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It is now attributed as the life blood of an economic system and most economies strive to make their financial systems more efficient. It also keeps policymakers on their jobs as any problem in this sector could freeze the entire economy and even lead to a contagion. </div> <div> </div> <div> The financial services include the entire range - savings, loans, insurance, credit, payments etc. The financial system has to provide its function of transferring resources from surplus to deficit units but both deficit and surplus units are those with low incomes, poor background etc. By providing these services, the aim is to help them come out of poverty. So far, the focus has only been on delivering credit such as microcredit and has been quite successful in some countries. However, similar success has to be seen in other aspect of finance as well.</div> <div> </div> <div> In this context, financial inclusion is the most for efficient financial system and to exert positive impact in the economic growth as well as development. Financial inclusion could expediteeconomic activities and promote entrepreneurship with the maximum use of information, communication and technology-enabled services supported by an extensive Financial Literacy mission. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size: 16px;"><strong>What is Financial Inclusion?</strong></span></div> <div> Authorities and policymakers worldwide including advanced economies like the United Stateshave set up specific task force/committees to understand what financial inclusion is and how it can be achieved. </div> <div> </div> <div> Former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said: "The stark reality is that most poorpeople in the world still lack access to sustainable financial services, whether it issavings, credit or insurance. The great challenge before us is to address the constraints that exclude people from full participation in the financial sector. Together, we can and must build inclusive financial sectors that help people improve their lives.” </div> <div> </div> <div> Similarly, according to the UK Financial Inclusion Taskforce, there are three main concerns in financial inclusion; access to banking, access to affordable credit and access to freeface-to-face financial advice. Therefore, the term 'Financial Inclusion' is defined as an extension ofbanking and financial services at an affordable cost to unbanked people of thecommunity. </div> <div> </div> <div> India also set up a committee under the chairmanship of Dr. C. Rangarajan, the then Governor of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to suggest measures to increase financial inclusion in 2007. The Rangarajan committee defines financial inclusion as: "the process of ensuring access to financial services and timely and adequate credit where needed by vulnerable groups such as weaker sections and low income groups at an affordable cost." </div> <div> </div> <div> Therefore, financial inclusion means easy and affordable access of financial services by the economically poor and unbanked people of society at appropriate, low-cost, fairand safe financial products and services. Constraints of Financial Inclusion </div> <div> </div> <div> Financial Inclusion is especially needed for rural and underprivileged masses that may be the future growth engine of the economy. From the recent initiatives undertaken by the world governments to foster financial inclusion, one cannot undermine the need to include the economically underprivileged in the mainstream banking sector. However, many people across the globe are now excluded from mainstream banking. Theserange from people with low income to people with low information and accessibility to peoplewith no social security or insurance cover. The main reasons behind the financial exclusion are: </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size: 14px;"><strong>Lack of information:</strong></span> Lack of information about the role and function of banks, banking services and products, interest rates, etc. stop people from including themselves in mainstream banking. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size: 14px;"><strong>Insufficient documentation:</strong></span> Many unbanked people (even in municipalities and urban areas) areunable to show their self identification documents during the opening of a bank accountor during taking a loan. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size: 14px;"><strong>Lack of awareness:</strong></span> Many people are unaware of the banking terms andconditions laiddown by banks and regulators from time to time. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size: 14px;"><strong>High transaction costs: </strong></span>Various commercial banks across the globe levytransaction charges on credit or debit transactions, on over usage of banking services, on chequebook issuance etc. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size: 14px;"><strong>Lack of access:</strong></span> Accessibility is a problem to all those people who live ingeopolitically isolated regions. Moreover, as most of the commercial banks are locatedin the cities and surrounding area, people in rural areas mainly in least developed countries like ours have a geographical barrier in accessing banks. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size: 14px;"><strong>Illiteracy:</strong></span> Because of illiteracy, a substantial number of people are unable to takerecourse to banking services. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size: 14px;"><strong>Stringent regulations:</strong></span> Stringent regulations such as Know your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Terrorist Finance (AML-CTF) norms are also considered as hindrances for financial inclusion. Financial Inclusionin Nepal </div> <div> </div> <div> <img alt="Economy and Policy" src="/userfiles/images/ep1%20(Copy)(5).jpg" style="width: 550px; height: 286px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 10px;" /></div> <div> </div> <div> Nepal is one of the LDCs with economically challenged huge rural population. Financial Inclusion is indispensible in its case for the sustainable growth of its economy. However, even in such scenarios, many businesses have been successful in showing consistent as well as continued development. One of the most important sectors of this kind is the financial services sector. With just 2 commercial banks in the early days, the country has actually managed to expand this sector, which at present includes 31 commercial banks. Similarly in the past 30 years, different development banks, co-operatives, finance companies, insurance companies have grown by more than 10 fold.</div> <div> </div> <div> <img alt="Economy and Policy" src="/userfiles/images/ep%20(Copy)(3).jpg" style="float: left; margin: 0px 10px; width: 250px; height: 263px;" />In the mean time, branches of commercial banks, development banks and finance companies totalling at 2483 in mid of march of 2013. Of the total branches, commercial banks have occupied 1472 followed by development banks 713 and finance companies 298. Similarly, from the side of regional distribution, the majority branches of BFIs are situated in the Central Development Region totalling 1168, followed by Western Development Region 606 and Eastern Development Region 401. The minimum branches of BFIs are in the Far-Western Development Region totalling 111 followed by Mid-Western Development Region 197. </div> <div> </div> <div> Increase in number of branches of BFIs is considered as one of the indicators of financial inclusion. Banking Industry, normally, occupies a bigger chunk in the financial system. However, a larger chunk of banking services is still concentrated in urban areas. More especially, the banking services still seem to be concentrated in capital city. The districts with highest number of bank branches are Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Rupandehi with 335, 77 and 67 branches respectively. This level of reach and penetration also means that the financial inclusion is yet to strengthen to follow economic progress in the country. </div> <div> </div> <div> This sector has always been driven by a keen need of growth as well as is being pushed by various regulations. Over a period of time, this sector has deeply gone to the roots of urban, semi-urban as well as to the rural Nepal. This penetration level, in particular, has benefitted millions of people living in the country who fall below the poverty line in both the rural as well as semi-urban areas of the country.</div> <div> </div> <div> The latest figures indicate that the financial services are used only by a section of the population (around 40%) in Nepal.There is demand for these services but it has not been provided. The excluded regionsare rural, poor regions and also those living in harsh climatic conditions where it is difficult to provide these financial services. The excluded population then has to rely on informal sector for availing finance that is usually at exorbitant rates. </div> <div> </div> <div> This leads to a vicious cycle. First, high cost of finance implies that first poor person has to earn much more than someone who has access to lower cost finance. Second, the major portion of the earnings is paid to the money lender and the person can never come out of the poverty. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size: 16px;"><strong>Factors Forcing People to be Informal </strong></span></div> <div> <span style="font-size: 14px;"><strong>High cost:</strong></span> It has also been seen that poor living in urban areas don't utilize the financial services as they find financial services are costly and thus are unaffordable. Hence, even if financial services are available, the high costs deterthe poor from accessing them.</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size: 14px;"><strong>Non-price barriers: </strong></span>Access to formal financial services also requires documents of proof regarding a persons' identity, income etc. The poor people do not have these documents and thus are excluded from these services. They may also subscribe to the services initially but may not use them as actively as others because of various non-price barriers. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size: 14px;"><strong>Behavioural aspects:</strong></span> Research in behavioural economics has shown that many people are not comfortable using formal financial services. The reasons are difficulty in understanding language, various documents and conditions that come with financial services etc. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size: 16px;"><strong>Externalities of Financial Inclusion</strong></span></div> <div> There are a number of positive externalities of financial inclusion. </div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>One of theimportant effects is people able to reap the advantages of network externality of financial inclusionas the value of the entire national financial system increases.</div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Another reason as financial inclusion is a quasi-public good the consequent fuller participation by all in the financial system makes monetary policy more effective and thus enhances the prospects of noninflationary growth.</div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>One important point that is essential for financial inclusion in rural and agriculture based LDCs like ours is to ensure the growth of banking system to meet the needs of a modern economy, expansion in geographic terms and improve access to banking services. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size: 16px;"><strong>Way Forward </strong></span></div> <div> In order to strengthen the financial inclusion in the country, NRB as the monetary authority of country, has been adopting some promotional measures so far such as providing additional incentives to BFIs to go to the remote as well as underprivileged areas. Similarly, it has been encouraging the microfinance institutions to be more inclusive while directing the commercial banks to lent a given portion of their loan portfolio to the deprived sectors. </div> <div> </div> <div> However, the indicators of financial inclusion are yet to improve. In this context, the following measures should be adopted under the existing infrastructure framework to speed up the financial inclusion in Nepal. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size: 14px;"><strong>Postal Network:</strong></span> The government should consider tying up with BFIs to deliver financial solutions to the un-banked, using its extensive postal network. The synergistic outreach of the existing postal system supplemented by banking functions is the answer to the challenges posed by rural markets. As Nepal has the largest postal network in the remotest areas, the excluded masses can graduallyconnect with the full-fledged banking services. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size: 14px;"><strong>Mobile Banking:</strong></span> The transaction costs can be radically reduced even in remote locations through mobile banking. The costs, which ease of access for the consumers and the profitability of provider will ultimately opt the level of wireless services. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size: 14px;"><strong>Use of Technology:</strong></span> Rural banking can be expanded in an easy and user friendly way through universal technology with innovative applications. The role of various ICT tools and associated technologies in providing financial solutions to the unbanked is also substantial. Rural ATMs, plastic cards like smart cards, biometric cards including mobile payment (branchless banking) technologies do have the ability to engage the unbanked sections. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size: 14px;"><strong>Financial Literacy: </strong></span>Steps have to be taken by the government for the expansion of banking services and linking of opportunities among various segments of financial sector like capital markets, insurance, etc. To achieve this aim the government should come up with an extensive campaign of financial literacy. </div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2014-02-20', 'modified' => '2014-02-20', 'keywords' => 'new business age economy & policy news & articles, economy & policy news & articles from new business age nepal, economy & policy headlines from nepal, current and latest economy & policy news from nepal, economic news from nepal, nepali economy & policy economic news and events, ongoing economy', 'description' => 'The financial system has to provide its function of transferring resources from surplus to deficit units but both deficit and surplus units are those with low incomes and poor background etc.', 'sortorder' => '2481', 'image' => null, 'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '0' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2604', 'article_category_id' => '145', 'title' => 'Firming Up An Educational Institution’s Brand: Challenges And Choices', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> <strong>--By Roshee Lamichhane</strong></div> <div> </div> <div> About a decade ago, there was never a need for educational institutions to aggressively market themselves, as the demand for quality education generally outgrew supply. Today, however, with increasing competition, there is a growing awareness within this community on the importance of marketing a school or college. They are also making conscious efforts to establish the institutional brand, attract quality students, and stay ahead of competition at all times.</div> <div> </div> <div> Research points to the fact that Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) and Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) are increasingly evaluating marketing outsourcing and the growing maturity of marketing services that can be outsourced. This research evidence emphasizes that marketing outsourcing will soon become a key outsourced function globally, much in the lines of Finance and Accounting, Human Resources, Logistics, Security, and Legal services.</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:16px;"><strong>Emergence of MPO Companies</strong></span></div> <div> Marketing Process Outsourcing (MPO) companies provide organizations with measurable, high-impact, and cost-efficient outsourcing solutions and deliver value by partnering with them as an extended arm. The services they render to marketing are something analogous to what Finance and Accounts Officers (FAOs) do to the F & A function of an organization. They resort to componentizing all key marketing functions and sub-functions. Later, they build processes for each of these in such a way that they can be delivered by leveraging the best functional and domain knowledge banks. They also use best global practices in the most efficient and cost effective manner either onsite or remotely. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:16px;"><strong>Role of PMPs </strong></span></div> <div> The role of Professional Marketing Partners (PMPs) becomes at once important as the education space is, slowly but surely, realizing the need to have a professional and cost-effective marketing set-up in place that proactively and continuously communicates with the target segment, rather than engaging only in seasonal marketing efforts.</div> <div> </div> <div> Engaging the services of a PMP has become the first step towards firming up an educational institution’s brand through a pro-active marketing program to reach your target segment. The logic and rationale are simple: “they not only possess a deep marketing expertise and an in-depth understanding of the education marketing, but design and deliver compelling solutions customized to its needs”. Educational Branding and Marketing Services and Solutions generally include but are not limited to:</div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Admission Marketing: Offering tried and tested program mix to help expand admission outreach and attract quality students.</div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Placement Connect: Providing continuous engagement with corporate houses to increase student placement opportunities, to supplement or substitute institution’s placement office.</div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Online Reputation: Leveraging social and other online/digital media to enhance the brand value of the institution and engage effectively with the ecosystem.</div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Ecosystem Engagement: Crafting marketing strategies such as alumni engagement programs, corporate branding, etc., covering all stakeholders—including corporate, faculty, parents, and alumni—to facilitate continuous interaction and support to the institution.</div> <div> </div> <div> This continuous engagement with a Professional Marketing Partner helps:</div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Attract and increase quality of students every year</div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Retain top faculty </div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Increase student placement opportunities through continuous interaction with businesses </div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Optimize cost of acquisition per candidate </div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Increase support from alumni and benefactors</div> <div> </div> <div> There are several pioneering MPO agencies that have been helping the education community on how to market a school/college and formulate winning marketing strategies to effectively engage with the ecosystem, build a sustainable brand, and address the challenges faced by them. Their distilled experiences enable them to identify the key challenges faced by their client organizations in the marketing function. They align their services to help Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) and Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) address some of these challenges and bridge the gaps while improving the efficiency/effectiveness of their marketing function. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:16px;"><strong>Challenges</strong></span></div> <div> Some of the typical challenges in the context of branding and marketing an educational institution include:</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>People and hiring challenges</strong></span></div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>It is difficult and expensive to build in-house expertise for all the key programmes that firms need to run</div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>A significant part of a company’s bandwidth is consumed by low-impact tactical work, leaving very little time for strategic marketing work</div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Training people is a big challenge and businesses will seldom be able to hire experienced practitioners and best practices are difficult to come by</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Lack of outsourced expertise</strong></span></div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>It is tough to find the right outsourced resources. Advertising, design and web agencies offer little strategic insights and are seldom aligned with the firm’s strategic business objectives</div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>External agencies seldom bring the practitioners’ view to the table and would like to work with someone who has done this before</div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Monitoring metrics and ROI on marketing programmes is a big challenge</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Cost challenges</strong></span></div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Companies are always under pressure to do more with their marketing budgets and resources, but their costs don’t seem to be going down</div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Companies’ marketing requirements are globally distributed, but their costs and people are not</div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Businesses would like to leverage shared services to benefit from economies of scale and process efficiencies but there are no marketing shared services offerings easily available</div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Companies don’t want to invest in building expensive in-house resources or teams for certain tactical marketing competencies or for cyclical or part-time marketing requirements</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:16px;"><strong>Marketing Outsourcing Partnership Model for SMBs</strong></span></div> <div> The services of MPO companies extend from managing specific functions or processes for large marketing organizations to running the complete marketing function for SMBs. Generally, the Marketing Outsourcing Partnership (MOP) Model is backed by an expert team of marketing professionals with significant expertise in global marketing. They offer their clients a range of ‘marketing in a box’ and ‘marketing on demand’ outsourcing options that include full function outsourcing, outsourcing of specific projects and programmes as well as their execution.</div> <div style="text-align: right;"> <em>(Lamichhane is Manager, Business Development, at Chaudhary Group)</em></div> <div> </div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2014-02-18', 'modified' => '2014-02-20', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'Marketing Process Outsourcing (MPO) companies provide organizations with measurable, high-impact, and cost-efficient outsourcing solutions and deliver value by partnering with them as an extended arm.', 'sortorder' => '2480', 'image' => null, 'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '0' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2636', 'article_category_id' => '48', 'title' => 'Electric Thoughts', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> </div> <div> <div> <strong>--By Madan Lamsal</strong></div> <div> </div> <div> <img alt="No Laughing Matter" src="/userfiles/images/nlm%20(Copy)(1).jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 0px 10px; width: 300px; height: 369px;" />Twelve hours of power-cut, popularly known as load-shedding is a matter of pride for Nepal. It is undoubtedly so for state power monopoly, Nepal Electricity Authority, NEA. The act of shedding a load in its literal meaning too is a good thing. After such shedding one is bound to feel light like a feather, who immediately takes on to dancing with flying finesse.</div> <div> </div> <div> There is no reason that lack of electricity supply should stop you to feel proud and productive if you can think in the speed of electric current itself; like the bosses in NEA do. The other week they organized a press meet to make their scoop achievement public: ‘there will be no more than eighty hours of load-shedding per week. We are working all day to make sure that it doesn’t increase even during the on-setting dry season.’</div> <div> </div> <div> In fact, there was no need of organizing such a press meet as every Nepali by now has accepted the fact that we cannot live without load-shedding. It has become such an undeniable part of our lives that we are now all prepared to make it our heritage. One more along the line of Mt Everest, Lumbini or Durbar Square. The biggest advantage of this is: whole country can become a world heritage site, as load-shedding is not limited to a small area, like cities of archaeological or natural significance.</div> <div> </div> <div> The load-shedding can contribute in a great way to the economic prosperity of the nation. The recent growth stories of our neighbours India and China has been attributed to the outcome of demographic dividend, meaning that since they have more people the growth is faster. Our load-shedding can contribute greatly to baby-boom. As there is no light for long hours right since the evening, couples can be more productive.</div> <div> </div> <div> Recently, there were news reports that some energy-intensive factories like sugar mills got closed due to load-shedding. That is in fact very good news. Low production of sugar will reduce the chances of diabetes in the populace and they don’t have to worry about the doctors who prefer to go for strikes than to serve the patients.</div> <div> </div> <div> You must have heard about electric shocks, electric jolts or electric drinks, meaning our famed bijulipaani. But I have introduced here a very new concept of electric thought. It flows like the electricity itself and once guided to certain direction, it hardly changes the direction or comes back. New NEA executive director recently enlightened us by revealing that load-shedding is caused not only because less amount of electricity was produced but also due to lack of transmission lines to transport the produce. There are not enough transmission lines even to bring in the electricity India is prepared to give. When private producers start production, this bottleneck is sure to remain there. It is apparent that the electric thought of NEA so far was directed only to the production of electricity. Yet, NEA’s electric thought has not been redirected to other than production aspect, to ensure longer years of power outages even when there is production aplenty.</div> <div> </div> <div> Some thoughts were non-electric so they did never reach the other end of the objectives. We heard the plans of setting up diesel plants of some 120 MW, heard about bio fuel-fed generators and augmenting the supply by solar panels or air turbines. But these were the plans never implemented, duly understanding the importance of the load-shedding for the country.