For an economy saddled with a huge trade deficit (that bal­looned to Rs 1,161 billion in the last fiscal), any new production activ­ity at home is welcome news. With the continuous drainage of human resources to other countries, Nepal’s manufacturing has suffered, contrib­uting to import dependency for the smallest of consumer goods—includ­ing pencils. This is not to suggest there is pau­city of enterprising entrepreneurs in Nepal. Take the 29-year-old Nirmal Dahal. A resident of Damak, Jhapa, Dahal employs over a dozen workers in his native city. In the process he is helping reduce the monopoly of foreign products in Nepali markets. Not just that. He is protecting the environment too. He is doing all this via his Sagarmatha Pencil Udhyog.

“The idea came to me when I was working in the stationery department of a bank in Kuwait,” says Dahal. “I saw pencils made from recycled paper there and thought I should try and produce them in my own country.” Dahal returned home in 2017 and after a few months of research launched a small-scale industry.

The goal was not only to make something in Nepal, but also to cre­ate an eco-friendly industry, Dahal says. At present, the Sagarmatha Pencil Udhyog produces an average of 3,000 pencils a day and recycles around 30 tons of waste paper every month. Sagarmatha pencils are cur­rently sold in most eastern districts and they are being marketed in Kath­mandu too. “We have started selling from about 25 different stores in Kathmandu and business is slowly picking up.”

The main competitors for Sagar­matha pencils are established Indian brands that have monopolized the Nepali markets for years. In terms of operations, Sagarmatha still depends on manual labor for 40 percent of its production process, and hence the high production cost. “We are still selling at prices competitive with Indian pencils,” Dahal says. “The idea is not to compete against Indian companies but to create envi­ronment friendly products here and start a change in the country.”

Sagarmatha produces four differ­ent models of pencils at the moment and is planning new products and designs for early 2019. Due to its roots as a small-scale industry, the biggest challenge has been market expansion, Dahal says. “We are a small team and we are selling only on the basis of the orders we get. We have to penetrate new markets to be able to sell more,” he says.

Graphically designed to attract school children as well as other users, Sagarmatha pencils proudly bear the Nepali flag to distinguish them from imported products.

“We are importing millions worth of stationery products every year,” Dahal says. “I hope Sagarmatha Pen­cil Udhyog will help bridge the coun­try’s trade deficit, albeit only a bit. But hopefully other entrepreneurs like me will take note”