Kajol Jha believes in the power of youth. She believes young people can change the world if they are given the right platform. The 29-year-old has been leading Glocal Private Limited, a consulting company that educates, engages and inspires youths to give them the much-needed leg-up in their career.  

“Young people, especially teenagers, are so much more capable than what society believes them to be. My goal has always been to offer them a platform to enhance their talents and skills,” she says.

Jha was a driven individual with a strong sense of self from a young age. She joined the company in her early twenties as a blogger for Glocal Khabar. As a writer, she wanted to promote start-ups and young achievers, while encouraging the readers to pursue their own ideas.

“There was a dearth of platforms and information for talented enterprising youths at the time,” she says of her days working as a blogger for the company. “Most stories and articles on youths were negative ones. They rarely featured their achievements, small or big.”

So Jha set out to change that with her write-ups on young and skilled entrepreneurs and their success stories.

Her own personal success came when her company asked her to lead its flagship project ‘Glocal Teen Hero’ in 2015. The project was all about recognizing the ideas and creativity of teenagers from various sectors.

Jha was required to oversee the project’s business and management side, in which she excelled. Her undergraduate study in business administration also came in handy. 

But as great as the idea was, it was equally difficult for Jha and her team to find collaborators to start the project.

She says Nepali society is by and large reluctant to place their trust on young people, let alone teenagers with innovative ideas out of which they could build a career. Many prospective collaborators dismissed the project upon learning that it was about teenagers. Parents were also reluctant to allow their children to participate.

But Jha was determined to make the project happen at any cost—if anything, the pushbacks galvanized her. After much convincing, she and her team were able to rope in five collaborators for the project.

“We had 98 participants in the first iteration of Teen Hero project. The number has gradually increased over the years, reaching 611 in 2021” Jha says proudly.

Glocal Teen Hero is held annually where young talented minds are awarded for their works. While the cash prize helps winners improve and expand their enterprises, it is the business network and opportunities that open up that is more important.    

“More than the cash award, Glocal Teen Hero is about giving winners the recognition among business leaders and entrepreneurs,” Jha says. “Being recognized among these individuals opens several doors of opportunity that helps them pave their career path.”

Over the years, the Teen Hero project has also gone international, with its own version in India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

“We want to turn this into a global community of change-making teenagers. This would provide a space for creatives from all over the world to share and work on their ideas,” say Jha, who is currently fulfilling the role of associate director at Glocal Private Limited.

Besides promoting the works and ideas of young people, Jha is also involved in the company’s e-learning platform, Glocal After School, where young individuals are given opportunities to upskill and taught to sharpen their skillsets.

It is important for Jha to make learning methods more effective and practical, particularly in the context of Nepal where many youths are traveling abroad for jobs and training.

“The vision is to promote an ecosystem of skilled youths through these trainings, ensuring the availability of jobs as well as skilled human resources within Nepal,” she says.

Jha works with equally talented and driven team members who share the passion for fostering youth entrepreneurship. They have helped many individuals on their career path at a very young age.

“If anyone can change the world, it’s the young generation. All they need is a proper platform where they can learn to hone their skills,” says Jha.