My Story

Intro

Nepal is known around the globe for it natural beauty, but would it come into your mind when asked about coffee? Kumud is aiming to change just that, by growing the largest producer and exporter of the highest quality organic specialty coffee and other high value agro products from Nepal.

About Me

I come from Nepal and I have a bachelor is in computers, a masters in management and I have gone into farming.

I am a very fun loving person. I enjoy being with friends, visiting different places and meeting different people. I have always been around entrepreneurs and startup organization and therefore I’ve seen the hardship that has goes into the success of making these organizations, as well as failure.

The first and the only formal organization that I ever joined was just 6 months old. The environment that I worked in right from day one was fun, pure fun, but yes at the end of the day we did have deadlines to meet and products to deliver. Like Richard Branson said you work your whole life and don’t get enough time to have fun, so why not have fun in work. I have personally experienced this. We always have fun at work, we play multiplayer computer games, party after completion of projects, watch movies, play cards during holiday season. Well, had I not become an entrepreneur, I would have had a hard time experiencing this. The fun comes along with an equal share of burden but it’s worth it. As an entrepreneur I have always had this in my mind, which I believe is very true: ‘When the going gets tough, the tough get going.’

My Venture

In a country like Nepal most educated people, especially with a MBA like me, prefer to work in banks or other big business houses. But I, along with my friends who are also MBAs, went into farming. We have started a 40 acres coffee plantation ‘Alpine Coffee Estate’ 35 kms north of the capital, Kathmandu. When we used to go around the country during our holidays, we always saw that our country has been blessed with so much natural resources. Despite of this most of the people living in Nepal are below the poverty line. We used to wonder how we could lift the livelihood of these people and at the same time have something going on for ourselves. This made us look for prospects in the agriculture sector.

As coffee is the second most traded commodity after oil and it is being grown in different parts of Nepal, it seemed to us as the best option to begin with. We did our research, went around several coffee plantations in the country, talked to different government and non-government organizations in this sector, and searched for prospective markets outside the country. After finding the results satisfactory we started looking for a location of our farm and here we are as farmers.

We are also educating the locals on efficient and effective farming methods and sustainability of organic specialty coffee. The same land that is currently being used for farming of cereals and crops can yield better produce in terms of quality and price. It’s a win-win situation for all of us, the locals with lands adjacent to ours can start plantation after studying our methods. This fetches them a better income, while we can process their products and connect them the global market. The locals’ income level will rise and so will our production level. Furthermore the estate will also be used to promote agro tourism in the area. The effects of tourism will also help improve the locality, as it is currently little known for its scenic beauty.

We are to produce organic specialty coffee beans of the highest quality from Nepal. Our coffee will be shade grown and fair trade certified. Along with the coffee we would also be selling other agricultural products like ginger concentrate, macadamia nut, avocado, etc. These products are intercropped and grown alongside coffee. Our objective is to be the largest producer and exporter of the highest quality organic specialty coffee and other high value agro products from Nepal.