</div> <div> </div> <div> By all standards, the very concept of load-shedding is the true personification of the electric thought. Everybody knows, darkness can travel faster than the electricity itself. Therefore NEA needed to call a press conference to explain there is ensured darkness for any foreseeable years. It was a great idea propelled by none other than the electric thought to make presence of NEA felt to the public.</div> </div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2014-02-20', 'modified' => '2014-02-20', 'keywords' => 'new business age no laughing matter news & articles, no laughing matter news & articles from new business age nepal, no laughing matter headlines from nepal, current and latest no laughing matter news from nepal, economic news from nepal, nepali no laughing matter economic news and events, ongoing', 'description' => 'Twelve hours of power-cut, popularly known as load-shedding is a matter of pride for Nepal. It is undoubtedly so for state power monopoly, Nepal Electricity Authority, NEA. The act of shedding a load in its literal meaning too is a good thing. After such shedding one is bound to feel light like a feather, who immediately takes on to dancing with flying finesse.', 'sortorder' => '2479', 'image' => null, 'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '0' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2635', 'article_category_id' => '199', 'title' => 'Tech Briefs (17 - 23 February 2014)', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>India Telecoms Auction Raises $10bn </strong></span></div> <div> India’s mobile phone firms have bid almost $10bn (£6bn) in a key auction for the country’s second-generation (2G) telecoms licences. The amount far exceeded the government’s target of $1.8bn, and will be used to shrink its budget deficit. The government will get at least $3bn initially as companies have to pay up to a third of the winning price now, with the rest by 2026. The winners included Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Reliance Industries. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Android Extends Gains on Apple, Windows Phone is 3rd</strong></span></div> <div> The Google Android system extended its gains over Apple’s iPhoneglobally in the last quarter of 2013, and Windows Phone grabbed the number three market position, a survey showed Wednesday. The IDC survey found Android had a 78.1 percent share of global smartphone shipments in the fourth quarter, bolstered by a 40 percent jump in the number of handsets delivered. Apple got only a modest boost in the fourth quarter from the release of its new iPhones, with sales up 6.7 percent compared with a year earlier. That means its market shareslipped to 17.6 percent from 20.9 percent, according to IDC. The Microsoft Windows Phone platform saw a 46.7 percent year-over-year rise in sales, which pushed its market share to three percent.</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Smartglasses that Help Surgeons See Cancerous Cells</strong></span></div> <div> If you think cancer removal surgery is but a one-time procedure, you’d be wrong. Doctors don’t always cut out all affected tissues in one go, but a new pair of high-tech eyewear could help make that happen. The device, developed by a Washington University research team led by Samuel Achilefu, can make cancer cells perfectly visible to surgeons as they operate. It’s loaded with custom software that makes cancerous cells glow blue (due to a molecular imaging agent that gives it color) to anyone wearing the headset. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>New Website Lets You Video Chat with Avatars of Dead People</strong></span></div> <div> A new website createsvirtual avatars of the dead so that their loved ones can video chat with them after they are gone. The website ‘Eterni.me’ is a startup by engineers, designers and business people, part of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology ( MIT)’s Entrepreneurship Development Program. The team claims to have developed a means by which a person can be digitally reconstructed after their death. The service needs to be provided with a person’s chat logs, social-network information, photos, and e-mails, and it uses this information to reconstruct a person’s memories and mannerisms, ‘CNET’ reported. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>‘Business Microscope’ to Track Employees’ Every Move at Workplace</strong></span></div> <div> A Japanese company has developed a device that can track everything you do in the workplace — from how long you have been sitting idle to how often you visit the lavatory. Hitachi, the electronics maker, has created the device, called ‘Business Microscope’, which looks like a badge or ID card and contains chips and sensors to record an employee’s behaviour. It detects to whom you have spoken, how often, where and how energetically. The gadget also reads your colleagues’ badges and judges the distance between people talking, The Times reported. It tells bosses how often an employee leaves their seat, how far they walk and where they go. It would also be able to judge how often a person speaks in a meeting and report on how much they contribute to group sessions.</div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2014-02-19', 'modified' => '2014-02-20', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'India’s mobile phone firms have bid almost $10bn (£6bn) in a key auction for the country’s second-generation (2G) telecoms licences.', 'sortorder' => '2478', 'image' => null, 'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '0' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2633', 'article_category_id' => '212', 'title' => 'Samsung Galaxy S5 Tipped To Come With Bezel-Free Display', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> </div> <div> According to a report by The Korea Herald citing industry sources, the Samsung Galaxy S5 will launch with a bezel-free display. The Korean giant has reportedly been working on the technology since 2012.</div> <div> </div> <div> The yet to be revealed smartphone is also said to feature a fingerprint scanner – right in line with previous reports. The fingerprint reader is reportedly embedded in the display and will only be available at its bottom left and right sides. Screen panels with full support for fingerprint scanning are tipped for the second half </div> <div> of this year.</div> <div> </div> <div> Furthermore, the next generation Samsung Galaxy S will reportedly be even slimmer than its predecessor. The feat will be achieved via a new display panel technology which will replace the currently used four-layer setup featuring indium tin oxide.</div> <div> </div> <div> In addition to making the smartphone slimmer, the new display technology will bring improved energy efficiency and viewing accuracy. According to an image of Galaxy S5’s alleged retail box, the phone’s display will be a 5.25” unit with QHD (2,560 x 1,600 pixels) resolution.</div> <div> </div> <div> Samsung Galaxy S5 will be officially unveiled in less than two weeks, on February 24 in Barcelona. We will be there live, so be sure to tune in for the full scoop on the flagship. (GSMArena)</div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2014-02-19', 'modified' => '2014-02-20', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'According to a report by The Korea Herald citing industry sources, the Samsung Galaxy S5 will launch with a bezel-free display. The Korean giant has reportedly been working on the technology since 2012', 'sortorder' => '2477', 'image' => null, 'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '0' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2634', 'article_category_id' => '213', 'title' => 'Business Briefs (17 - 23 February 2014)', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Godrej’s New Refrigerators and Washing Machines</strong></span></div> <div> Eol Pvt Ltd, the sole authorized distributor for Godrej appliances in Nepal has launched Godrej Edge Pro refrigerator models and Godrej Eon Glitz washing machine in the market. According to the company, the refrigerators have features like Stay Cool technology, jumbo vegetable tray, large freezer and shelf space, and are CFC, HFC, and HCFC free. The refrigerators ar available in various colours and their capacity ranges from 190 to 240 litres. Similarly, the washing machines have features like Aquajet Pulsator, gravity drum and digital control panel among others. The refrigerators come with a 2-year warranty and the washing machines come with one-year warranty.</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Worldlink Ties Up With eSewa</strong></span></div> <div> Worldlink Communications Pvt Ltd has tied up with e-Sewa for online bill payment system. With this, the customers of Worldlink can make the online payment of the services through eSewa. eSewa is a digital payment portal for online transaction for payment to various merchants and transfer funds to various banks among other services. The service has been made available from February 10, 2014.</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Pooja International Launches Kobelco Construction Equipment</strong></span></div> <div> Pooja International Nepal Pvt Ltd under Vishal Group Automotive Division has acquired the sole importer and dealership of Kobelco Construction Equipment India Pvt Limited (KCEI) for Nepal. KCEI, a subsidiary of Kobelco Construction Machinery, Japan has manufacturing facility in Andhra Pradesh, India. Pooja International also launched Kobelco excavator on 13th February. According to the company, the excavators are the most fuel efficient in its segment and offer higher productivity. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Colors’ New Range of Bar Phones</strong></span></div> <div> Colors Mobile has launched seven different models of bar phones in Fighter Series for the year 2014. The launched phones are F28, F25, F21, F15n, F12, F9 and F7n. According to the company, the models have individual unique features like big battery, big screen, stylish look, big speaker and wireless FM among others. The price of the phones ranges from Rs 1645 to Rs 2745. Colors is providing a 1-year warranty for the handsets and six months warranty for battery.</div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2014-02-19', 'modified' => '2014-02-20', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'Eol Pvt Ltd, the sole authorized distributor for Godrej appliances in Nepal has launched Godrej Edge Pro refrigerator models and Godrej Eon Glitz washing machine in the market.', 'sortorder' => '2476', 'image' => null, 'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '0' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2632', 'article_category_id' => '212', 'title' => 'BlackBerry Octa-core 64-bit Device By 2015', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> </div> <div> The rumored BlackBerry Ontario, which is apart of the O-series, recently had benchmarks surface. BlackBerry will be utilizing the 2.3GHz Snapdragon MSM8974 quad-core Krait in the Ontario. Additionally, BlackBerry will utilize this same MSM8974 Qualcomm chip in the W-series (QWERTY device) and B-series (All-touch). </div> <div> Even though the future of high-end BlackBerry devices seems strong, it has had us all wanting more.</div> <div> </div> <div> Reaching out to a few sources, we’ve confirmed that BlackBerry has been planning to utilize the SnapdragonMSM8994. This chip uses the 20 nm HKMG process and uses an octa-core 64-bit architecture. Each core can reach a frequency of up to 2.5 GHz with 4MB L2 cache.</div> <div> </div> <div> Will BlackBerry still continue on the path to an octa-core device now that John Chen is the CEO? If so, the plan is to have it ready by summer of 2015.</div> <div> </div> <div> BlackBerry employees working on such projects haven’t yet been told they’re canceled. However, what the future may hold for high-end BlackBerry devices is anything less than transparent. (N4BB)</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Other features of the MSM8994 include:</strong></span></div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>1600MHz 4GB RAM LPDDR3 PoP</div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Adreno 430 500 MHz</div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Pixel fill Rate 6Gpix / s</div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Vertex 500Mtri / s</div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>OpenGL ES3.0, direct x11.1, OpenCL1.2</div> <div> </div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2014-02-19', 'modified' => '2014-02-19', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'The rumored BlackBerry Ontario, which is apart of the O-series, recently had benchmarks surface. BlackBerry will be utilizing the 2.3GHz Snapdragon MSM8974 quad-core Krait in the Ontario', 'sortorder' => '2475', 'image' => null, 'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '0' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2630', 'article_category_id' => '202', 'title' => 'An Entrepreneur’s Love For Music', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> </div> <div> <strong>--By Upashana Neupane</strong></div> <div> </div> <div> Bajra and Bajracharya Enterprises’ Managing Director Prakas Bajracharya is a man of balance. Along with being a successful businessman, he has equally managed his beyond office hours for his family. He claims that he is devoted and committed to his family and spends his weekly holidays and spare time with his family. </div> <div> </div> <div> Bajracharya shares that he often makes foreign business visits and that he enjoys such trips with his family as much as possible. While doing his work, he also makes the best of it and enjoys business trips. He finds New York as the best place for shopping and Mauritius as the best place for family holiday.</div> <div> </div> <div> Everything he has is the outcome of his meticulous planning, according to him. Bajracharya has a unique habit of working during the mid-night hours, between 10 pm to 2 am. “It’s peaceful during these hours and it allows me to focus,” he shares. He thinks it is the perfect time to work and make business plans because no one disturbs him these hours from concentrating.“This planning helps me stay ahead and remain on guard to cater to the needs of customers and the business during my office hours”, he shares.</div> <div> </div> <div> Bajracharya is fitness conscious. Every morning he goes to gym and sweats out for one to two hours. He also loves swimming for refreshment but that is only in summer. He believes that health is our biggest asset and opines that if we have a good health, we have everything. When he is in peace and to himself, Bajracharya loves scribbling poems and has deep love for writing. He has written several songs and even got recorded some of them in the voice of prominent Bollywood singers like Sunidhi Chauhan, and Kollywood singers like Babin Pradhan, Hemanta Rana, among others. An containing five songs in the voices of these singers with music composition of Om Bikram Bista is already launched.</div> <div> </div> <div> Bajracharya remembers that he had been in love for writing since childhood and maintained a diary. “My writing habit started with diary writing”, he shares. “I used to write all the things that I did throughout the day, things I need to do, and the surprising and unplanned things that happened to me,” he shares, “This gradually improved my writing habit and the quality of writing.” He remembers the gradual development of his diary writing habit into love for writing poems and then into songs writing. </div> <div> </div> <div> As a passionate music lover, he has his own list of favourite musical figures. Michael Jackson, Enrique, and Jennifer Lopez top the list among western singers and Sunidhi Chauhan, Sonu Nigam and Adnan Sami in Bollywood singers. Bajracharya acted in one of his album’s video and is happy with his musical journey and the feedback he’s got so far. Apart from the love for music, Bajracharya also has love for books. He prefers reading non-fiction to fiction, especially those that provide creative ideas. He also loves reading biographies of prominent people. His all time favourite has been the book on Steve Jobs. He doesn’t miss even a single book by American entrepreneur Donald Trump.</div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2014-02-18', 'modified' => '2014-02-23', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'Bajra and Bajracharya Enterprises’ Managing Director Prakas Bajracharya is a man of balance. Along with being a successful businessman, he has equally managed his beyond office hours for his family. He claims that he is devoted and committed to his family and spends his weekly holidays and spare time with his family.', 'sortorder' => '2474', 'image' => null, 'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '0' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2631', 'article_category_id' => '212', 'title' => 'Nokia Touts Video Recording In New Lumia Phone', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> </div> <div> Nokia is selling a new Windows phone that promises enhanced video-recording capabilities.The new Lumia Icon sports four microphones, compared with the one or two typically found in smartphones. The two on the front are activated when making phone calls, while the two on the rear are used when taking video — to better capture sound coming from the subjects.</div> <div> </div> <div> The Icon takes video in 1080p high-definition resolution as well as still images of up to 19 megapixels. The resolution for still images isn't as sharp as the 38-megapixel maximum on Nokia's flagship Lumia 1020, but that allows the Icon camera to be flatter, without a protruding lens.</div> <div> </div> <div> Nokia is one of the main companies making phones based on Microsoft's Windows Phone 8 system. The system is growing in use, but it lags iPhones and Android devices in market share. Many apps come to iPhones and Android devices first.</div> <div> </div> <div> Microsoft Corp. is trying to boost its Windows Phone system as sales of traditional personal computers decline. Microsoft is buying Nokia's phone business and patent rights for $7.3 billion in a deal expected to be completed by the end of March.</div> <div> </div> <div> The Lumia Icon will be available starting Feb. 20 through Verizon Wireless for $200 with a two-year service contract, or $550 without.</div> <div> </div> <div> The Icon is similar to Nokia Corp.'s Lumia 1520, except its screen measures just 5 inches diagonally, compared with 6 inches on the 1520. The 1520 is available only through AT&T.</div> <div> </div> <div> The Icon supports wireless re-charging and works with a variety of charging mats and other accessories sold separately. (AP)</div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2014-02-19', 'modified' => '2014-02-19', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'Nokia is selling a new Windows phone that promises enhanced video-recording capabilities.The new Lumia Icon sports four microphones, compared with the one or two typically found in smartphones. The two on the front are activated when making phone calls, while the two on the rear are used when taking video — to better capture sound coming from the subjects.', 'sortorder' => '2473', 'image' => null, 'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '0' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2626', 'article_category_id' => '99', 'title' => 'Ang Tshiring And Ang Dendi Win Club Championship', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> </div> <div> Ang Tshring Sherpa was declared gross champion and Ang Dendi Sherpa was nett champion after the final round of Surya Nepal Gokarna Monthly Medal final round played at Gokarna Forest Resort on 8th February. Ang Tshiring Sherpa turned in a card of 10 over par on a challenging round to win the trophy and title ahead of Prabhat Singh. Ang Dendi scored three under par 69 and accumulated 320 points to defeat the leader from 11 rounds, Rekha Ghimire by 60 points.</div> <div> </div> <div> On the Medal round, Ang Dendi Sherpa won the first prize, Sonam Ongdi Lama scored one-under 71 to finish second. Daman Ghale was second runner-up with the score of one over 73. Tashi Ghale won the best gross award with the score of 82 (ten over par) on the count back.</div> <div> </div> <div> Top 30 players from the last 10 medal rounds qualified to play the final two rounds along with top three gross scorers of each medal rounds. Out of those who qualified, 19 players took part in the final edition. Club President Suhrid Ghimire and Brand Manager of Surya Nepal Pvt Ltd Keshav Pradhan gave away the prizes to the winners.</div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2014-02-18', 'modified' => '2014-02-19', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'Ang Tshring Sherpa was declared gross champion and Ang Dendi Sherpa was nett champion after the final round of Surya Nepal Gokarna Monthly Medal final round played at Gokarna Forest Resort on 8th February.', 'sortorder' => '2472', 'image' => null, 'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '0' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2629', 'article_category_id' => '100', 'title' => 'Tourism Briefs (17 - 23 February 2014)', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> <span style="font-size:16px;"><strong>India to Roll-Out Global Visa-On-Arrival System</strong></span></div> <div> <img alt="" src="/userfiles/images/tt3%20(Copy)(4).jpg" style="float: left; margin: 0px 10px 0px 0px;width: 200px; height: 143px;" />India will soon offer visa-on-arrival (VOA) to citizens of almost every country in the world, authorities have revealed. The country’s much-maligned tourist visa processing system will be completely overhauled, in an effort to allow the country to achieve a greater share of global visitor arrivals. Announcing the decision in Delhi late on Wednesday, planning minister Rajiv Shukla told reporters; “We have decided to extend the visa-on-arrival facility to tourists from 180 nations.” This marks a major upgrade from the an original plan mooted in October last year, which suggested the VOA scheme could be offered to 40 countries, including the UK, US, France, Germany, China, Russia, Brazil, Australia, the UAE and Saudi Arabia. Under the expanded plan however, tourists from almost every nation on Earth will be able to apply for VOA to India. The only major exceptions are Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Iraq, which have been omitted on security grounds. Bangladesh is among the countries included. (Traveldailymedia.com)</div> <div> </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:16px;"><strong>80% Tripadvisor Users Read Up To 12 Reviews before Choosing a Hotel </strong></span></div> <div> <img alt="" src="/userfiles/images/tt4%20(Copy)(4).jpg" style="float: left; margin: 0px 10px 0px 0px;width: 200px; height: 136px;" />TripAdvisor announced the results of an independent study that underscores how essential online traveller reviews are in the research and booking process. The study reveals that more than half of global respondents do not want to make a booking commitment until they read reviews and find out what other travellers thought about the property. According to the study, respondents turn to TripAdvisor on a regular basis. Twenty nine percent visit the site several times a month, 12 percent say they check the site at least once a week and 26 percent regularly use the site more than once a week. Overall, this means that 67 percent of respondents check TripAdvisor a few times a month or more. More than 80 percent say the site’s reviews help them feel more confident in their travel decisions, and help them to have a better trip. Of those polled, 93 percent of respondents feel that a hotel stay is very important to the overall trip experience. (Traveldailynews.com)</div> <div> </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:16px;"><strong>Global Ad Campaign Urges Tourists to Boycott Botswana </strong></span></div> <div> <img alt="" src="/userfiles/images/tt5%20(Copy)(3).jpg" style="float: left; margin: 0px 10px 0px 0px;width: 250px; height: 127px;" />Survival International – the global movement for tribal peoples’ rights – has launched a worldwide advertising campaign highlighting Botswana’s persecution of Africa’s last hunting Bushmen. Under the headline ‘Discover the hidden secrets of Botswana’, the ad exposes Botswana’s use of glossy and contrived images of Bushmen to attract tourists, while at the same time using violence and torture to deport the Bushmen from their ancestral land in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. The ad is being published in five languages (English, French, German, Spanish and Italian) and will be placed in luxury and travel magazines and newspapers worldwide. The first ad has appeared in the March issue of Wired Magazine. Botswana’s government has been persecuting its first people for decades in an attempt to drive them from their land. Banned from hunting, and forced to apply for permits to enter the reserve, they are now being pushed to the brink of extinction. The ad urges tourists to join Survival’s boycott and not go to Botswana until the Bushmen are allowed to live on their land in peace. (Traveldailynews.com)</div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2014-02-18', 'modified' => '2014-02-27', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'India will soon offer visa-on-arrival (VOA) to citizens of almost every country in the world, authorities have revealed. The country’s much-maligned tourist visa processing system will be completely overhauled, in an effort to allow the country to achieve a greater share of global visitor arrivals', 'sortorder' => '2471', 'image' => null, 'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '0' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2628', 'article_category_id' => '99', 'title' => 'Tripadvisor Honours Hyatt Regency Kathmandu', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> Hyatt Regency Kathmandu is named as one of the ‘Top 10 Hotels in Nepal’ in the Tripadvisor’s 2014 Travellers’ Choice awards, arriving in third place. In the twelfth year of the awards, the world’s most outstanding properties were identified in the categories of Top Hotel, Bargain, B and Bs and Inns, Family, Luxury, Romance, and Small Hotel. The winners of the Travellers’ Choice awards were determined by the reviews and opinions of millions of TripAdvisor travellers from around the globe.</div> <div> </div> <div> “We at Hyatt Regency Kathmandu feel privileged to have been named as one of the top ten hotels in Nepal for the second year in a row by the prestigious Travellers’ Choice Awards. TripAdvisor’s vast community and in-depth reviews help us to realise our shortcomings, so we can constantly work towards providing a better quality of service,” said Suman Shrestha, Director of Marketing for Hyatt Regency Kathmandu.