the Financial Controller General, Inland Revenue Department and most recently at Department of Information Technology . He wants to promote the IT industry in Nepal so that it helps to decrease unemployment and increase the financial prosperity of the Nepalese people. He holds a Master of Science degree in Mathematics and Information Technology from India. He has been on observational tour and received advance training from UK, Australia, Malaysia and other countries. He is credited for the PAN (Permanent Account Number) system and correspondingly income tax and VAT (Value Added tax) information system development and implementation. This is the most successful project in the government sector of Nepal. It has been awarded ICT Excellence Award for public service delivery through electronic channel.

Ashok Palikhe

Ashok Palike is a former Chairman of Pokhara Chamber of commerce and industry.

Laura Watson
Laura Watson

Laura Watson is a Senior Private Sector Development Specialist with IFC working with the Nepal Investment Climate Reform Program, and leading on the support to the Nepal Business Forum and the emerging work on Tourism Investment Generation. She established her career in Sydney Australia, working in senior management roles in Australia’s largest financial services institution, AMP, before leaving the private sector to work in grass roots development in Bangladesh and from there joining the IFC to help establish the Bangladesh Investment Climate Fund, IFC’s largest global Investment Climate project. She is the author of a World Bank published paper on Malaysia’s investment generation experience.

Mentors

Organizers


Partners