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Mero Kishan is a startup that aims to directly connect farmers and consumers. The goal is to cut out the middlemen with the use of technology, thereby increasing profits for farmers and reducing prices for consumers. 

“The traditional system fails in cold chain and logistic management, particularly on fruits and vegetables,” says Abhinash Silwal, founder of Mero Kishan. “We wanted to address this issue through the use of technology”.

Mero Kishan purchases fruits and vegetables from farmers around Kathmandu Valley and advertises them on the company’s app, website and social media platforms. Clients can then shop online and have the goods delivered at their doors.

The traditional supply chain offers farmers only a small profit because they also have to pay for logistics and transport of goods. Moreover, farm goods often go through a series of middlemen or brokers before actually reaching the market. 

Silwal says both farmers and consumers suffer under the current system.

“Because of the money-hungry brokers, farmers are getting robbed of their profit and consumers are forced to pay more for farm produce,” he says. “Essentially, we wanted to remove the layer of brokers between farmers and consumers.”

The farmers involved with the company sell their goods at a comparatively higher price after deducting transport cost, thus allowing them to keep a decent profit. Once goods are sold to the company, payment is transferred within 12 hours.

“A farmer stands to make around 30 percent more profit with Mero Kishan compared to the mainstream market. Meanwhile, consumers can save up to 20 percent more,” says Silwal.  

The company maintains cold stores around Kathmandu Valley to keep fruits and vegetables fresh. It currently deals in more than 120 types of fruits and vegetables and soon plans to include dairy products in its inventory. Product prices are updated every day. 

Mero Kishan also connects farmers with agricultural experts to solve crop problems and grow produce that are low on pesticides.

Mero Kishan was started in 2019 when the culture of online grocery shopping was still in its infancy. Silwal says business thrived after the onset of the covid pandemic.   

“People wanted to get groceries without having to venture out of their homes, which led them to us,” says Silwal.

Besides ordinary households, Mero Kishan also has  corporate houses, hospitals and restaurants as its  clients. 

The company that started with 10 partner farmers has now more than 70 partner farmers in Kathmandu Valley and other parts of the country. 

“Our plan is to further extend the reach of Mero Kishan and help more farmers across the country. We are also working to produce and brand non-perishable goods on a larger scale,” says Silwal.

Mero Kishan

Establish year: 2019

Founder: Abhinash Silwal

Service location: Kathmandu valley

Price of the product: Varies depending on market

Contact: 014473938

Website: https://merokishan.com/

Santosh Pandey was already running a successful ‘gifting’ startup when he came up with the idea for ‘Oho! Cake’.

At ‘Offering Happiness’, his first company helping people send gifts and organize surprise parties for their loved ones, he had realized the potential of the cake business.

Pandey says cakes have become staples for any celebration these days but there aren’t many cake companies in Kathmandu that are consistent with their product quality and service.

“We started off with the idea of building a reputed cake business as that was what the market and the customers were missing,” he says.

Pandey and his friend Dibyesh Giri, who comes from a tech background and is currently based in the US, set up Oho! Cake in 2021. The time was not auspicious for a new business. Many businesses were either folding up or struggling to stay afloat due to covid. But food delivery was booming. Oho! Cake thus had no trouble finding customers even during the lockdown.     

Before venturing into cakes, Pandey and Giri had already done their homework. The two friends studied customer needs and identified the areas they could improve upon from what their potential competitors were offering. 

Pandey says cakes worth over Rs 5 million are sold daily in Kathmandu Valley. Most people buy ready-made cakes from their local shops or order them through delivery platforms that mostly drop-ship goods purchased from third party retailers. Moreover, he adds, there are many complaints of late delivery. 

“At Oho! Cake we guarantee delivery of freshly baked cakes to our customers within 45 minutes of order,” Pandey says. “Our motto is simple: If you value the customers’ time, your business will succeed.”

Oho! Cake runs its operations with imported machines and technology that have the capacity of preparing more than 500 cakes with customized designs in a day. It currently handles over 100 daily cake orders.

For now the company offers its service only inside Kathmandu Valley, but its co-founders are already planning to expand.

“In the initial days Oho! Cake was limited to online platform delivery, but we have recently opened our first outlet at Tinkune,” Pandey says.

The company is planning to open at least 10 more outlets in different parts of Kathmandu Valley in the first half of 2022 before branching out to other parts of the country.

“Our ultimate goal is to become the country’s largest cake chain,” says Pandey.

Entering the cake business has been a fulfilling experience for him. He takes pride and comfort knowing that Oho! Cake is part of joy and celebration for its customers.

“We get many thank you messages from our customers. Their good words give us great satisfaction and inspire us to do ever better,” says Pandey.

Oho! Cakes

Establish year: 2021
Founders: Santosh Pandey, Dibyesh Giri
Service location: Kathmandu Valley
Price of product: Varies depending on weight and design
Contact: 9886049922
Website: ohocake.com 

The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) plunged by 11.96 points to close at 2,801.56 points on Thursday.

Similarly, the sensitive dropped by 1.70 points to close at 527.28 points.

A total of 6,950,838 units of the shares of 227 companies were traded for Rs 3.82 billion.

Meanwhile, Nabil Equity Fund was the top gainer today with its price surging by 2. 76 percent. Likewise, Mithila Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited was the top loser with its price dropped by 4 percent.

At the end of the day, the total market capitalisation stood at Rs 3.95 trillion.

The country faces a huge trade deficit of Rs 880 billion in the first six months of the current fiscal year.  

In a half-year report made public by the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) on Wednesday, noticeable import is the reason behind the soaring trade deficit.

The trade loss in total goods is 46.6 percent. The loss however decreased by 5.8 percent as compared to the same period last year. In the review period, the export-import ratio has reached 11.9 percent. It was 9.2 percent in the same period last fiscal.

In these six months, imports worth Rs 191 billion was made from India, while such import in the same period of the last fiscal year was R 83.1 billion. However, the export of total goods in these six months amounted to Rs 118 billion.

Similarly, in the review period, net foreign direct investment recorded increase by 48.1 percent, thereby reaching Rs 11.34 billion.

The balance of payment is at a loss of Rs 241.23 billion. In the same period of the corresponding year, BoP loss was at Rs 124.92 billion.

Moreover, the remittance inflow decreased by 5.5 percent, thereby reaching Rs 468.45 billion in this period. RSS