</div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2014-02-18', 'modified' => '2014-02-18', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'Hyatt Regency Kathmandu is named as one of the ‘Top 10 Hotels in Nepal’ in the Tripadvisor’s 2014 Travellers’ Choice awards, arriving in third place.', 'sortorder' => '2470', 'image' => null, 'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '0' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2624', 'article_category_id' => '99', 'title' => 'Soaltee Re-launches Barbeque Lunch', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> <div> </div> <div> <strong>--By TC Correspondent</strong></div> <div> </div> <div> Hotel Soaltee Crowne Plaza has re-launched its barbeque buffet lunch from 15th February. The lunch starts from 12:30 PM till 3 PM every Saturday and Sunday at the poolside of the hotel. The poolside offers a warm ambience, a beautiful garden and reviving music for a great outdoor dining experience. The buffet features Mediterranean, Australian, Oriental, Indian and South East Asian barbeque delicacies along with a selection of soups, salads, and desserts. </div> <div> </div> <div> The delicacies offered includes pasta varieties and grilled dishes like Citrus Marinated Tiger Prawns, Fresh water trout and Australian pork chop among others. Vegetarians can enjoy grill veggies like Mushroom and Tofu Dengaku, Tori Tare along with freshly baked breads.</div> <div> </div> <div> A scrumptious variety of desserts are also available, like Sweet Sabayon in mini tequila glass, Flambéed French Crepes, Juicy Fudge Bullets and more. The menu is priced at Rs 1800 plus taxes for adults and Rs 1000 plus taxes for child below 10 years. It also includes a complimentary glass of wine or a bottle of beer or a can of Coke. Hotel Soaltee is the place to be every weekend if you want to unwind and enjoy scrumptious barbeque varieties. </div> </div> <p> </p>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2014-02-18', 'modified' => '2014-02-23', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'Hotel Soaltee Crowne Plaza has re-launched its barbeque buffet lunch from 15th February. The lunch starts from 12:30 PM till 3 PM every Saturday and Sunday at the poolside of the hotel.', 'sortorder' => '2469', 'image' => null, 'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '0' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2627', 'article_category_id' => '99', 'title' => 'Simrik Takes Seniors Citizens For Mountain Flight', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> Simrik Airlines organised a special mountain flight for the elderly people from Pashupati Briddhashram on 10th February. The airline took 12 senior citizens over the age of 70 for the flight, providing them an opportunity to watch Mount Gauri Shanker, Mount Ganesh and Mount Everest. The flight was organized in the management of Managing Director of Simrik Airlines Rajendra Bahadur Singh, and pilots Gopal Singh Bista and Riwaz Prasad Pradhan along with flight attendants Sony Shrestha and Shreya Basnet briefed the elderly during the mountain flight. </div> <div> </div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2014-02-18', 'modified' => '2014-02-18', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'Simrik Airlines organised a special mountain flight for the elderly people from Pashupati Briddhashram on 10th February.', 'sortorder' => '2468', 'image' => null, 'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '0' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2622', 'article_category_id' => '152', 'title' => 'Some Rules To Healthy Life', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> Ayurveda is a branch of medicine which originated and is practiced in South Asia for more than 5000 years. It is as fresh and useful to humans today as it was in the ancient times yet more relevant and applicable in these modern times. Its use provides a holistic approach to our daily lives.</div> <div> </div> <div> • <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>The Ayurvedic ‘dincharya’ or daily schedule helps to bring about peace and harmony in one’s life.</div> <div> </div> <div> • <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Ayurvedic daily life routines are meant to enhance the total health of man, both mental and physical. They are easy to follow and are not liable to cause trauma of any kind to the body or mind.</div> <div> </div> <div> • <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>According to ayurvedic lifestyle, one should get 7-8 hours sleep daily. On waking up in the morning, one should drink a glass of warm water which helps in flushing out toxins collected in the body overnight. One should wake up early in the morning and go for a walk</div> <div> </div> <div> • <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Personal hygiene is essential for a consistent good health. Regular brushing of teeth and tongue freshens the mouth, keeps the teeth healthy and removes the cause of bad breath. Brushing of teeth is preferably done after every meal. Washing of face should include washing eyes, nose and ears. Nails and hair should be kept trimmed and clean.</div> <div> </div> <div> • <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>All meals should be regularly taken and at a set time daily so as to keep the body system functioning optimally. Food items from nature are best for regular meals.</div> <div> </div> <div> • <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Clean clothes should be worn daily. It is more beneficial to wear clothes made out of cotton, silk, linens and wool which are natural fibers.</div> <div> </div> <div> • <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>One should do regular light exercises to keep the body supple and improve blood circulation to all parts of the body. Regular exercise includes walking, swimming and yoga amongst other light exercises, helping to maintain good health by making a person mentally relaxed and more active, alert, happy and strong.</div> <div> </div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2014-02-18', 'modified' => '2014-02-18', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'Ayurveda is a branch of medicine which originated and is practiced in South Asia for more than 5000 years. It is as fresh and useful to humans today as it was in the ancient times yet more relevant and applicable in these modern times. Its use provides a holistic approach to our daily lives.', 'sortorder' => '2467', 'image' => null, 'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '0' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = falseinclude - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
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It is now attributed as the life blood of an economic system and most economies strive to make their financial systems more efficient. It also keeps policymakers on their jobs as any problem in this sector could freeze the entire economy and even lead to a contagion. </div> <div> </div> <div> The financial services include the entire range - savings, loans, insurance, credit, payments etc. The financial system has to provide its function of transferring resources from surplus to deficit units but both deficit and surplus units are those with low incomes, poor background etc. By providing these services, the aim is to help them come out of poverty. So far, the focus has only been on delivering credit such as microcredit and has been quite successful in some countries. However, similar success has to be seen in other aspect of finance as well.</div> <div> </div> <div> In this context, financial inclusion is the most for efficient financial system and to exert positive impact in the economic growth as well as development. Financial inclusion could expediteeconomic activities and promote entrepreneurship with the maximum use of information, communication and technology-enabled services supported by an extensive Financial Literacy mission. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size: 16px;"><strong>What is Financial Inclusion?</strong></span></div> <div> Authorities and policymakers worldwide including advanced economies like the United Stateshave set up specific task force/committees to understand what financial inclusion is and how it can be achieved. </div> <div> </div> <div> Former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said: "The stark reality is that most poorpeople in the world still lack access to sustainable financial services, whether it issavings, credit or insurance. The great challenge before us is to address the constraints that exclude people from full participation in the financial sector. Together, we can and must build inclusive financial sectors that help people improve their lives.” </div> <div> </div> <div> Similarly, according to the UK Financial Inclusion Taskforce, there are three main concerns in financial inclusion; access to banking, access to affordable credit and access to freeface-to-face financial advice. Therefore, the term 'Financial Inclusion' is defined as an extension ofbanking and financial services at an affordable cost to unbanked people of thecommunity. </div> <div> </div> <div> India also set up a committee under the chairmanship of Dr. C. Rangarajan, the then Governor of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to suggest measures to increase financial inclusion in 2007. The Rangarajan committee defines financial inclusion as: "the process of ensuring access to financial services and timely and adequate credit where needed by vulnerable groups such as weaker sections and low income groups at an affordable cost." </div> <div> </div> <div> Therefore, financial inclusion means easy and affordable access of financial services by the economically poor and unbanked people of society at appropriate, low-cost, fairand safe financial products and services. Constraints of Financial Inclusion </div> <div> </div> <div> Financial Inclusion is especially needed for rural and underprivileged masses that may be the future growth engine of the economy. From the recent initiatives undertaken by the world governments to foster financial inclusion, one cannot undermine the need to include the economically underprivileged in the mainstream banking sector. However, many people across the globe are now excluded from mainstream banking. Theserange from people with low income to people with low information and accessibility to peoplewith no social security or insurance cover. The main reasons behind the financial exclusion are: </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size: 14px;"><strong>Lack of information:</strong></span> Lack of information about the role and function of banks, banking services and products, interest rates, etc. stop people from including themselves in mainstream banking. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size: 14px;"><strong>Insufficient documentation:</strong></span> Many unbanked people (even in municipalities and urban areas) areunable to show their self identification documents during the opening of a bank accountor during taking a loan. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size: 14px;"><strong>Lack of awareness:</strong></span> Many people are unaware of the banking terms andconditions laiddown by banks and regulators from time to time. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size: 14px;"><strong>High transaction costs: </strong></span>Various commercial banks across the globe levytransaction charges on credit or debit transactions, on over usage of banking services, on chequebook issuance etc. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size: 14px;"><strong>Lack of access:</strong></span> Accessibility is a problem to all those people who live ingeopolitically isolated regions. Moreover, as most of the commercial banks are locatedin the cities and surrounding area, people in rural areas mainly in least developed countries like ours have a geographical barrier in accessing banks. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size: 14px;"><strong>Illiteracy:</strong></span> Because of illiteracy, a substantial number of people are unable to takerecourse to banking services. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size: 14px;"><strong>Stringent regulations:</strong></span> Stringent regulations such as Know your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Terrorist Finance (AML-CTF) norms are also considered as hindrances for financial inclusion. Financial Inclusionin Nepal </div> <div> </div> <div> <img alt="Economy and Policy" src="/userfiles/images/ep1%20(Copy)(5).jpg" style="width: 550px; height: 286px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 10px;" /></div> <div> </div> <div> Nepal is one of the LDCs with economically challenged huge rural population. Financial Inclusion is indispensible in its case for the sustainable growth of its economy. However, even in such scenarios, many businesses have been successful in showing consistent as well as continued development. One of the most important sectors of this kind is the financial services sector. With just 2 commercial banks in the early days, the country has actually managed to expand this sector, which at present includes 31 commercial banks. Similarly in the past 30 years, different development banks, co-operatives, finance companies, insurance companies have grown by more than 10 fold.</div> <div> </div> <div> <img alt="Economy and Policy" src="/userfiles/images/ep%20(Copy)(3).jpg" style="float: left; margin: 0px 10px; width: 250px; height: 263px;" />In the mean time, branches of commercial banks, development banks and finance companies totalling at 2483 in mid of march of 2013. Of the total branches, commercial banks have occupied 1472 followed by development banks 713 and finance companies 298. Similarly, from the side of regional distribution, the majority branches of BFIs are situated in the Central Development Region totalling 1168, followed by Western Development Region 606 and Eastern Development Region 401. The minimum branches of BFIs are in the Far-Western Development Region totalling 111 followed by Mid-Western Development Region 197. </div> <div> </div> <div> Increase in number of branches of BFIs is considered as one of the indicators of financial inclusion. Banking Industry, normally, occupies a bigger chunk in the financial system. However, a larger chunk of banking services is still concentrated in urban areas. More especially, the banking services still seem to be concentrated in capital city. The districts with highest number of bank branches are Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Rupandehi with 335, 77 and 67 branches respectively. This level of reach and penetration also means that the financial inclusion is yet to strengthen to follow economic progress in the country. </div> <div> </div> <div> This sector has always been driven by a keen need of growth as well as is being pushed by various regulations. Over a period of time, this sector has deeply gone to the roots of urban, semi-urban as well as to the rural Nepal. This penetration level, in particular, has benefitted millions of people living in the country who fall below the poverty line in both the rural as well as semi-urban areas of the country.</div> <div> </div> <div> The latest figures indicate that the financial services are used only by a section of the population (around 40%) in Nepal.There is demand for these services but it has not been provided. The excluded regionsare rural, poor regions and also those living in harsh climatic conditions where it is difficult to provide these financial services. The excluded population then has to rely on informal sector for availing finance that is usually at exorbitant rates. </div> <div> </div> <div> This leads to a vicious cycle. First, high cost of finance implies that first poor person has to earn much more than someone who has access to lower cost finance. Second, the major portion of the earnings is paid to the money lender and the person can never come out of the poverty. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size: 16px;"><strong>Factors Forcing People to be Informal </strong></span></div> <div> <span style="font-size: 14px;"><strong>High cost:</strong></span> It has also been seen that poor living in urban areas don't utilize the financial services as they find financial services are costly and thus are unaffordable. Hence, even if financial services are available, the high costs deterthe poor from accessing them.</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size: 14px;"><strong>Non-price barriers: </strong></span>Access to formal financial services also requires documents of proof regarding a persons' identity, income etc. The poor people do not have these documents and thus are excluded from these services. They may also subscribe to the services initially but may not use them as actively as others because of various non-price barriers. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size: 14px;"><strong>Behavioural aspects:</strong></span> Research in behavioural economics has shown that many people are not comfortable using formal financial services. The reasons are difficulty in understanding language, various documents and conditions that come with financial services etc. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size: 16px;"><strong>Externalities of Financial Inclusion</strong></span></div> <div> There are a number of positive externalities of financial inclusion. </div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>One of theimportant effects is people able to reap the advantages of network externality of financial inclusionas the value of the entire national financial system increases.</div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Another reason as financial inclusion is a quasi-public good the consequent fuller participation by all in the financial system makes monetary policy more effective and thus enhances the prospects of noninflationary growth.</div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>One important point that is essential for financial inclusion in rural and agriculture based LDCs like ours is to ensure the growth of banking system to meet the needs of a modern economy, expansion in geographic terms and improve access to banking services. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size: 16px;"><strong>Way Forward </strong></span></div> <div> In order to strengthen the financial inclusion in the country, NRB as the monetary authority of country, has been adopting some promotional measures so far such as providing additional incentives to BFIs to go to the remote as well as underprivileged areas. Similarly, it has been encouraging the microfinance institutions to be more inclusive while directing the commercial banks to lent a given portion of their loan portfolio to the deprived sectors. </div> <div> </div> <div> However, the indicators of financial inclusion are yet to improve. In this context, the following measures should be adopted under the existing infrastructure framework to speed up the financial inclusion in Nepal. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size: 14px;"><strong>Postal Network:</strong></span> The government should consider tying up with BFIs to deliver financial solutions to the un-banked, using its extensive postal network. The synergistic outreach of the existing postal system supplemented by banking functions is the answer to the challenges posed by rural markets. As Nepal has the largest postal network in the remotest areas, the excluded masses can graduallyconnect with the full-fledged banking services. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size: 14px;"><strong>Mobile Banking:</strong></span> The transaction costs can be radically reduced even in remote locations through mobile banking. The costs, which ease of access for the consumers and the profitability of provider will ultimately opt the level of wireless services. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size: 14px;"><strong>Use of Technology:</strong></span> Rural banking can be expanded in an easy and user friendly way through universal technology with innovative applications. The role of various ICT tools and associated technologies in providing financial solutions to the unbanked is also substantial. Rural ATMs, plastic cards like smart cards, biometric cards including mobile payment (branchless banking) technologies do have the ability to engage the unbanked sections. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size: 14px;"><strong>Financial Literacy: </strong></span>Steps have to be taken by the government for the expansion of banking services and linking of opportunities among various segments of financial sector like capital markets, insurance, etc. To achieve this aim the government should come up with an extensive campaign of financial literacy. </div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2014-02-20', 'modified' => '2014-02-20', 'keywords' => 'new business age economy & policy news & articles, economy & policy news & articles from new business age nepal, economy & policy headlines from nepal, current and latest economy & policy news from nepal, economic news from nepal, nepali economy & policy economic news and events, ongoing economy', 'description' => 'The financial system has to provide its function of transferring resources from surplus to deficit units but both deficit and surplus units are those with low incomes and poor background etc.', 'sortorder' => '2481', 'image' => null, 'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '0' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2604', 'article_category_id' => '145', 'title' => 'Firming Up An Educational Institution’s Brand: Challenges And Choices', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> <strong>--By Roshee Lamichhane</strong></div> <div> </div> <div> About a decade ago, there was never a need for educational institutions to aggressively market themselves, as the demand for quality education generally outgrew supply. Today, however, with increasing competition, there is a growing awareness within this community on the importance of marketing a school or college. They are also making conscious efforts to establish the institutional brand, attract quality students, and stay ahead of competition at all times.</div> <div> </div> <div> Research points to the fact that Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) and Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) are increasingly evaluating marketing outsourcing and the growing maturity of marketing services that can be outsourced. This research evidence emphasizes that marketing outsourcing will soon become a key outsourced function globally, much in the lines of Finance and Accounting, Human Resources, Logistics, Security, and Legal services.</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:16px;"><strong>Emergence of MPO Companies</strong></span></div> <div> Marketing Process Outsourcing (MPO) companies provide organizations with measurable, high-impact, and cost-efficient outsourcing solutions and deliver value by partnering with them as an extended arm. The services they render to marketing are something analogous to what Finance and Accounts Officers (FAOs) do to the F & A function of an organization. They resort to componentizing all key marketing functions and sub-functions. Later, they build processes for each of these in such a way that they can be delivered by leveraging the best functional and domain knowledge banks. They also use best global practices in the most efficient and cost effective manner either onsite or remotely. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:16px;"><strong>Role of PMPs </strong></span></div> <div> The role of Professional Marketing Partners (PMPs) becomes at once important as the education space is, slowly but surely, realizing the need to have a professional and cost-effective marketing set-up in place that proactively and continuously communicates with the target segment, rather than engaging only in seasonal marketing efforts.</div> <div> </div> <div> Engaging the services of a PMP has become the first step towards firming up an educational institution’s brand through a pro-active marketing program to reach your target segment. The logic and rationale are simple: “they not only possess a deep marketing expertise and an in-depth understanding of the education marketing, but design and deliver compelling solutions customized to its needs”. Educational Branding and Marketing Services and Solutions generally include but are not limited to:</div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Admission Marketing: Offering tried and tested program mix to help expand admission outreach and attract quality students.</div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Placement Connect: Providing continuous engagement with corporate houses to increase student placement opportunities, to supplement or substitute institution’s placement office.</div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Online Reputation: Leveraging social and other online/digital media to enhance the brand value of the institution and engage effectively with the ecosystem.</div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Ecosystem Engagement: Crafting marketing strategies such as alumni engagement programs, corporate branding, etc., covering all stakeholders—including corporate, faculty, parents, and alumni—to facilitate continuous interaction and support to the institution.</div> <div> </div> <div> This continuous engagement with a Professional Marketing Partner helps:</div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Attract and increase quality of students every year</div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Retain top faculty </div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Increase student placement opportunities through continuous interaction with businesses </div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Optimize cost of acquisition per candidate </div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Increase support from alumni and benefactors</div> <div> </div> <div> There are several pioneering MPO agencies that have been helping the education community on how to market a school/college and formulate winning marketing strategies to effectively engage with the ecosystem, build a sustainable brand, and address the challenges faced by them. Their distilled experiences enable them to identify the key challenges faced by their client organizations in the marketing function. They align their services to help Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) and Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) address some of these challenges and bridge the gaps while improving the efficiency/effectiveness of their marketing function. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:16px;"><strong>Challenges</strong></span></div> <div> Some of the typical challenges in the context of branding and marketing an educational institution include:</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>People and hiring challenges</strong></span></div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>It is difficult and expensive to build in-house expertise for all the key programmes that firms need to run</div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>A significant part of a company’s bandwidth is consumed by low-impact tactical work, leaving very little time for strategic marketing work</div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Training people is a big challenge and businesses will seldom be able to hire experienced practitioners and best practices are difficult to come by</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Lack of outsourced expertise</strong></span></div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>It is tough to find the right outsourced resources. Advertising, design and web agencies offer little strategic insights and are seldom aligned with the firm’s strategic business objectives</div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>External agencies seldom bring the practitioners’ view to the table and would like to work with someone who has done this before</div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Monitoring metrics and ROI on marketing programmes is a big challenge</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Cost challenges</strong></span></div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Companies are always under pressure to do more with their marketing budgets and resources, but their costs don’t seem to be going down</div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Companies’ marketing requirements are globally distributed, but their costs and people are not</div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Businesses would like to leverage shared services to benefit from economies of scale and process efficiencies but there are no marketing shared services offerings easily available</div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Companies don’t want to invest in building expensive in-house resources or teams for certain tactical marketing competencies or for cyclical or part-time marketing requirements</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:16px;"><strong>Marketing Outsourcing Partnership Model for SMBs</strong></span></div> <div> The services of MPO companies extend from managing specific functions or processes for large marketing organizations to running the complete marketing function for SMBs. Generally, the Marketing Outsourcing Partnership (MOP) Model is backed by an expert team of marketing professionals with significant expertise in global marketing. They offer their clients a range of ‘marketing in a box’ and ‘marketing on demand’ outsourcing options that include full function outsourcing, outsourcing of specific projects and programmes as well as their execution.</div> <div style="text-align: right;"> <em>(Lamichhane is Manager, Business Development, at Chaudhary Group)</em></div> <div> </div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2014-02-18', 'modified' => '2014-02-20', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'Marketing Process Outsourcing (MPO) companies provide organizations with measurable, high-impact, and cost-efficient outsourcing solutions and deliver value by partnering with them as an extended arm.', 'sortorder' => '2480', 'image' => null, 'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '0' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2636', 'article_category_id' => '48', 'title' => 'Electric Thoughts', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> </div> <div> <div> <strong>--By Madan Lamsal</strong></div> <div> </div> <div> <img alt="No Laughing Matter" src="/userfiles/images/nlm%20(Copy)(1).jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 0px 10px; width: 300px; height: 369px;" />Twelve hours of power-cut, popularly known as load-shedding is a matter of pride for Nepal. It is undoubtedly so for state power monopoly, Nepal Electricity Authority, NEA. The act of shedding a load in its literal meaning too is a good thing. After such shedding one is bound to feel light like a feather, who immediately takes on to dancing with flying finesse.</div> <div> </div> <div> There is no reason that lack of electricity supply should stop you to feel proud and productive if you can think in the speed of electric current itself; like the bosses in NEA do. The other week they organized a press meet to make their scoop achievement public: ‘there will be no more than eighty hours of load-shedding per week. We are working all day to make sure that it doesn’t increase even during the on-setting dry season.’</div> <div> </div> <div> In fact, there was no need of organizing such a press meet as every Nepali by now has accepted the fact that we cannot live without load-shedding. It has become such an undeniable part of our lives that we are now all prepared to make it our heritage. One more along the line of Mt Everest, Lumbini or Durbar Square. The biggest advantage of this is: whole country can become a world heritage site, as load-shedding is not limited to a small area, like cities of archaeological or natural significance.</div> <div> </div> <div> The load-shedding can contribute in a great way to the economic prosperity of the nation. The recent growth stories of our neighbours India and China has been attributed to the outcome of demographic dividend, meaning that since they have more people the growth is faster. Our load-shedding can contribute greatly to baby-boom. As there is no light for long hours right since the evening, couples can be more productive.</div> <div> </div> <div> Recently, there were news reports that some energy-intensive factories like sugar mills got closed due to load-shedding. That is in fact very good news. Low production of sugar will reduce the chances of diabetes in the populace and they don’t have to worry about the doctors who prefer to go for strikes than to serve the patients.</div> <div> </div> <div> You must have heard about electric shocks, electric jolts or electric drinks, meaning our famed bijulipaani. But I have introduced here a very new concept of electric thought. It flows like the electricity itself and once guided to certain direction, it hardly changes the direction or comes back. New NEA executive director recently enlightened us by revealing that load-shedding is caused not only because less amount of electricity was produced but also due to lack of transmission lines to transport the produce. There are not enough transmission lines even to bring in the electricity India is prepared to give. When private producers start production, this bottleneck is sure to remain there. It is apparent that the electric thought of NEA so far was directed only to the production of electricity. Yet, NEA’s electric thought has not been redirected to other than production aspect, to ensure longer years of power outages even when there is production aplenty.</div> <div> </div> <div> Some thoughts were non-electric so they did never reach the other end of the objectives. We heard the plans of setting up diesel plants of some 120 MW, heard about bio fuel-fed generators and augmenting the supply by solar panels or air turbines. But these were the plans never implemented, duly understanding the importance of the load-shedding for the country.</div> <div> </div> <div> By all standards, the very concept of load-shedding is the true personification of the electric thought. Everybody knows, darkness can travel faster than the electricity itself. Therefore NEA needed to call a press conference to explain there is ensured darkness for any foreseeable years. It was a great idea propelled by none other than the electric thought to make presence of NEA felt to the public.</div> </div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2014-02-20', 'modified' => '2014-02-20', 'keywords' => 'new business age no laughing matter news & articles, no laughing matter news & articles from new business age nepal, no laughing matter headlines from nepal, current and latest no laughing matter news from nepal, economic news from nepal, nepali no laughing matter economic news and events, ongoing', 'description' => 'Twelve hours of power-cut, popularly known as load-shedding is a matter of pride for Nepal. It is undoubtedly so for state power monopoly, Nepal Electricity Authority, NEA. The act of shedding a load in its literal meaning too is a good thing. After such shedding one is bound to feel light like a feather, who immediately takes on to dancing with flying finesse.', 'sortorder' => '2479', 'image' => null, 'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '0' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2635', 'article_category_id' => '199', 'title' => 'Tech Briefs (17 - 23 February 2014)', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>India Telecoms Auction Raises $10bn </strong></span></div> <div> India’s mobile phone firms have bid almost $10bn (£6bn) in a key auction for the country’s second-generation (2G) telecoms licences. The amount far exceeded the government’s target of $1.8bn, and will be used to shrink its budget deficit. The government will get at least $3bn initially as companies have to pay up to a third of the winning price now, with the rest by 2026. The winners included Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Reliance Industries. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Android Extends Gains on Apple, Windows Phone is 3rd</strong></span></div> <div> The Google Android system extended its gains over Apple’s iPhoneglobally in the last quarter of 2013, and Windows Phone grabbed the number three market position, a survey showed Wednesday. The IDC survey found Android had a 78.1 percent share of global smartphone shipments in the fourth quarter, bolstered by a 40 percent jump in the number of handsets delivered. Apple got only a modest boost in the fourth quarter from the release of its new iPhones, with sales up 6.7 percent compared with a year earlier. That means its market shareslipped to 17.6 percent from 20.9 percent, according to IDC. The Microsoft Windows Phone platform saw a 46.7 percent year-over-year rise in sales, which pushed its market share to three percent.</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Smartglasses that Help Surgeons See Cancerous Cells</strong></span></div> <div> If you think cancer removal surgery is but a one-time procedure, you’d be wrong. Doctors don’t always cut out all affected tissues in one go, but a new pair of high-tech eyewear could help make that happen. The device, developed by a Washington University research team led by Samuel Achilefu, can make cancer cells perfectly visible to surgeons as they operate. It’s loaded with custom software that makes cancerous cells glow blue (due to a molecular imaging agent that gives it color) to anyone wearing the headset. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>New Website Lets You Video Chat with Avatars of Dead People</strong></span></div> <div> A new website createsvirtual avatars of the dead so that their loved ones can video chat with them after they are gone. The website ‘Eterni.me’ is a startup by engineers, designers and business people, part of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology ( MIT)’s Entrepreneurship Development Program. The team claims to have developed a means by which a person can be digitally reconstructed after their death. The service needs to be provided with a person’s chat logs, social-network information, photos, and e-mails, and it uses this information to reconstruct a person’s memories and mannerisms, ‘CNET’ reported. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>‘Business Microscope’ to Track Employees’ Every Move at Workplace</strong></span></div> <div> A Japanese company has developed a device that can track everything you do in the workplace — from how long you have been sitting idle to how often you visit the lavatory. Hitachi, the electronics maker, has created the device, called ‘Business Microscope’, which looks like a badge or ID card and contains chips and sensors to record an employee’s behaviour. It detects to whom you have spoken, how often, where and how energetically. The gadget also reads your colleagues’ badges and judges the distance between people talking, The Times reported. It tells bosses how often an employee leaves their seat, how far they walk and where they go. It would also be able to judge how often a person speaks in a meeting and report on how much they contribute to group sessions.</div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2014-02-19', 'modified' => '2014-02-20', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'India’s mobile phone firms have bid almost $10bn (£6bn) in a key auction for the country’s second-generation (2G) telecoms licences.', 'sortorder' => '2478', 'image' => null, 'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '0' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2633', 'article_category_id' => '212', 'title' => 'Samsung Galaxy S5 Tipped To Come With Bezel-Free Display', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> </div> <div> According to a report by The Korea Herald citing industry sources, the Samsung Galaxy S5 will launch with a bezel-free display. The Korean giant has reportedly been working on the technology since 2012.</div> <div> </div> <div> The yet to be revealed smartphone is also said to feature a fingerprint scanner – right in line with previous reports. The fingerprint reader is reportedly embedded in the display and will only be available at its bottom left and right sides. Screen panels with full support for fingerprint scanning are tipped for the second half </div> <div> of this year.</div> <div> </div> <div> Furthermore, the next generation Samsung Galaxy S will reportedly be even slimmer than its predecessor. The feat will be achieved via a new display panel technology which will replace the currently used four-layer setup featuring indium tin oxide.</div> <div> </div> <div> In addition to making the smartphone slimmer, the new display technology will bring improved energy efficiency and viewing accuracy. According to an image of Galaxy S5’s alleged retail box, the phone’s display will be a 5.25” unit with QHD (2,560 x 1,600 pixels) resolution.</div> <div> </div> <div> Samsung Galaxy S5 will be officially unveiled in less than two weeks, on February 24 in Barcelona. We will be there live, so be sure to tune in for the full scoop on the flagship. (GSMArena)</div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2014-02-19', 'modified' => '2014-02-20', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'According to a report by The Korea Herald citing industry sources, the Samsung Galaxy S5 will launch with a bezel-free display. The Korean giant has reportedly been working on the technology since 2012', 'sortorder' => '2477', 'image' => null, 'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '0' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2634', 'article_category_id' => '213', 'title' => 'Business Briefs (17 - 23 February 2014)', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Godrej’s New Refrigerators and Washing Machines</strong></span></div> <div> Eol Pvt Ltd, the sole authorized distributor for Godrej appliances in Nepal has launched Godrej Edge Pro refrigerator models and Godrej Eon Glitz washing machine in the market. According to the company, the refrigerators have features like Stay Cool technology, jumbo vegetable tray, large freezer and shelf space, and are CFC, HFC, and HCFC free. The refrigerators ar available in various colours and their capacity ranges from 190 to 240 litres. Similarly, the washing machines have features like Aquajet Pulsator, gravity drum and digital control panel among others. The refrigerators come with a 2-year warranty and the washing machines come with one-year warranty.</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Worldlink Ties Up With eSewa</strong></span></div> <div> Worldlink Communications Pvt Ltd has tied up with e-Sewa for online bill payment system. With this, the customers of Worldlink can make the online payment of the services through eSewa. eSewa is a digital payment portal for online transaction for payment to various merchants and transfer funds to various banks among other services. The service has been made available from February 10, 2014.</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Pooja International Launches Kobelco Construction Equipment</strong></span></div> <div> Pooja International Nepal Pvt Ltd under Vishal Group Automotive Division has acquired the sole importer and dealership of Kobelco Construction Equipment India Pvt Limited (KCEI) for Nepal. KCEI, a subsidiary of Kobelco Construction Machinery, Japan has manufacturing facility in Andhra Pradesh, India. Pooja International also launched Kobelco excavator on 13th February. According to the company, the excavators are the most fuel efficient in its segment and offer higher productivity. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Colors’ New Range of Bar Phones</strong></span></div> <div> Colors Mobile has launched seven different models of bar phones in Fighter Series for the year 2014. The launched phones are F28, F25, F21, F15n, F12, F9 and F7n. According to the company, the models have individual unique features like big battery, big screen, stylish look, big speaker and wireless FM among others. The price of the phones ranges from Rs 1645 to Rs 2745. Colors is providing a 1-year warranty for the handsets and six months warranty for battery.</div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2014-02-19', 'modified' => '2014-02-20', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'Eol Pvt Ltd, the sole authorized distributor for Godrej appliances in Nepal has launched Godrej Edge Pro refrigerator models and Godrej Eon Glitz washing machine in the market.', 'sortorder' => '2476', 'image' => null, 'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '0' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2632', 'article_category_id' => '212', 'title' => 'BlackBerry Octa-core 64-bit Device By 2015', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> </div> <div> The rumored BlackBerry Ontario, which is apart of the O-series, recently had benchmarks surface. BlackBerry will be utilizing the 2.3GHz Snapdragon MSM8974 quad-core Krait in the Ontario. Additionally, BlackBerry will utilize this same MSM8974 Qualcomm chip in the W-series (QWERTY device) and B-series (All-touch). </div> <div> Even though the future of high-end BlackBerry devices seems strong, it has had us all wanting more.</div> <div> </div> <div> Reaching out to a few sources, we’ve confirmed that BlackBerry has been planning to utilize the SnapdragonMSM8994. This chip uses the 20 nm HKMG process and uses an octa-core 64-bit architecture. Each core can reach a frequency of up to 2.5 GHz with 4MB L2 cache.</div> <div> </div> <div> Will BlackBerry still continue on the path to an octa-core device now that John Chen is the CEO? If so, the plan is to have it ready by summer of 2015.</div> <div> </div> <div> BlackBerry employees working on such projects haven’t yet been told they’re canceled. However, what the future may hold for high-end BlackBerry devices is anything less than transparent. (N4BB)</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Other features of the MSM8994 include:</strong></span></div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>1600MHz 4GB RAM LPDDR3 PoP</div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Adreno 430 500 MHz</div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Pixel fill Rate 6Gpix / s</div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Vertex 500Mtri / s</div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>OpenGL ES3.0, direct x11.1, OpenCL1.2</div> <div> </div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2014-02-19', 'modified' => '2014-02-19', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'The rumored BlackBerry Ontario, which is apart of the O-series, recently had benchmarks surface. BlackBerry will be utilizing the 2.3GHz Snapdragon MSM8974 quad-core Krait in the Ontario', 'sortorder' => '2475', 'image' => null, 'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '0' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2630', 'article_category_id' => '202', 'title' => 'An Entrepreneur’s Love For Music', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> </div> <div> <strong>--By Upashana Neupane</strong></div> <div> </div> <div> Bajra and Bajracharya Enterprises’ Managing Director Prakas Bajracharya is a man of balance. Along with being a successful businessman, he has equally managed his beyond office hours for his family. He claims that he is devoted and committed to his family and spends his weekly holidays and spare time with his family. </div> <div> </div> <div> Bajracharya shares that he often makes foreign business visits and that he enjoys such trips with his family as much as possible. While doing his work, he also makes the best of it and enjoys business trips. He finds New York as the best place for shopping and Mauritius as the best place for family holiday.</div> <div> </div> <div> Everything he has is the outcome of his meticulous planning, according to him. Bajracharya has a unique habit of working during the mid-night hours, between 10 pm to 2 am. “It’s peaceful during these hours and it allows me to focus,” he shares. He thinks it is the perfect time to work and make business plans because no one disturbs him these hours from concentrating.“This planning helps me stay ahead and remain on guard to cater to the needs of customers and the business during my office hours”, he shares.</div> <div> </div> <div> Bajracharya is fitness conscious. Every morning he goes to gym and sweats out for one to two hours. He also loves swimming for refreshment but that is only in summer. He believes that health is our biggest asset and opines that if we have a good health, we have everything. When he is in peace and to himself, Bajracharya loves scribbling poems and has deep love for writing. He has written several songs and even got recorded some of them in the voice of prominent Bollywood singers like Sunidhi Chauhan, and Kollywood singers like Babin Pradhan, Hemanta Rana, among others. An containing five songs in the voices of these singers with music composition of Om Bikram Bista is already launched.</div> <div> </div> <div> Bajracharya remembers that he had been in love for writing since childhood and maintained a diary. “My writing habit started with diary writing”, he shares. “I used to write all the things that I did throughout the day, things I need to do, and the surprising and unplanned things that happened to me,” he shares, “This gradually improved my writing habit and the quality of writing.” He remembers the gradual development of his diary writing habit into love for writing poems and then into songs writing. </div> <div> </div> <div> As a passionate music lover, he has his own list of favourite musical figures. Michael Jackson, Enrique, and Jennifer Lopez top the list among western singers and Sunidhi Chauhan, Sonu Nigam and Adnan Sami in Bollywood singers. Bajracharya acted in one of his album’s video and is happy with his musical journey and the feedback he’s got so far. Apart from the love for music, Bajracharya also has love for books. He prefers reading non-fiction to fiction, especially those that provide creative ideas. He also loves reading biographies of prominent people. His all time favourite has been the book on Steve Jobs. He doesn’t miss even a single book by American entrepreneur Donald Trump.</div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2014-02-18', 'modified' => '2014-02-23', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'Bajra and Bajracharya Enterprises’ Managing Director Prakas Bajracharya is a man of balance. Along with being a successful businessman, he has equally managed his beyond office hours for his family. He claims that he is devoted and committed to his family and spends his weekly holidays and spare time with his family.', 'sortorder' => '2474', 'image' => null, 'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '0' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2631', 'article_category_id' => '212', 'title' => 'Nokia Touts Video Recording In New Lumia Phone', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> </div> <div> Nokia is selling a new Windows phone that promises enhanced video-recording capabilities.The new Lumia Icon sports four microphones, compared with the one or two typically found in smartphones. The two on the front are activated when making phone calls, while the two on the rear are used when taking video — to better capture sound coming from the subjects.</div> <div> </div> <div> The Icon takes video in 1080p high-definition resolution as well as still images of up to 19 megapixels. The resolution for still images isn't as sharp as the 38-megapixel maximum on Nokia's flagship Lumia 1020, but that allows the Icon camera to be flatter, without a protruding lens.</div> <div> </div> <div> Nokia is one of the main companies making phones based on Microsoft's Windows Phone 8 system. The system is growing in use, but it lags iPhones and Android devices in market share. Many apps come to iPhones and Android devices first.</div> <div> </div> <div> Microsoft Corp. is trying to boost its Windows Phone system as sales of traditional personal computers decline. Microsoft is buying Nokia's phone business and patent rights for $7.3 billion in a deal expected to be completed by the end of March.</div> <div> </div> <div> The Lumia Icon will be available starting Feb. 20 through Verizon Wireless for $200 with a two-year service contract, or $550 without.</div> <div> </div> <div> The Icon is similar to Nokia Corp.'s Lumia 1520, except its screen measures just 5 inches diagonally, compared with 6 inches on the 1520. The 1520 is available only through AT&T.</div> <div> </div> <div> The Icon supports wireless re-charging and works with a variety of charging mats and other accessories sold separately. (AP)</div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2014-02-19', 'modified' => '2014-02-19', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'Nokia is selling a new Windows phone that promises enhanced video-recording capabilities.The new Lumia Icon sports four microphones, compared with the one or two typically found in smartphones. The two on the front are activated when making phone calls, while the two on the rear are used when taking video — to better capture sound coming from the subjects.', 'sortorder' => '2473', 'image' => null, 'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '0' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2626', 'article_category_id' => '99', 'title' => 'Ang Tshiring And Ang Dendi Win Club Championship', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> </div> <div> Ang Tshring Sherpa was declared gross champion and Ang Dendi Sherpa was nett champion after the final round of Surya Nepal Gokarna Monthly Medal final round played at Gokarna Forest Resort on 8th February. Ang Tshiring Sherpa turned in a card of 10 over par on a challenging round to win the trophy and title ahead of Prabhat Singh. Ang Dendi scored three under par 69 and accumulated 320 points to defeat the leader from 11 rounds, Rekha Ghimire by 60 points.</div> <div> </div> <div> On the Medal round, Ang Dendi Sherpa won the first prize, Sonam Ongdi Lama scored one-under 71 to finish second. Daman Ghale was second runner-up with the score of one over 73. Tashi Ghale won the best gross award with the score of 82 (ten over par) on the count back.</div> <div> </div> <div> Top 30 players from the last 10 medal rounds qualified to play the final two rounds along with top three gross scorers of each medal rounds. Out of those who qualified, 19 players took part in the final edition. Club President Suhrid Ghimire and Brand Manager of Surya Nepal Pvt Ltd Keshav Pradhan gave away the prizes to the winners.</div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2014-02-18', 'modified' => '2014-02-19', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'Ang Tshring Sherpa was declared gross champion and Ang Dendi Sherpa was nett champion after the final round of Surya Nepal Gokarna Monthly Medal final round played at Gokarna Forest Resort on 8th February.', 'sortorder' => '2472', 'image' => null, 'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '0' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2629', 'article_category_id' => '100', 'title' => 'Tourism Briefs (17 - 23 February 2014)', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> <span style="font-size:16px;"><strong>India to Roll-Out Global Visa-On-Arrival System</strong></span></div> <div> <img alt="" src="/userfiles/images/tt3%20(Copy)(4).jpg" style="float: left; margin: 0px 10px 0px 0px;width: 200px; height: 143px;" />India will soon offer visa-on-arrival (VOA) to citizens of almost every country in the world, authorities have revealed. The country’s much-maligned tourist visa processing system will be completely overhauled, in an effort to allow the country to achieve a greater share of global visitor arrivals. Announcing the decision in Delhi late on Wednesday, planning minister Rajiv Shukla told reporters; “We have decided to extend the visa-on-arrival facility to tourists from 180 nations.” This marks a major upgrade from the an original plan mooted in October last year, which suggested the VOA scheme could be offered to 40 countries, including the UK, US, France, Germany, China, Russia, Brazil, Australia, the UAE and Saudi Arabia. Under the expanded plan however, tourists from almost every nation on Earth will be able to apply for VOA to India. The only major exceptions are Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Iraq, which have been omitted on security grounds. Bangladesh is among the countries included. (Traveldailymedia.com)</div> <div> </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:16px;"><strong>80% Tripadvisor Users Read Up To 12 Reviews before Choosing a Hotel </strong></span></div> <div> <img alt="" src="/userfiles/images/tt4%20(Copy)(4).jpg" style="float: left; margin: 0px 10px 0px 0px;width: 200px; height: 136px;" />TripAdvisor announced the results of an independent study that underscores how essential online traveller reviews are in the research and booking process. The study reveals that more than half of global respondents do not want to make a booking commitment until they read reviews and find out what other travellers thought about the property. According to the study, respondents turn to TripAdvisor on a regular basis. Twenty nine percent visit the site several times a month, 12 percent say they check the site at least once a week and 26 percent regularly use the site more than once a week. Overall, this means that 67 percent of respondents check TripAdvisor a few times a month or more. More than 80 percent say the site’s reviews help them feel more confident in their travel decisions, and help them to have a better trip. Of those polled, 93 percent of respondents feel that a hotel stay is very important to the overall trip experience. (Traveldailynews.com)</div> <div> </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:16px;"><strong>Global Ad Campaign Urges Tourists to Boycott Botswana </strong></span></div> <div> <img alt="" src="/userfiles/images/tt5%20(Copy)(3).jpg" style="float: left; margin: 0px 10px 0px 0px;width: 250px; height: 127px;" />Survival International – the global movement for tribal peoples’ rights – has launched a worldwide advertising campaign highlighting Botswana’s persecution of Africa’s last hunting Bushmen. Under the headline ‘Discover the hidden secrets of Botswana’, the ad exposes Botswana’s use of glossy and contrived images of Bushmen to attract tourists, while at the same time using violence and torture to deport the Bushmen from their ancestral land in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. The ad is being published in five languages (English, French, German, Spanish and Italian) and will be placed in luxury and travel magazines and newspapers worldwide. The first ad has appeared in the March issue of Wired Magazine. Botswana’s government has been persecuting its first people for decades in an attempt to drive them from their land. Banned from hunting, and forced to apply for permits to enter the reserve, they are now being pushed to the brink of extinction. The ad urges tourists to join Survival’s boycott and not go to Botswana until the Bushmen are allowed to live on their land in peace. (Traveldailynews.com)</div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2014-02-18', 'modified' => '2014-02-27', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'India will soon offer visa-on-arrival (VOA) to citizens of almost every country in the world, authorities have revealed. The country’s much-maligned tourist visa processing system will be completely overhauled, in an effort to allow the country to achieve a greater share of global visitor arrivals', 'sortorder' => '2471', 'image' => null, 'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '0' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2628', 'article_category_id' => '99', 'title' => 'Tripadvisor Honours Hyatt Regency Kathmandu', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> Hyatt Regency Kathmandu is named as one of the ‘Top 10 Hotels in Nepal’ in the Tripadvisor’s 2014 Travellers’ Choice awards, arriving in third place. In the twelfth year of the awards, the world’s most outstanding properties were identified in the categories of Top Hotel, Bargain, B and Bs and Inns, Family, Luxury, Romance, and Small Hotel. The winners of the Travellers’ Choice awards were determined by the reviews and opinions of millions of TripAdvisor travellers from around the globe.</div> <div> </div> <div> “We at Hyatt Regency Kathmandu feel privileged to have been named as one of the top ten hotels in Nepal for the second year in a row by the prestigious Travellers’ Choice Awards. TripAdvisor’s vast community and in-depth reviews help us to realise our shortcomings, so we can constantly work towards providing a better quality of service,” said Suman Shrestha, Director of Marketing for Hyatt Regency Kathmandu.</div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2014-02-18', 'modified' => '2014-02-18', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'Hyatt Regency Kathmandu is named as one of the ‘Top 10 Hotels in Nepal’ in the Tripadvisor’s 2014 Travellers’ Choice awards, arriving in third place.', 'sortorder' => '2470', 'image' => null, 'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '0' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2624', 'article_category_id' => '99', 'title' => 'Soaltee Re-launches Barbeque Lunch', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> <div> </div> <div> <strong>--By TC Correspondent</strong></div> <div> </div> <div> Hotel Soaltee Crowne Plaza has re-launched its barbeque buffet lunch from 15th February. The lunch starts from 12:30 PM till 3 PM every Saturday and Sunday at the poolside of the hotel. The poolside offers a warm ambience, a beautiful garden and reviving music for a great outdoor dining experience. The buffet features Mediterranean, Australian, Oriental, Indian and South East Asian barbeque delicacies along with a selection of soups, salads, and desserts. </div> <div> </div> <div> The delicacies offered includes pasta varieties and grilled dishes like Citrus Marinated Tiger Prawns, Fresh water trout and Australian pork chop among others. Vegetarians can enjoy grill veggies like Mushroom and Tofu Dengaku, Tori Tare along with freshly baked breads.</div> <div> </div> <div> A scrumptious variety of desserts are also available, like Sweet Sabayon in mini tequila glass, Flambéed French Crepes, Juicy Fudge Bullets and more. The menu is priced at Rs 1800 plus taxes for adults and Rs 1000 plus taxes for child below 10 years. It also includes a complimentary glass of wine or a bottle of beer or a can of Coke. Hotel Soaltee is the place to be every weekend if you want to unwind and enjoy scrumptious barbeque varieties. </div> </div> <p> </p>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2014-02-18', 'modified' => '2014-02-23', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'Hotel Soaltee Crowne Plaza has re-launched its barbeque buffet lunch from 15th February. The lunch starts from 12:30 PM till 3 PM every Saturday and Sunday at the poolside of the hotel.', 'sortorder' => '2469', 'image' => null, 'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '0' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2627', 'article_category_id' => '99', 'title' => 'Simrik Takes Seniors Citizens For Mountain Flight', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> Simrik Airlines organised a special mountain flight for the elderly people from Pashupati Briddhashram on 10th February. The airline took 12 senior citizens over the age of 70 for the flight, providing them an opportunity to watch Mount Gauri Shanker, Mount Ganesh and Mount Everest. The flight was organized in the management of Managing Director of Simrik Airlines Rajendra Bahadur Singh, and pilots Gopal Singh Bista and Riwaz Prasad Pradhan along with flight attendants Sony Shrestha and Shreya Basnet briefed the elderly during the mountain flight. </div> <div> </div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2014-02-18', 'modified' => '2014-02-18', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'Simrik Airlines organised a special mountain flight for the elderly people from Pashupati Briddhashram on 10th February.', 'sortorder' => '2468', 'image' => null, 'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '0' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2622', 'article_category_id' => '152', 'title' => 'Some Rules To Healthy Life', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> Ayurveda is a branch of medicine which originated and is practiced in South Asia for more than 5000 years. It is as fresh and useful to humans today as it was in the ancient times yet more relevant and applicable in these modern times. Its use provides a holistic approach to our daily lives.</div> <div> </div> <div> • <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>The Ayurvedic ‘dincharya’ or daily schedule helps to bring about peace and harmony in one’s life.</div> <div> </div> <div> • <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Ayurvedic daily life routines are meant to enhance the total health of man, both mental and physical. They are easy to follow and are not liable to cause trauma of any kind to the body or mind.</div> <div> </div> <div> • <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>According to ayurvedic lifestyle, one should get 7-8 hours sleep daily. On waking up in the morning, one should drink a glass of warm water which helps in flushing out toxins collected in the body overnight. One should wake up early in the morning and go for a walk</div> <div> </div> <div> • <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Personal hygiene is essential for a consistent good health. Regular brushing of teeth and tongue freshens the mouth, keeps the teeth healthy and removes the cause of bad breath. Brushing of teeth is preferably done after every meal. Washing of face should include washing eyes, nose and ears. Nails and hair should be kept trimmed and clean.</div> <div> </div> <div> • <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>All meals should be regularly taken and at a set time daily so as to keep the body system functioning optimally. Food items from nature are best for regular meals.</div> <div> </div> <div> • <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Clean clothes should be worn daily. It is more beneficial to wear clothes made out of cotton, silk, linens and wool which are natural fibers.</div> <div> </div> <div> • <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>One should do regular light exercises to keep the body supple and improve blood circulation to all parts of the body. Regular exercise includes walking, swimming and yoga amongst other light exercises, helping to maintain good health by making a person mentally relaxed and more active, alert, happy and strong.</div> <div> </div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2014-02-18', 'modified' => '2014-02-18', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'Ayurveda is a branch of medicine which originated and is practiced in South Asia for more than 5000 years. 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Its use provides a holistic approach to our daily lives.', 'sortorder' => '2467', 'image' => null, 'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '0' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = falsesimplexml_load_file - [internal], line ?? include - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
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It is now attributed as the life blood of an economic system and most economies strive to make their financial systems more efficient. It also keeps policymakers on their jobs as any problem in this sector could freeze the entire economy and even lead to a contagion. </div> <div> </div> <div> The financial services include the entire range - savings, loans, insurance, credit, payments etc. The financial system has to provide its function of transferring resources from surplus to deficit units but both deficit and surplus units are those with low incomes, poor background etc. By providing these services, the aim is to help them come out of poverty. So far, the focus has only been on delivering credit such as microcredit and has been quite successful in some countries. However, similar success has to be seen in other aspect of finance as well.</div> <div> </div> <div> In this context, financial inclusion is the most for efficient financial system and to exert positive impact in the economic growth as well as development. Financial inclusion could expediteeconomic activities and promote entrepreneurship with the maximum use of information, communication and technology-enabled services supported by an extensive Financial Literacy mission. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size: 16px;"><strong>What is Financial Inclusion?</strong></span></div> <div> Authorities and policymakers worldwide including advanced economies like the United Stateshave set up specific task force/committees to understand what financial inclusion is and how it can be achieved. </div> <div> </div> <div> Former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said: "The stark reality is that most poorpeople in the world still lack access to sustainable financial services, whether it issavings, credit or insurance. The great challenge before us is to address the constraints that exclude people from full participation in the financial sector. Together, we can and must build inclusive financial sectors that help people improve their lives.” </div> <div> </div> <div> Similarly, according to the UK Financial Inclusion Taskforce, there are three main concerns in financial inclusion; access to banking, access to affordable credit and access to freeface-to-face financial advice. Therefore, the term 'Financial Inclusion' is defined as an extension ofbanking and financial services at an affordable cost to unbanked people of thecommunity. </div> <div> </div> <div> India also set up a committee under the chairmanship of Dr. C. Rangarajan, the then Governor of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to suggest measures to increase financial inclusion in 2007. The Rangarajan committee defines financial inclusion as: "the process of ensuring access to financial services and timely and adequate credit where needed by vulnerable groups such as weaker sections and low income groups at an affordable cost." </div> <div> </div> <div> Therefore, financial inclusion means easy and affordable access of financial services by the economically poor and unbanked people of society at appropriate, low-cost, fairand safe financial products and services. Constraints of Financial Inclusion </div> <div> </div> <div> Financial Inclusion is especially needed for rural and underprivileged masses that may be the future growth engine of the economy. From the recent initiatives undertaken by the world governments to foster financial inclusion, one cannot undermine the need to include the economically underprivileged in the mainstream banking sector. However, many people across the globe are now excluded from mainstream banking. Theserange from people with low income to people with low information and accessibility to peoplewith no social security or insurance cover. The main reasons behind the financial exclusion are: </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size: 14px;"><strong>Lack of information:</strong></span> Lack of information about the role and function of banks, banking services and products, interest rates, etc. stop people from including themselves in mainstream banking. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size: 14px;"><strong>Insufficient documentation:</strong></span> Many unbanked people (even in municipalities and urban areas) areunable to show their self identification documents during the opening of a bank accountor during taking a loan. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size: 14px;"><strong>Lack of awareness:</strong></span> Many people are unaware of the banking terms andconditions laiddown by banks and regulators from time to time. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size: 14px;"><strong>High transaction costs: </strong></span>Various commercial banks across the globe levytransaction charges on credit or debit transactions, on over usage of banking services, on chequebook issuance etc. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size: 14px;"><strong>Lack of access:</strong></span> Accessibility is a problem to all those people who live ingeopolitically isolated regions. Moreover, as most of the commercial banks are locatedin the cities and surrounding area, people in rural areas mainly in least developed countries like ours have a geographical barrier in accessing banks. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size: 14px;"><strong>Illiteracy:</strong></span> Because of illiteracy, a substantial number of people are unable to takerecourse to banking services. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size: 14px;"><strong>Stringent regulations:</strong></span> Stringent regulations such as Know your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Terrorist Finance (AML-CTF) norms are also considered as hindrances for financial inclusion. Financial Inclusionin Nepal </div> <div> </div> <div> <img alt="Economy and Policy" src="/userfiles/images/ep1%20(Copy)(5).jpg" style="width: 550px; height: 286px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 10px;" /></div> <div> </div> <div> Nepal is one of the LDCs with economically challenged huge rural population. Financial Inclusion is indispensible in its case for the sustainable growth of its economy. However, even in such scenarios, many businesses have been successful in showing consistent as well as continued development. One of the most important sectors of this kind is the financial services sector. With just 2 commercial banks in the early days, the country has actually managed to expand this sector, which at present includes 31 commercial banks. Similarly in the past 30 years, different development banks, co-operatives, finance companies, insurance companies have grown by more than 10 fold.</div> <div> </div> <div> <img alt="Economy and Policy" src="/userfiles/images/ep%20(Copy)(3).jpg" style="float: left; margin: 0px 10px; width: 250px; height: 263px;" />In the mean time, branches of commercial banks, development banks and finance companies totalling at 2483 in mid of march of 2013. Of the total branches, commercial banks have occupied 1472 followed by development banks 713 and finance companies 298. Similarly, from the side of regional distribution, the majority branches of BFIs are situated in the Central Development Region totalling 1168, followed by Western Development Region 606 and Eastern Development Region 401. The minimum branches of BFIs are in the Far-Western Development Region totalling 111 followed by Mid-Western Development Region 197. </div> <div> </div> <div> Increase in number of branches of BFIs is considered as one of the indicators of financial inclusion. Banking Industry, normally, occupies a bigger chunk in the financial system. However, a larger chunk of banking services is still concentrated in urban areas. More especially, the banking services still seem to be concentrated in capital city. The districts with highest number of bank branches are Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Rupandehi with 335, 77 and 67 branches respectively. This level of reach and penetration also means that the financial inclusion is yet to strengthen to follow economic progress in the country. </div> <div> </div> <div> This sector has always been driven by a keen need of growth as well as is being pushed by various regulations. Over a period of time, this sector has deeply gone to the roots of urban, semi-urban as well as to the rural Nepal. This penetration level, in particular, has benefitted millions of people living in the country who fall below the poverty line in both the rural as well as semi-urban areas of the country.</div> <div> </div> <div> The latest figures indicate that the financial services are used only by a section of the population (around 40%) in Nepal.There is demand for these services but it has not been provided. The excluded regionsare rural, poor regions and also those living in harsh climatic conditions where it is difficult to provide these financial services. The excluded population then has to rely on informal sector for availing finance that is usually at exorbitant rates. </div> <div> </div> <div> This leads to a vicious cycle. First, high cost of finance implies that first poor person has to earn much more than someone who has access to lower cost finance. Second, the major portion of the earnings is paid to the money lender and the person can never come out of the poverty. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size: 16px;"><strong>Factors Forcing People to be Informal </strong></span></div> <div> <span style="font-size: 14px;"><strong>High cost:</strong></span> It has also been seen that poor living in urban areas don't utilize the financial services as they find financial services are costly and thus are unaffordable. Hence, even if financial services are available, the high costs deterthe poor from accessing them.</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size: 14px;"><strong>Non-price barriers: </strong></span>Access to formal financial services also requires documents of proof regarding a persons' identity, income etc. The poor people do not have these documents and thus are excluded from these services. They may also subscribe to the services initially but may not use them as actively as others because of various non-price barriers. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size: 14px;"><strong>Behavioural aspects:</strong></span> Research in behavioural economics has shown that many people are not comfortable using formal financial services. The reasons are difficulty in understanding language, various documents and conditions that come with financial services etc. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size: 16px;"><strong>Externalities of Financial Inclusion</strong></span></div> <div> There are a number of positive externalities of financial inclusion. </div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>One of theimportant effects is people able to reap the advantages of network externality of financial inclusionas the value of the entire national financial system increases.</div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Another reason as financial inclusion is a quasi-public good the consequent fuller participation by all in the financial system makes monetary policy more effective and thus enhances the prospects of noninflationary growth.</div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>One important point that is essential for financial inclusion in rural and agriculture based LDCs like ours is to ensure the growth of banking system to meet the needs of a modern economy, expansion in geographic terms and improve access to banking services. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size: 16px;"><strong>Way Forward </strong></span></div> <div> In order to strengthen the financial inclusion in the country, NRB as the monetary authority of country, has been adopting some promotional measures so far such as providing additional incentives to BFIs to go to the remote as well as underprivileged areas. Similarly, it has been encouraging the microfinance institutions to be more inclusive while directing the commercial banks to lent a given portion of their loan portfolio to the deprived sectors. </div> <div> </div> <div> However, the indicators of financial inclusion are yet to improve. In this context, the following measures should be adopted under the existing infrastructure framework to speed up the financial inclusion in Nepal. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size: 14px;"><strong>Postal Network:</strong></span> The government should consider tying up with BFIs to deliver financial solutions to the un-banked, using its extensive postal network. The synergistic outreach of the existing postal system supplemented by banking functions is the answer to the challenges posed by rural markets. As Nepal has the largest postal network in the remotest areas, the excluded masses can graduallyconnect with the full-fledged banking services. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size: 14px;"><strong>Mobile Banking:</strong></span> The transaction costs can be radically reduced even in remote locations through mobile banking. The costs, which ease of access for the consumers and the profitability of provider will ultimately opt the level of wireless services. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size: 14px;"><strong>Use of Technology:</strong></span> Rural banking can be expanded in an easy and user friendly way through universal technology with innovative applications. The role of various ICT tools and associated technologies in providing financial solutions to the unbanked is also substantial. Rural ATMs, plastic cards like smart cards, biometric cards including mobile payment (branchless banking) technologies do have the ability to engage the unbanked sections. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size: 14px;"><strong>Financial Literacy: </strong></span>Steps have to be taken by the government for the expansion of banking services and linking of opportunities among various segments of financial sector like capital markets, insurance, etc. To achieve this aim the government should come up with an extensive campaign of financial literacy. </div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2014-02-20', 'modified' => '2014-02-20', 'keywords' => 'new business age economy & policy news & articles, economy & policy news & articles from new business age nepal, economy & policy headlines from nepal, current and latest economy & policy news from nepal, economic news from nepal, nepali economy & policy economic news and events, ongoing economy', 'description' => 'The financial system has to provide its function of transferring resources from surplus to deficit units but both deficit and surplus units are those with low incomes and poor background etc.', 'sortorder' => '2481', 'image' => null, 'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '0' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2604', 'article_category_id' => '145', 'title' => 'Firming Up An Educational Institution’s Brand: Challenges And Choices', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> <strong>--By Roshee Lamichhane</strong></div> <div> </div> <div> About a decade ago, there was never a need for educational institutions to aggressively market themselves, as the demand for quality education generally outgrew supply. Today, however, with increasing competition, there is a growing awareness within this community on the importance of marketing a school or college. They are also making conscious efforts to establish the institutional brand, attract quality students, and stay ahead of competition at all times.</div> <div> </div> <div> Research points to the fact that Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) and Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) are increasingly evaluating marketing outsourcing and the growing maturity of marketing services that can be outsourced. This research evidence emphasizes that marketing outsourcing will soon become a key outsourced function globally, much in the lines of Finance and Accounting, Human Resources, Logistics, Security, and Legal services.</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:16px;"><strong>Emergence of MPO Companies</strong></span></div> <div> Marketing Process Outsourcing (MPO) companies provide organizations with measurable, high-impact, and cost-efficient outsourcing solutions and deliver value by partnering with them as an extended arm. The services they render to marketing are something analogous to what Finance and Accounts Officers (FAOs) do to the F & A function of an organization. They resort to componentizing all key marketing functions and sub-functions. Later, they build processes for each of these in such a way that they can be delivered by leveraging the best functional and domain knowledge banks. They also use best global practices in the most efficient and cost effective manner either onsite or remotely. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:16px;"><strong>Role of PMPs </strong></span></div> <div> The role of Professional Marketing Partners (PMPs) becomes at once important as the education space is, slowly but surely, realizing the need to have a professional and cost-effective marketing set-up in place that proactively and continuously communicates with the target segment, rather than engaging only in seasonal marketing efforts.</div> <div> </div> <div> Engaging the services of a PMP has become the first step towards firming up an educational institution’s brand through a pro-active marketing program to reach your target segment. The logic and rationale are simple: “they not only possess a deep marketing expertise and an in-depth understanding of the education marketing, but design and deliver compelling solutions customized to its needs”. Educational Branding and Marketing Services and Solutions generally include but are not limited to:</div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Admission Marketing: Offering tried and tested program mix to help expand admission outreach and attract quality students.</div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Placement Connect: Providing continuous engagement with corporate houses to increase student placement opportunities, to supplement or substitute institution’s placement office.</div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Online Reputation: Leveraging social and other online/digital media to enhance the brand value of the institution and engage effectively with the ecosystem.</div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Ecosystem Engagement: Crafting marketing strategies such as alumni engagement programs, corporate branding, etc., covering all stakeholders—including corporate, faculty, parents, and alumni—to facilitate continuous interaction and support to the institution.</div> <div> </div> <div> This continuous engagement with a Professional Marketing Partner helps:</div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Attract and increase quality of students every year</div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Retain top faculty </div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Increase student placement opportunities through continuous interaction with businesses </div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Optimize cost of acquisition per candidate </div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Increase support from alumni and benefactors</div> <div> </div> <div> There are several pioneering MPO agencies that have been helping the education community on how to market a school/college and formulate winning marketing strategies to effectively engage with the ecosystem, build a sustainable brand, and address the challenges faced by them. Their distilled experiences enable them to identify the key challenges faced by their client organizations in the marketing function. They align their services to help Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) and Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) address some of these challenges and bridge the gaps while improving the efficiency/effectiveness of their marketing function. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:16px;"><strong>Challenges</strong></span></div> <div> Some of the typical challenges in the context of branding and marketing an educational institution include:</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>People and hiring challenges</strong></span></div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>It is difficult and expensive to build in-house expertise for all the key programmes that firms need to run</div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>A significant part of a company’s bandwidth is consumed by low-impact tactical work, leaving very little time for strategic marketing work</div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Training people is a big challenge and businesses will seldom be able to hire experienced practitioners and best practices are difficult to come by</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Lack of outsourced expertise</strong></span></div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>It is tough to find the right outsourced resources. Advertising, design and web agencies offer little strategic insights and are seldom aligned with the firm’s strategic business objectives</div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>External agencies seldom bring the practitioners’ view to the table and would like to work with someone who has done this before</div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Monitoring metrics and ROI on marketing programmes is a big challenge</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Cost challenges</strong></span></div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Companies are always under pressure to do more with their marketing budgets and resources, but their costs don’t seem to be going down</div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Companies’ marketing requirements are globally distributed, but their costs and people are not</div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Businesses would like to leverage shared services to benefit from economies of scale and process efficiencies but there are no marketing shared services offerings easily available</div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Companies don’t want to invest in building expensive in-house resources or teams for certain tactical marketing competencies or for cyclical or part-time marketing requirements</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:16px;"><strong>Marketing Outsourcing Partnership Model for SMBs</strong></span></div> <div> The services of MPO companies extend from managing specific functions or processes for large marketing organizations to running the complete marketing function for SMBs. Generally, the Marketing Outsourcing Partnership (MOP) Model is backed by an expert team of marketing professionals with significant expertise in global marketing. They offer their clients a range of ‘marketing in a box’ and ‘marketing on demand’ outsourcing options that include full function outsourcing, outsourcing of specific projects and programmes as well as their execution.</div> <div style="text-align: right;"> <em>(Lamichhane is Manager, Business Development, at Chaudhary Group)</em></div> <div> </div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2014-02-18', 'modified' => '2014-02-20', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'Marketing Process Outsourcing (MPO) companies provide organizations with measurable, high-impact, and cost-efficient outsourcing solutions and deliver value by partnering with them as an extended arm.', 'sortorder' => '2480', 'image' => null, 'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '0' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2636', 'article_category_id' => '48', 'title' => 'Electric Thoughts', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> </div> <div> <div> <strong>--By Madan Lamsal</strong></div> <div> </div> <div> <img alt="No Laughing Matter" src="/userfiles/images/nlm%20(Copy)(1).jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 0px 10px; width: 300px; height: 369px;" />Twelve hours of power-cut, popularly known as load-shedding is a matter of pride for Nepal. It is undoubtedly so for state power monopoly, Nepal Electricity Authority, NEA. The act of shedding a load in its literal meaning too is a good thing. After such shedding one is bound to feel light like a feather, who immediately takes on to dancing with flying finesse.</div> <div> </div> <div> There is no reason that lack of electricity supply should stop you to feel proud and productive if you can think in the speed of electric current itself; like the bosses in NEA do. The other week they organized a press meet to make their scoop achievement public: ‘there will be no more than eighty hours of load-shedding per week. We are working all day to make sure that it doesn’t increase even during the on-setting dry season.’</div> <div> </div> <div> In fact, there was no need of organizing such a press meet as every Nepali by now has accepted the fact that we cannot live without load-shedding. It has become such an undeniable part of our lives that we are now all prepared to make it our heritage. One more along the line of Mt Everest, Lumbini or Durbar Square. The biggest advantage of this is: whole country can become a world heritage site, as load-shedding is not limited to a small area, like cities of archaeological or natural significance.</div> <div> </div> <div> The load-shedding can contribute in a great way to the economic prosperity of the nation. The recent growth stories of our neighbours India and China has been attributed to the outcome of demographic dividend, meaning that since they have more people the growth is faster. Our load-shedding can contribute greatly to baby-boom. As there is no light for long hours right since the evening, couples can be more productive.</div> <div> </div> <div> Recently, there were news reports that some energy-intensive factories like sugar mills got closed due to load-shedding. That is in fact very good news. Low production of sugar will reduce the chances of diabetes in the populace and they don’t have to worry about the doctors who prefer to go for strikes than to serve the patients.</div> <div> </div> <div> You must have heard about electric shocks, electric jolts or electric drinks, meaning our famed bijulipaani. But I have introduced here a very new concept of electric thought. It flows like the electricity itself and once guided to certain direction, it hardly changes the direction or comes back. New NEA executive director recently enlightened us by revealing that load-shedding is caused not only because less amount of electricity was produced but also due to lack of transmission lines to transport the produce. There are not enough transmission lines even to bring in the electricity India is prepared to give. When private producers start production, this bottleneck is sure to remain there. It is apparent that the electric thought of NEA so far was directed only to the production of electricity. Yet, NEA’s electric thought has not been redirected to other than production aspect, to ensure longer years of power outages even when there is production aplenty.</div> <div> </div> <div> Some thoughts were non-electric so they did never reach the other end of the objectives. We heard the plans of setting up diesel plants of some 120 MW, heard about bio fuel-fed generators and augmenting the supply by solar panels or air turbines. But these were the plans never implemented, duly understanding the importance of the load-shedding for the country.</div> <div> </div> <div> By all standards, the very concept of load-shedding is the true personification of the electric thought. Everybody knows, darkness can travel faster than the electricity itself. Therefore NEA needed to call a press conference to explain there is ensured darkness for any foreseeable years. It was a great idea propelled by none other than the electric thought to make presence of NEA felt to the public.</div> </div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2014-02-20', 'modified' => '2014-02-20', 'keywords' => 'new business age no laughing matter news & articles, no laughing matter news & articles from new business age nepal, no laughing matter headlines from nepal, current and latest no laughing matter news from nepal, economic news from nepal, nepali no laughing matter economic news and events, ongoing', 'description' => 'Twelve hours of power-cut, popularly known as load-shedding is a matter of pride for Nepal. It is undoubtedly so for state power monopoly, Nepal Electricity Authority, NEA. The act of shedding a load in its literal meaning too is a good thing. After such shedding one is bound to feel light like a feather, who immediately takes on to dancing with flying finesse.', 'sortorder' => '2479', 'image' => null, 'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '0' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2635', 'article_category_id' => '199', 'title' => 'Tech Briefs (17 - 23 February 2014)', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>India Telecoms Auction Raises $10bn </strong></span></div> <div> India’s mobile phone firms have bid almost $10bn (£6bn) in a key auction for the country’s second-generation (2G) telecoms licences. The amount far exceeded the government’s target of $1.8bn, and will be used to shrink its budget deficit. The government will get at least $3bn initially as companies have to pay up to a third of the winning price now, with the rest by 2026. The winners included Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Reliance Industries. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Android Extends Gains on Apple, Windows Phone is 3rd</strong></span></div> <div> The Google Android system extended its gains over Apple’s iPhoneglobally in the last quarter of 2013, and Windows Phone grabbed the number three market position, a survey showed Wednesday. The IDC survey found Android had a 78.1 percent share of global smartphone shipments in the fourth quarter, bolstered by a 40 percent jump in the number of handsets delivered. Apple got only a modest boost in the fourth quarter from the release of its new iPhones, with sales up 6.7 percent compared with a year earlier. That means its market shareslipped to 17.6 percent from 20.9 percent, according to IDC. The Microsoft Windows Phone platform saw a 46.7 percent year-over-year rise in sales, which pushed its market share to three percent.</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Smartglasses that Help Surgeons See Cancerous Cells</strong></span></div> <div> If you think cancer removal surgery is but a one-time procedure, you’d be wrong. Doctors don’t always cut out all affected tissues in one go, but a new pair of high-tech eyewear could help make that happen. The device, developed by a Washington University research team led by Samuel Achilefu, can make cancer cells perfectly visible to surgeons as they operate. It’s loaded with custom software that makes cancerous cells glow blue (due to a molecular imaging agent that gives it color) to anyone wearing the headset. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>New Website Lets You Video Chat with Avatars of Dead People</strong></span></div> <div> A new website createsvirtual avatars of the dead so that their loved ones can video chat with them after they are gone. The website ‘Eterni.me’ is a startup by engineers, designers and business people, part of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology ( MIT)’s Entrepreneurship Development Program. The team claims to have developed a means by which a person can be digitally reconstructed after their death. The service needs to be provided with a person’s chat logs, social-network information, photos, and e-mails, and it uses this information to reconstruct a person’s memories and mannerisms, ‘CNET’ reported. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>‘Business Microscope’ to Track Employees’ Every Move at Workplace</strong></span></div> <div> A Japanese company has developed a device that can track everything you do in the workplace — from how long you have been sitting idle to how often you visit the lavatory. Hitachi, the electronics maker, has created the device, called ‘Business Microscope’, which looks like a badge or ID card and contains chips and sensors to record an employee’s behaviour. It detects to whom you have spoken, how often, where and how energetically. The gadget also reads your colleagues’ badges and judges the distance between people talking, The Times reported. It tells bosses how often an employee leaves their seat, how far they walk and where they go. It would also be able to judge how often a person speaks in a meeting and report on how much they contribute to group sessions.</div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2014-02-19', 'modified' => '2014-02-20', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'India’s mobile phone firms have bid almost $10bn (£6bn) in a key auction for the country’s second-generation (2G) telecoms licences.', 'sortorder' => '2478', 'image' => null, 'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '0' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2633', 'article_category_id' => '212', 'title' => 'Samsung Galaxy S5 Tipped To Come With Bezel-Free Display', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> </div> <div> According to a report by The Korea Herald citing industry sources, the Samsung Galaxy S5 will launch with a bezel-free display. The Korean giant has reportedly been working on the technology since 2012.</div> <div> </div> <div> The yet to be revealed smartphone is also said to feature a fingerprint scanner – right in line with previous reports. The fingerprint reader is reportedly embedded in the display and will only be available at its bottom left and right sides. Screen panels with full support for fingerprint scanning are tipped for the second half </div> <div> of this year.</div> <div> </div> <div> Furthermore, the next generation Samsung Galaxy S will reportedly be even slimmer than its predecessor. The feat will be achieved via a new display panel technology which will replace the currently used four-layer setup featuring indium tin oxide.</div> <div> </div> <div> In addition to making the smartphone slimmer, the new display technology will bring improved energy efficiency and viewing accuracy. According to an image of Galaxy S5’s alleged retail box, the phone’s display will be a 5.25” unit with QHD (2,560 x 1,600 pixels) resolution.</div> <div> </div> <div> Samsung Galaxy S5 will be officially unveiled in less than two weeks, on February 24 in Barcelona. We will be there live, so be sure to tune in for the full scoop on the flagship. (GSMArena)</div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2014-02-19', 'modified' => '2014-02-20', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'According to a report by The Korea Herald citing industry sources, the Samsung Galaxy S5 will launch with a bezel-free display. The Korean giant has reportedly been working on the technology since 2012', 'sortorder' => '2477', 'image' => null, 'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '0' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2634', 'article_category_id' => '213', 'title' => 'Business Briefs (17 - 23 February 2014)', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Godrej’s New Refrigerators and Washing Machines</strong></span></div> <div> Eol Pvt Ltd, the sole authorized distributor for Godrej appliances in Nepal has launched Godrej Edge Pro refrigerator models and Godrej Eon Glitz washing machine in the market. According to the company, the refrigerators have features like Stay Cool technology, jumbo vegetable tray, large freezer and shelf space, and are CFC, HFC, and HCFC free. The refrigerators ar available in various colours and their capacity ranges from 190 to 240 litres. Similarly, the washing machines have features like Aquajet Pulsator, gravity drum and digital control panel among others. The refrigerators come with a 2-year warranty and the washing machines come with one-year warranty.</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Worldlink Ties Up With eSewa</strong></span></div> <div> Worldlink Communications Pvt Ltd has tied up with e-Sewa for online bill payment system. With this, the customers of Worldlink can make the online payment of the services through eSewa. eSewa is a digital payment portal for online transaction for payment to various merchants and transfer funds to various banks among other services. The service has been made available from February 10, 2014.</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Pooja International Launches Kobelco Construction Equipment</strong></span></div> <div> Pooja International Nepal Pvt Ltd under Vishal Group Automotive Division has acquired the sole importer and dealership of Kobelco Construction Equipment India Pvt Limited (KCEI) for Nepal. KCEI, a subsidiary of Kobelco Construction Machinery, Japan has manufacturing facility in Andhra Pradesh, India. Pooja International also launched Kobelco excavator on 13th February. According to the company, the excavators are the most fuel efficient in its segment and offer higher productivity. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Colors’ New Range of Bar Phones</strong></span></div> <div> Colors Mobile has launched seven different models of bar phones in Fighter Series for the year 2014. The launched phones are F28, F25, F21, F15n, F12, F9 and F7n. According to the company, the models have individual unique features like big battery, big screen, stylish look, big speaker and wireless FM among others. The price of the phones ranges from Rs 1645 to Rs 2745. Colors is providing a 1-year warranty for the handsets and six months warranty for battery.</div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2014-02-19', 'modified' => '2014-02-20', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'Eol Pvt Ltd, the sole authorized distributor for Godrej appliances in Nepal has launched Godrej Edge Pro refrigerator models and Godrej Eon Glitz washing machine in the market.', 'sortorder' => '2476', 'image' => null, 'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '0' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2632', 'article_category_id' => '212', 'title' => 'BlackBerry Octa-core 64-bit Device By 2015', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> </div> <div> The rumored BlackBerry Ontario, which is apart of the O-series, recently had benchmarks surface. BlackBerry will be utilizing the 2.3GHz Snapdragon MSM8974 quad-core Krait in the Ontario. Additionally, BlackBerry will utilize this same MSM8974 Qualcomm chip in the W-series (QWERTY device) and B-series (All-touch). </div> <div> Even though the future of high-end BlackBerry devices seems strong, it has had us all wanting more.</div> <div> </div> <div> Reaching out to a few sources, we’ve confirmed that BlackBerry has been planning to utilize the SnapdragonMSM8994. This chip uses the 20 nm HKMG process and uses an octa-core 64-bit architecture. Each core can reach a frequency of up to 2.5 GHz with 4MB L2 cache.</div> <div> </div> <div> Will BlackBerry still continue on the path to an octa-core device now that John Chen is the CEO? If so, the plan is to have it ready by summer of 2015.</div> <div> </div> <div> BlackBerry employees working on such projects haven’t yet been told they’re canceled. However, what the future may hold for high-end BlackBerry devices is anything less than transparent. (N4BB)</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Other features of the MSM8994 include:</strong></span></div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>1600MHz 4GB RAM LPDDR3 PoP</div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Adreno 430 500 MHz</div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Pixel fill Rate 6Gpix / s</div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Vertex 500Mtri / s</div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>OpenGL ES3.0, direct x11.1, OpenCL1.2</div> <div> </div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2014-02-19', 'modified' => '2014-02-19', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'The rumored BlackBerry Ontario, which is apart of the O-series, recently had benchmarks surface. BlackBerry will be utilizing the 2.3GHz Snapdragon MSM8974 quad-core Krait in the Ontario', 'sortorder' => '2475', 'image' => null, 'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '0' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2630', 'article_category_id' => '202', 'title' => 'An Entrepreneur’s Love For Music', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> </div> <div> <strong>--By Upashana Neupane</strong></div> <div> </div> <div> Bajra and Bajracharya Enterprises’ Managing Director Prakas Bajracharya is a man of balance. Along with being a successful businessman, he has equally managed his beyond office hours for his family. He claims that he is devoted and committed to his family and spends his weekly holidays and spare time with his family. </div> <div> </div> <div> Bajracharya shares that he often makes foreign business visits and that he enjoys such trips with his family as much as possible. While doing his work, he also makes the best of it and enjoys business trips. He finds New York as the best place for shopping and Mauritius as the best place for family holiday.</div> <div> </div> <div> Everything he has is the outcome of his meticulous planning, according to him. Bajracharya has a unique habit of working during the mid-night hours, between 10 pm to 2 am. “It’s peaceful during these hours and it allows me to focus,” he shares. He thinks it is the perfect time to work and make business plans because no one disturbs him these hours from concentrating.“This planning helps me stay ahead and remain on guard to cater to the needs of customers and the business during my office hours”, he shares.</div> <div> </div> <div> Bajracharya is fitness conscious. Every morning he goes to gym and sweats out for one to two hours. He also loves swimming for refreshment but that is only in summer. He believes that health is our biggest asset and opines that if we have a good health, we have everything. When he is in peace and to himself, Bajracharya loves scribbling poems and has deep love for writing. He has written several songs and even got recorded some of them in the voice of prominent Bollywood singers like Sunidhi Chauhan, and Kollywood singers like Babin Pradhan, Hemanta Rana, among others. An containing five songs in the voices of these singers with music composition of Om Bikram Bista is already launched.</div> <div> </div> <div> Bajracharya remembers that he had been in love for writing since childhood and maintained a diary. “My writing habit started with diary writing”, he shares. “I used to write all the things that I did throughout the day, things I need to do, and the surprising and unplanned things that happened to me,” he shares, “This gradually improved my writing habit and the quality of writing.” He remembers the gradual development of his diary writing habit into love for writing poems and then into songs writing. </div> <div> </div> <div> As a passionate music lover, he has his own list of favourite musical figures. Michael Jackson, Enrique, and Jennifer Lopez top the list among western singers and Sunidhi Chauhan, Sonu Nigam and Adnan Sami in Bollywood singers. Bajracharya acted in one of his album’s video and is happy with his musical journey and the feedback he’s got so far. Apart from the love for music, Bajracharya also has love for books. He prefers reading non-fiction to fiction, especially those that provide creative ideas. He also loves reading biographies of prominent people. His all time favourite has been the book on Steve Jobs. He doesn’t miss even a single book by American entrepreneur Donald Trump.</div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2014-02-18', 'modified' => '2014-02-23', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'Bajra and Bajracharya Enterprises’ Managing Director Prakas Bajracharya is a man of balance. Along with being a successful businessman, he has equally managed his beyond office hours for his family. He claims that he is devoted and committed to his family and spends his weekly holidays and spare time with his family.', 'sortorder' => '2474', 'image' => null, 'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '0' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2631', 'article_category_id' => '212', 'title' => 'Nokia Touts Video Recording In New Lumia Phone', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> </div> <div> Nokia is selling a new Windows phone that promises enhanced video-recording capabilities.The new Lumia Icon sports four microphones, compared with the one or two typically found in smartphones. The two on the front are activated when making phone calls, while the two on the rear are used when taking video — to better capture sound coming from the subjects.</div> <div> </div> <div> The Icon takes video in 1080p high-definition resolution as well as still images of up to 19 megapixels. The resolution for still images isn't as sharp as the 38-megapixel maximum on Nokia's flagship Lumia 1020, but that allows the Icon camera to be flatter, without a protruding lens.</div> <div> </div> <div> Nokia is one of the main companies making phones based on Microsoft's Windows Phone 8 system. The system is growing in use, but it lags iPhones and Android devices in market share. Many apps come to iPhones and Android devices first.</div> <div> </div> <div> Microsoft Corp. is trying to boost its Windows Phone system as sales of traditional personal computers decline. Microsoft is buying Nokia's phone business and patent rights for $7.3 billion in a deal expected to be completed by the end of March.</div> <div> </div> <div> The Lumia Icon will be available starting Feb. 20 through Verizon Wireless for $200 with a two-year service contract, or $550 without.</div> <div> </div> <div> The Icon is similar to Nokia Corp.'s Lumia 1520, except its screen measures just 5 inches diagonally, compared with 6 inches on the 1520. The 1520 is available only through AT&T.</div> <div> </div> <div> The Icon supports wireless re-charging and works with a variety of charging mats and other accessories sold separately. (AP)</div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2014-02-19', 'modified' => '2014-02-19', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'Nokia is selling a new Windows phone that promises enhanced video-recording capabilities.The new Lumia Icon sports four microphones, compared with the one or two typically found in smartphones. The two on the front are activated when making phone calls, while the two on the rear are used when taking video — to better capture sound coming from the subjects.', 'sortorder' => '2473', 'image' => null, 'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '0' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2626', 'article_category_id' => '99', 'title' => 'Ang Tshiring And Ang Dendi Win Club Championship', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> </div> <div> Ang Tshring Sherpa was declared gross champion and Ang Dendi Sherpa was nett champion after the final round of Surya Nepal Gokarna Monthly Medal final round played at Gokarna Forest Resort on 8th February. Ang Tshiring Sherpa turned in a card of 10 over par on a challenging round to win the trophy and title ahead of Prabhat Singh. Ang Dendi scored three under par 69 and accumulated 320 points to defeat the leader from 11 rounds, Rekha Ghimire by 60 points.</div> <div> </div> <div> On the Medal round, Ang Dendi Sherpa won the first prize, Sonam Ongdi Lama scored one-under 71 to finish second. Daman Ghale was second runner-up with the score of one over 73. Tashi Ghale won the best gross award with the score of 82 (ten over par) on the count back.</div> <div> </div> <div> Top 30 players from the last 10 medal rounds qualified to play the final two rounds along with top three gross scorers of each medal rounds. Out of those who qualified, 19 players took part in the final edition. Club President Suhrid Ghimire and Brand Manager of Surya Nepal Pvt Ltd Keshav Pradhan gave away the prizes to the winners.</div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2014-02-18', 'modified' => '2014-02-19', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'Ang Tshring Sherpa was declared gross champion and Ang Dendi Sherpa was nett champion after the final round of Surya Nepal Gokarna Monthly Medal final round played at Gokarna Forest Resort on 8th February.', 'sortorder' => '2472', 'image' => null, 'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '0' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2629', 'article_category_id' => '100', 'title' => 'Tourism Briefs (17 - 23 February 2014)', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> <span style="font-size:16px;"><strong>India to Roll-Out Global Visa-On-Arrival System</strong></span></div> <div> <img alt="" src="/userfiles/images/tt3%20(Copy)(4).jpg" style="float: left; margin: 0px 10px 0px 0px;width: 200px; height: 143px;" />India will soon offer visa-on-arrival (VOA) to citizens of almost every country in the world, authorities have revealed. The country’s much-maligned tourist visa processing system will be completely overhauled, in an effort to allow the country to achieve a greater share of global visitor arrivals. Announcing the decision in Delhi late on Wednesday, planning minister Rajiv Shukla told reporters; “We have decided to extend the visa-on-arrival facility to tourists from 180 nations.” This marks a major upgrade from the an original plan mooted in October last year, which suggested the VOA scheme could be offered to 40 countries, including the UK, US, France, Germany, China, Russia, Brazil, Australia, the UAE and Saudi Arabia. Under the expanded plan however, tourists from almost every nation on Earth will be able to apply for VOA to India. The only major exceptions are Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Iraq, which have been omitted on security grounds. Bangladesh is among the countries included. (Traveldailymedia.com)</div> <div> </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:16px;"><strong>80% Tripadvisor Users Read Up To 12 Reviews before Choosing a Hotel </strong></span></div> <div> <img alt="" src="/userfiles/images/tt4%20(Copy)(4).jpg" style="float: left; margin: 0px 10px 0px 0px;width: 200px; height: 136px;" />TripAdvisor announced the results of an independent study that underscores how essential online traveller reviews are in the research and booking process. The study reveals that more than half of global respondents do not want to make a booking commitment until they read reviews and find out what other travellers thought about the property. According to the study, respondents turn to TripAdvisor on a regular basis. Twenty nine percent visit the site several times a month, 12 percent say they check the site at least once a week and 26 percent regularly use the site more than once a week. Overall, this means that 67 percent of respondents check TripAdvisor a few times a month or more. More than 80 percent say the site’s reviews help them feel more confident in their travel decisions, and help them to have a better trip. Of those polled, 93 percent of respondents feel that a hotel stay is very important to the overall trip experience. (Traveldailynews.com)</div> <div> </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:16px;"><strong>Global Ad Campaign Urges Tourists to Boycott Botswana </strong></span></div> <div> <img alt="" src="/userfiles/images/tt5%20(Copy)(3).jpg" style="float: left; margin: 0px 10px 0px 0px;width: 250px; height: 127px;" />Survival International – the global movement for tribal peoples’ rights – has launched a worldwide advertising campaign highlighting Botswana’s persecution of Africa’s last hunting Bushmen. Under the headline ‘Discover the hidden secrets of Botswana’, the ad exposes Botswana’s use of glossy and contrived images of Bushmen to attract tourists, while at the same time using violence and torture to deport the Bushmen from their ancestral land in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. The ad is being published in five languages (English, French, German, Spanish and Italian) and will be placed in luxury and travel magazines and newspapers worldwide. The first ad has appeared in the March issue of Wired Magazine. Botswana’s government has been persecuting its first people for decades in an attempt to drive them from their land. Banned from hunting, and forced to apply for permits to enter the reserve, they are now being pushed to the brink of extinction. The ad urges tourists to join Survival’s boycott and not go to Botswana until the Bushmen are allowed to live on their land in peace. (Traveldailynews.com)</div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2014-02-18', 'modified' => '2014-02-27', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'India will soon offer visa-on-arrival (VOA) to citizens of almost every country in the world, authorities have revealed. The country’s much-maligned tourist visa processing system will be completely overhauled, in an effort to allow the country to achieve a greater share of global visitor arrivals', 'sortorder' => '2471', 'image' => null, 'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '0' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2628', 'article_category_id' => '99', 'title' => 'Tripadvisor Honours Hyatt Regency Kathmandu', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> Hyatt Regency Kathmandu is named as one of the ‘Top 10 Hotels in Nepal’ in the Tripadvisor’s 2014 Travellers’ Choice awards, arriving in third place. In the twelfth year of the awards, the world’s most outstanding properties were identified in the categories of Top Hotel, Bargain, B and Bs and Inns, Family, Luxury, Romance, and Small Hotel. The winners of the Travellers’ Choice awards were determined by the reviews and opinions of millions of TripAdvisor travellers from around the globe.</div> <div> </div> <div> “We at Hyatt Regency Kathmandu feel privileged to have been named as one of the top ten hotels in Nepal for the second year in a row by the prestigious Travellers’ Choice Awards. TripAdvisor’s vast community and in-depth reviews help us to realise our shortcomings, so we can constantly work towards providing a better quality of service,” said Suman Shrestha, Director of Marketing for Hyatt Regency Kathmandu.</div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2014-02-18', 'modified' => '2014-02-18', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'Hyatt Regency Kathmandu is named as one of the ‘Top 10 Hotels in Nepal’ in the Tripadvisor’s 2014 Travellers’ Choice awards, arriving in third place.', 'sortorder' => '2470', 'image' => null, 'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '0' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2624', 'article_category_id' => '99', 'title' => 'Soaltee Re-launches Barbeque Lunch', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> <div> </div> <div> <strong>--By TC Correspondent</strong></div> <div> </div> <div> Hotel Soaltee Crowne Plaza has re-launched its barbeque buffet lunch from 15th February. The lunch starts from 12:30 PM till 3 PM every Saturday and Sunday at the poolside of the hotel. The poolside offers a warm ambience, a beautiful garden and reviving music for a great outdoor dining experience. The buffet features Mediterranean, Australian, Oriental, Indian and South East Asian barbeque delicacies along with a selection of soups, salads, and desserts. </div> <div> </div> <div> The delicacies offered includes pasta varieties and grilled dishes like Citrus Marinated Tiger Prawns, Fresh water trout and Australian pork chop among others. Vegetarians can enjoy grill veggies like Mushroom and Tofu Dengaku, Tori Tare along with freshly baked breads.</div> <div> </div> <div> A scrumptious variety of desserts are also available, like Sweet Sabayon in mini tequila glass, Flambéed French Crepes, Juicy Fudge Bullets and more. The menu is priced at Rs 1800 plus taxes for adults and Rs 1000 plus taxes for child below 10 years. It also includes a complimentary glass of wine or a bottle of beer or a can of Coke. Hotel Soaltee is the place to be every weekend if you want to unwind and enjoy scrumptious barbeque varieties. </div> </div> <p> </p>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2014-02-18', 'modified' => '2014-02-23', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'Hotel Soaltee Crowne Plaza has re-launched its barbeque buffet lunch from 15th February. The lunch starts from 12:30 PM till 3 PM every Saturday and Sunday at the poolside of the hotel.', 'sortorder' => '2469', 'image' => null, 'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '0' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2627', 'article_category_id' => '99', 'title' => 'Simrik Takes Seniors Citizens For Mountain Flight', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> Simrik Airlines organised a special mountain flight for the elderly people from Pashupati Briddhashram on 10th February. The airline took 12 senior citizens over the age of 70 for the flight, providing them an opportunity to watch Mount Gauri Shanker, Mount Ganesh and Mount Everest. The flight was organized in the management of Managing Director of Simrik Airlines Rajendra Bahadur Singh, and pilots Gopal Singh Bista and Riwaz Prasad Pradhan along with flight attendants Sony Shrestha and Shreya Basnet briefed the elderly during the mountain flight. </div> <div> </div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2014-02-18', 'modified' => '2014-02-18', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'Simrik Airlines organised a special mountain flight for the elderly people from Pashupati Briddhashram on 10th February.', 'sortorder' => '2468', 'image' => null, 'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '0' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2622', 'article_category_id' => '152', 'title' => 'Some Rules To Healthy Life', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> Ayurveda is a branch of medicine which originated and is practiced in South Asia for more than 5000 years. It is as fresh and useful to humans today as it was in the ancient times yet more relevant and applicable in these modern times. Its use provides a holistic approach to our daily lives.</div> <div> </div> <div> • <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>The Ayurvedic ‘dincharya’ or daily schedule helps to bring about peace and harmony in one’s life.</div> <div> </div> <div> • <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Ayurvedic daily life routines are meant to enhance the total health of man, both mental and physical. They are easy to follow and are not liable to cause trauma of any kind to the body or mind.</div> <div> </div> <div> • <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>According to ayurvedic lifestyle, one should get 7-8 hours sleep daily. On waking up in the morning, one should drink a glass of warm water which helps in flushing out toxins collected in the body overnight. One should wake up early in the morning and go for a walk</div> <div> </div> <div> • <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Personal hygiene is essential for a consistent good health. Regular brushing of teeth and tongue freshens the mouth, keeps the teeth healthy and removes the cause of bad breath. Brushing of teeth is preferably done after every meal. Washing of face should include washing eyes, nose and ears. Nails and hair should be kept trimmed and clean.</div> <div> </div> <div> • <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>All meals should be regularly taken and at a set time daily so as to keep the body system functioning optimally. Food items from nature are best for regular meals.</div> <div> </div> <div> • <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Clean clothes should be worn daily. It is more beneficial to wear clothes made out of cotton, silk, linens and wool which are natural fibers.</div> <div> </div> <div> • <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>One should do regular light exercises to keep the body supple and improve blood circulation to all parts of the body. Regular exercise includes walking, swimming and yoga amongst other light exercises, helping to maintain good health by making a person mentally relaxed and more active, alert, happy and strong.</div> <div> </div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2014-02-18', 'modified' => '2014-02-18', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'Ayurveda is a branch of medicine which originated and is practiced in South Asia for more than 5000 years. It is as fresh and useful to humans today as it was in the ancient times yet more relevant and applicable in these modern times. Its use provides a holistic approach to our daily lives.', 'sortorder' => '2467', 'image' => null, 'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '0' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = false $xml = falseinclude - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
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It is now attributed as the life blood of an economic system and most economies strive to make their financial systems more efficient. It also keeps policymakers on their jobs as any problem in this sector could freeze the entire economy and even lead to a contagion. </div> <div> </div> <div> The financial services include the entire range - savings, loans, insurance, credit, payments etc. The financial system has to provide its function of transferring resources from surplus to deficit units but both deficit and surplus units are those with low incomes, poor background etc. By providing these services, the aim is to help them come out of poverty. So far, the focus has only been on delivering credit such as microcredit and has been quite successful in some countries. However, similar success has to be seen in other aspect of finance as well.</div> <div> </div> <div> In this context, financial inclusion is the most for efficient financial system and to exert positive impact in the economic growth as well as development. Financial inclusion could expediteeconomic activities and promote entrepreneurship with the maximum use of information, communication and technology-enabled services supported by an extensive Financial Literacy mission. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size: 16px;"><strong>What is Financial Inclusion?</strong></span></div> <div> Authorities and policymakers worldwide including advanced economies like the United Stateshave set up specific task force/committees to understand what financial inclusion is and how it can be achieved. </div> <div> </div> <div> Former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said: "The stark reality is that most poorpeople in the world still lack access to sustainable financial services, whether it issavings, credit or insurance. The great challenge before us is to address the constraints that exclude people from full participation in the financial sector. Together, we can and must build inclusive financial sectors that help people improve their lives.” </div> <div> </div> <div> Similarly, according to the UK Financial Inclusion Taskforce, there are three main concerns in financial inclusion; access to banking, access to affordable credit and access to freeface-to-face financial advice. Therefore, the term 'Financial Inclusion' is defined as an extension ofbanking and financial services at an affordable cost to unbanked people of thecommunity. </div> <div> </div> <div> India also set up a committee under the chairmanship of Dr. C. Rangarajan, the then Governor of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to suggest measures to increase financial inclusion in 2007. The Rangarajan committee defines financial inclusion as: "the process of ensuring access to financial services and timely and adequate credit where needed by vulnerable groups such as weaker sections and low income groups at an affordable cost." </div> <div> </div> <div> Therefore, financial inclusion means easy and affordable access of financial services by the economically poor and unbanked people of society at appropriate, low-cost, fairand safe financial products and services. Constraints of Financial Inclusion </div> <div> </div> <div> Financial Inclusion is especially needed for rural and underprivileged masses that may be the future growth engine of the economy. From the recent initiatives undertaken by the world governments to foster financial inclusion, one cannot undermine the need to include the economically underprivileged in the mainstream banking sector. However, many people across the globe are now excluded from mainstream banking. Theserange from people with low income to people with low information and accessibility to peoplewith no social security or insurance cover. The main reasons behind the financial exclusion are: </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size: 14px;"><strong>Lack of information:</strong></span> Lack of information about the role and function of banks, banking services and products, interest rates, etc. stop people from including themselves in mainstream banking. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size: 14px;"><strong>Insufficient documentation:</strong></span> Many unbanked people (even in municipalities and urban areas) areunable to show their self identification documents during the opening of a bank accountor during taking a loan. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size: 14px;"><strong>Lack of awareness:</strong></span> Many people are unaware of the banking terms andconditions laiddown by banks and regulators from time to time. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size: 14px;"><strong>High transaction costs: </strong></span>Various commercial banks across the globe levytransaction charges on credit or debit transactions, on over usage of banking services, on chequebook issuance etc. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size: 14px;"><strong>Lack of access:</strong></span> Accessibility is a problem to all those people who live ingeopolitically isolated regions. Moreover, as most of the commercial banks are locatedin the cities and surrounding area, people in rural areas mainly in least developed countries like ours have a geographical barrier in accessing banks. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size: 14px;"><strong>Illiteracy:</strong></span> Because of illiteracy, a substantial number of people are unable to takerecourse to banking services. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size: 14px;"><strong>Stringent regulations:</strong></span> Stringent regulations such as Know your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Terrorist Finance (AML-CTF) norms are also considered as hindrances for financial inclusion. Financial Inclusionin Nepal </div> <div> </div> <div> <img alt="Economy and Policy" src="/userfiles/images/ep1%20(Copy)(5).jpg" style="width: 550px; height: 286px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 10px;" /></div> <div> </div> <div> Nepal is one of the LDCs with economically challenged huge rural population. Financial Inclusion is indispensible in its case for the sustainable growth of its economy. However, even in such scenarios, many businesses have been successful in showing consistent as well as continued development. One of the most important sectors of this kind is the financial services sector. With just 2 commercial banks in the early days, the country has actually managed to expand this sector, which at present includes 31 commercial banks. Similarly in the past 30 years, different development banks, co-operatives, finance companies, insurance companies have grown by more than 10 fold.</div> <div> </div> <div> <img alt="Economy and Policy" src="/userfiles/images/ep%20(Copy)(3).jpg" style="float: left; margin: 0px 10px; width: 250px; height: 263px;" />In the mean time, branches of commercial banks, development banks and finance companies totalling at 2483 in mid of march of 2013. Of the total branches, commercial banks have occupied 1472 followed by development banks 713 and finance companies 298. Similarly, from the side of regional distribution, the majority branches of BFIs are situated in the Central Development Region totalling 1168, followed by Western Development Region 606 and Eastern Development Region 401. The minimum branches of BFIs are in the Far-Western Development Region totalling 111 followed by Mid-Western Development Region 197. </div> <div> </div> <div> Increase in number of branches of BFIs is considered as one of the indicators of financial inclusion. Banking Industry, normally, occupies a bigger chunk in the financial system. However, a larger chunk of banking services is still concentrated in urban areas. More especially, the banking services still seem to be concentrated in capital city. The districts with highest number of bank branches are Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Rupandehi with 335, 77 and 67 branches respectively. This level of reach and penetration also means that the financial inclusion is yet to strengthen to follow economic progress in the country. </div> <div> </div> <div> This sector has always been driven by a keen need of growth as well as is being pushed by various regulations. Over a period of time, this sector has deeply gone to the roots of urban, semi-urban as well as to the rural Nepal. This penetration level, in particular, has benefitted millions of people living in the country who fall below the poverty line in both the rural as well as semi-urban areas of the country.</div> <div> </div> <div> The latest figures indicate that the financial services are used only by a section of the population (around 40%) in Nepal.There is demand for these services but it has not been provided. The excluded regionsare rural, poor regions and also those living in harsh climatic conditions where it is difficult to provide these financial services. The excluded population then has to rely on informal sector for availing finance that is usually at exorbitant rates. </div> <div> </div> <div> This leads to a vicious cycle. First, high cost of finance implies that first poor person has to earn much more than someone who has access to lower cost finance. Second, the major portion of the earnings is paid to the money lender and the person can never come out of the poverty. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size: 16px;"><strong>Factors Forcing People to be Informal </strong></span></div> <div> <span style="font-size: 14px;"><strong>High cost:</strong></span> It has also been seen that poor living in urban areas don't utilize the financial services as they find financial services are costly and thus are unaffordable. Hence, even if financial services are available, the high costs deterthe poor from accessing them.</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size: 14px;"><strong>Non-price barriers: </strong></span>Access to formal financial services also requires documents of proof regarding a persons' identity, income etc. The poor people do not have these documents and thus are excluded from these services. They may also subscribe to the services initially but may not use them as actively as others because of various non-price barriers. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size: 14px;"><strong>Behavioural aspects:</strong></span> Research in behavioural economics has shown that many people are not comfortable using formal financial services. The reasons are difficulty in understanding language, various documents and conditions that come with financial services etc. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size: 16px;"><strong>Externalities of Financial Inclusion</strong></span></div> <div> There are a number of positive externalities of financial inclusion. </div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>One of theimportant effects is people able to reap the advantages of network externality of financial inclusionas the value of the entire national financial system increases.</div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Another reason as financial inclusion is a quasi-public good the consequent fuller participation by all in the financial system makes monetary policy more effective and thus enhances the prospects of noninflationary growth.</div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>One important point that is essential for financial inclusion in rural and agriculture based LDCs like ours is to ensure the growth of banking system to meet the needs of a modern economy, expansion in geographic terms and improve access to banking services. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size: 16px;"><strong>Way Forward </strong></span></div> <div> In order to strengthen the financial inclusion in the country, NRB as the monetary authority of country, has been adopting some promotional measures so far such as providing additional incentives to BFIs to go to the remote as well as underprivileged areas. Similarly, it has been encouraging the microfinance institutions to be more inclusive while directing the commercial banks to lent a given portion of their loan portfolio to the deprived sectors. </div> <div> </div> <div> However, the indicators of financial inclusion are yet to improve. In this context, the following measures should be adopted under the existing infrastructure framework to speed up the financial inclusion in Nepal. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size: 14px;"><strong>Postal Network:</strong></span> The government should consider tying up with BFIs to deliver financial solutions to the un-banked, using its extensive postal network. The synergistic outreach of the existing postal system supplemented by banking functions is the answer to the challenges posed by rural markets. As Nepal has the largest postal network in the remotest areas, the excluded masses can graduallyconnect with the full-fledged banking services. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size: 14px;"><strong>Mobile Banking:</strong></span> The transaction costs can be radically reduced even in remote locations through mobile banking. The costs, which ease of access for the consumers and the profitability of provider will ultimately opt the level of wireless services. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size: 14px;"><strong>Use of Technology:</strong></span> Rural banking can be expanded in an easy and user friendly way through universal technology with innovative applications. The role of various ICT tools and associated technologies in providing financial solutions to the unbanked is also substantial. Rural ATMs, plastic cards like smart cards, biometric cards including mobile payment (branchless banking) technologies do have the ability to engage the unbanked sections. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size: 14px;"><strong>Financial Literacy: </strong></span>Steps have to be taken by the government for the expansion of banking services and linking of opportunities among various segments of financial sector like capital markets, insurance, etc. To achieve this aim the government should come up with an extensive campaign of financial literacy. </div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2014-02-20', 'modified' => '2014-02-20', 'keywords' => 'new business age economy & policy news & articles, economy & policy news & articles from new business age nepal, economy & policy headlines from nepal, current and latest economy & policy news from nepal, economic news from nepal, nepali economy & policy economic news and events, ongoing economy', 'description' => 'The financial system has to provide its function of transferring resources from surplus to deficit units but both deficit and surplus units are those with low incomes and poor background etc.', 'sortorder' => '2481', 'image' => null, 'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '0' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2604', 'article_category_id' => '145', 'title' => 'Firming Up An Educational Institution’s Brand: Challenges And Choices', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> <strong>--By Roshee Lamichhane</strong></div> <div> </div> <div> About a decade ago, there was never a need for educational institutions to aggressively market themselves, as the demand for quality education generally outgrew supply. Today, however, with increasing competition, there is a growing awareness within this community on the importance of marketing a school or college. They are also making conscious efforts to establish the institutional brand, attract quality students, and stay ahead of competition at all times.</div> <div> </div> <div> Research points to the fact that Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) and Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) are increasingly evaluating marketing outsourcing and the growing maturity of marketing services that can be outsourced. This research evidence emphasizes that marketing outsourcing will soon become a key outsourced function globally, much in the lines of Finance and Accounting, Human Resources, Logistics, Security, and Legal services.</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:16px;"><strong>Emergence of MPO Companies</strong></span></div> <div> Marketing Process Outsourcing (MPO) companies provide organizations with measurable, high-impact, and cost-efficient outsourcing solutions and deliver value by partnering with them as an extended arm. The services they render to marketing are something analogous to what Finance and Accounts Officers (FAOs) do to the F & A function of an organization. They resort to componentizing all key marketing functions and sub-functions. Later, they build processes for each of these in such a way that they can be delivered by leveraging the best functional and domain knowledge banks. They also use best global practices in the most efficient and cost effective manner either onsite or remotely. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:16px;"><strong>Role of PMPs </strong></span></div> <div> The role of Professional Marketing Partners (PMPs) becomes at once important as the education space is, slowly but surely, realizing the need to have a professional and cost-effective marketing set-up in place that proactively and continuously communicates with the target segment, rather than engaging only in seasonal marketing efforts.</div> <div> </div> <div> Engaging the services of a PMP has become the first step towards firming up an educational institution’s brand through a pro-active marketing program to reach your target segment. The logic and rationale are simple: “they not only possess a deep marketing expertise and an in-depth understanding of the education marketing, but design and deliver compelling solutions customized to its needs”. Educational Branding and Marketing Services and Solutions generally include but are not limited to:</div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Admission Marketing: Offering tried and tested program mix to help expand admission outreach and attract quality students.</div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Placement Connect: Providing continuous engagement with corporate houses to increase student placement opportunities, to supplement or substitute institution’s placement office.</div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Online Reputation: Leveraging social and other online/digital media to enhance the brand value of the institution and engage effectively with the ecosystem.</div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Ecosystem Engagement: Crafting marketing strategies such as alumni engagement programs, corporate branding, etc., covering all stakeholders—including corporate, faculty, parents, and alumni—to facilitate continuous interaction and support to the institution.</div> <div> </div> <div> This continuous engagement with a Professional Marketing Partner helps:</div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Attract and increase quality of students every year</div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Retain top faculty </div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Increase student placement opportunities through continuous interaction with businesses </div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Optimize cost of acquisition per candidate </div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Increase support from alumni and benefactors</div> <div> </div> <div> There are several pioneering MPO agencies that have been helping the education community on how to market a school/college and formulate winning marketing strategies to effectively engage with the ecosystem, build a sustainable brand, and address the challenges faced by them. Their distilled experiences enable them to identify the key challenges faced by their client organizations in the marketing function. They align their services to help Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) and Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) address some of these challenges and bridge the gaps while improving the efficiency/effectiveness of their marketing function. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:16px;"><strong>Challenges</strong></span></div> <div> Some of the typical challenges in the context of branding and marketing an educational institution include:</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>People and hiring challenges</strong></span></div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>It is difficult and expensive to build in-house expertise for all the key programmes that firms need to run</div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>A significant part of a company’s bandwidth is consumed by low-impact tactical work, leaving very little time for strategic marketing work</div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Training people is a big challenge and businesses will seldom be able to hire experienced practitioners and best practices are difficult to come by</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Lack of outsourced expertise</strong></span></div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>It is tough to find the right outsourced resources. Advertising, design and web agencies offer little strategic insights and are seldom aligned with the firm’s strategic business objectives</div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>External agencies seldom bring the practitioners’ view to the table and would like to work with someone who has done this before</div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Monitoring metrics and ROI on marketing programmes is a big challenge</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Cost challenges</strong></span></div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Companies are always under pressure to do more with their marketing budgets and resources, but their costs don’t seem to be going down</div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Companies’ marketing requirements are globally distributed, but their costs and people are not</div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Businesses would like to leverage shared services to benefit from economies of scale and process efficiencies but there are no marketing shared services offerings easily available</div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Companies don’t want to invest in building expensive in-house resources or teams for certain tactical marketing competencies or for cyclical or part-time marketing requirements</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:16px;"><strong>Marketing Outsourcing Partnership Model for SMBs</strong></span></div> <div> The services of MPO companies extend from managing specific functions or processes for large marketing organizations to running the complete marketing function for SMBs. Generally, the Marketing Outsourcing Partnership (MOP) Model is backed by an expert team of marketing professionals with significant expertise in global marketing. They offer their clients a range of ‘marketing in a box’ and ‘marketing on demand’ outsourcing options that include full function outsourcing, outsourcing of specific projects and programmes as well as their execution.</div> <div style="text-align: right;"> <em>(Lamichhane is Manager, Business Development, at Chaudhary Group)</em></div> <div> </div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2014-02-18', 'modified' => '2014-02-20', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'Marketing Process Outsourcing (MPO) companies provide organizations with measurable, high-impact, and cost-efficient outsourcing solutions and deliver value by partnering with them as an extended arm.', 'sortorder' => '2480', 'image' => null, 'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '0' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2636', 'article_category_id' => '48', 'title' => 'Electric Thoughts', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> </div> <div> <div> <strong>--By Madan Lamsal</strong></div> <div> </div> <div> <img alt="No Laughing Matter" src="/userfiles/images/nlm%20(Copy)(1).jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 0px 10px; width: 300px; height: 369px;" />Twelve hours of power-cut, popularly known as load-shedding is a matter of pride for Nepal. It is undoubtedly so for state power monopoly, Nepal Electricity Authority, NEA. The act of shedding a load in its literal meaning too is a good thing. After such shedding one is bound to feel light like a feather, who immediately takes on to dancing with flying finesse.</div> <div> </div> <div> There is no reason that lack of electricity supply should stop you to feel proud and productive if you can think in the speed of electric current itself; like the bosses in NEA do. The other week they organized a press meet to make their scoop achievement public: ‘there will be no more than eighty hours of load-shedding per week. We are working all day to make sure that it doesn’t increase even during the on-setting dry season.’</div> <div> </div> <div> In fact, there was no need of organizing such a press meet as every Nepali by now has accepted the fact that we cannot live without load-shedding. It has become such an undeniable part of our lives that we are now all prepared to make it our heritage. One more along the line of Mt Everest, Lumbini or Durbar Square. The biggest advantage of this is: whole country can become a world heritage site, as load-shedding is not limited to a small area, like cities of archaeological or natural significance.</div> <div> </div> <div> The load-shedding can contribute in a great way to the economic prosperity of the nation. The recent growth stories of our neighbours India and China has been attributed to the outcome of demographic dividend, meaning that since they have more people the growth is faster. Our load-shedding can contribute greatly to baby-boom. As there is no light for long hours right since the evening, couples can be more productive.</div> <div> </div> <div> Recently, there were news reports that some energy-intensive factories like sugar mills got closed due to load-shedding. That is in fact very good news. Low production of sugar will reduce the chances of diabetes in the populace and they don’t have to worry about the doctors who prefer to go for strikes than to serve the patients.</div> <div> </div> <div> You must have heard about electric shocks, electric jolts or electric drinks, meaning our famed bijulipaani. But I have introduced here a very new concept of electric thought. It flows like the electricity itself and once guided to certain direction, it hardly changes the direction or comes back. New NEA executive director recently enlightened us by revealing that load-shedding is caused not only because less amount of electricity was produced but also due to lack of transmission lines to transport the produce. There are not enough transmission lines even to bring in the electricity India is prepared to give. When private producers start production, this bottleneck is sure to remain there. It is apparent that the electric thought of NEA so far was directed only to the production of electricity. Yet, NEA’s electric thought has not been redirected to other than production aspect, to ensure longer years of power outages even when there is production aplenty.</div> <div> </div> <div> Some thoughts were non-electric so they did never reach the other end of the objectives. We heard the plans of setting up diesel plants of some 120 MW, heard about bio fuel-fed generators and augmenting the supply by solar panels or air turbines. But these were the plans never implemented, duly understanding the importance of the load-shedding for the country.</div> <div> </div> <div> By all standards, the very concept of load-shedding is the true personification of the electric thought. Everybody knows, darkness can travel faster than the electricity itself. Therefore NEA needed to call a press conference to explain there is ensured darkness for any foreseeable years. It was a great idea propelled by none other than the electric thought to make presence of NEA felt to the public.</div> </div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2014-02-20', 'modified' => '2014-02-20', 'keywords' => 'new business age no laughing matter news & articles, no laughing matter news & articles from new business age nepal, no laughing matter headlines from nepal, current and latest no laughing matter news from nepal, economic news from nepal, nepali no laughing matter economic news and events, ongoing', 'description' => 'Twelve hours of power-cut, popularly known as load-shedding is a matter of pride for Nepal. It is undoubtedly so for state power monopoly, Nepal Electricity Authority, NEA. The act of shedding a load in its literal meaning too is a good thing. After such shedding one is bound to feel light like a feather, who immediately takes on to dancing with flying finesse.', 'sortorder' => '2479', 'image' => null, 'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '0' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2635', 'article_category_id' => '199', 'title' => 'Tech Briefs (17 - 23 February 2014)', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>India Telecoms Auction Raises $10bn </strong></span></div> <div> India’s mobile phone firms have bid almost $10bn (£6bn) in a key auction for the country’s second-generation (2G) telecoms licences. The amount far exceeded the government’s target of $1.8bn, and will be used to shrink its budget deficit. The government will get at least $3bn initially as companies have to pay up to a third of the winning price now, with the rest by 2026. The winners included Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Reliance Industries. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Android Extends Gains on Apple, Windows Phone is 3rd</strong></span></div> <div> The Google Android system extended its gains over Apple’s iPhoneglobally in the last quarter of 2013, and Windows Phone grabbed the number three market position, a survey showed Wednesday. The IDC survey found Android had a 78.1 percent share of global smartphone shipments in the fourth quarter, bolstered by a 40 percent jump in the number of handsets delivered. Apple got only a modest boost in the fourth quarter from the release of its new iPhones, with sales up 6.7 percent compared with a year earlier. That means its market shareslipped to 17.6 percent from 20.9 percent, according to IDC. The Microsoft Windows Phone platform saw a 46.7 percent year-over-year rise in sales, which pushed its market share to three percent.</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Smartglasses that Help Surgeons See Cancerous Cells</strong></span></div> <div> If you think cancer removal surgery is but a one-time procedure, you’d be wrong. Doctors don’t always cut out all affected tissues in one go, but a new pair of high-tech eyewear could help make that happen. The device, developed by a Washington University research team led by Samuel Achilefu, can make cancer cells perfectly visible to surgeons as they operate. It’s loaded with custom software that makes cancerous cells glow blue (due to a molecular imaging agent that gives it color) to anyone wearing the headset. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>New Website Lets You Video Chat with Avatars of Dead People</strong></span></div> <div> A new website createsvirtual avatars of the dead so that their loved ones can video chat with them after they are gone. The website ‘Eterni.me’ is a startup by engineers, designers and business people, part of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology ( MIT)’s Entrepreneurship Development Program. The team claims to have developed a means by which a person can be digitally reconstructed after their death. The service needs to be provided with a person’s chat logs, social-network information, photos, and e-mails, and it uses this information to reconstruct a person’s memories and mannerisms, ‘CNET’ reported. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>‘Business Microscope’ to Track Employees’ Every Move at Workplace</strong></span></div> <div> A Japanese company has developed a device that can track everything you do in the workplace — from how long you have been sitting idle to how often you visit the lavatory. Hitachi, the electronics maker, has created the device, called ‘Business Microscope’, which looks like a badge or ID card and contains chips and sensors to record an employee’s behaviour. It detects to whom you have spoken, how often, where and how energetically. The gadget also reads your colleagues’ badges and judges the distance between people talking, The Times reported. It tells bosses how often an employee leaves their seat, how far they walk and where they go. It would also be able to judge how often a person speaks in a meeting and report on how much they contribute to group sessions.</div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2014-02-19', 'modified' => '2014-02-20', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'India’s mobile phone firms have bid almost $10bn (£6bn) in a key auction for the country’s second-generation (2G) telecoms licences.', 'sortorder' => '2478', 'image' => null, 'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '0' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2633', 'article_category_id' => '212', 'title' => 'Samsung Galaxy S5 Tipped To Come With Bezel-Free Display', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> </div> <div> According to a report by The Korea Herald citing industry sources, the Samsung Galaxy S5 will launch with a bezel-free display. The Korean giant has reportedly been working on the technology since 2012.</div> <div> </div> <div> The yet to be revealed smartphone is also said to feature a fingerprint scanner – right in line with previous reports. The fingerprint reader is reportedly embedded in the display and will only be available at its bottom left and right sides. Screen panels with full support for fingerprint scanning are tipped for the second half </div> <div> of this year.</div> <div> </div> <div> Furthermore, the next generation Samsung Galaxy S will reportedly be even slimmer than its predecessor. The feat will be achieved via a new display panel technology which will replace the currently used four-layer setup featuring indium tin oxide.</div> <div> </div> <div> In addition to making the smartphone slimmer, the new display technology will bring improved energy efficiency and viewing accuracy. According to an image of Galaxy S5’s alleged retail box, the phone’s display will be a 5.25” unit with QHD (2,560 x 1,600 pixels) resolution.</div> <div> </div> <div> Samsung Galaxy S5 will be officially unveiled in less than two weeks, on February 24 in Barcelona. We will be there live, so be sure to tune in for the full scoop on the flagship. (GSMArena)</div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2014-02-19', 'modified' => '2014-02-20', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'According to a report by The Korea Herald citing industry sources, the Samsung Galaxy S5 will launch with a bezel-free display. The Korean giant has reportedly been working on the technology since 2012', 'sortorder' => '2477', 'image' => null, 'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '0' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2634', 'article_category_id' => '213', 'title' => 'Business Briefs (17 - 23 February 2014)', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Godrej’s New Refrigerators and Washing Machines</strong></span></div> <div> Eol Pvt Ltd, the sole authorized distributor for Godrej appliances in Nepal has launched Godrej Edge Pro refrigerator models and Godrej Eon Glitz washing machine in the market. According to the company, the refrigerators have features like Stay Cool technology, jumbo vegetable tray, large freezer and shelf space, and are CFC, HFC, and HCFC free. The refrigerators ar available in various colours and their capacity ranges from 190 to 240 litres. Similarly, the washing machines have features like Aquajet Pulsator, gravity drum and digital control panel among others. The refrigerators come with a 2-year warranty and the washing machines come with one-year warranty.</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Worldlink Ties Up With eSewa</strong></span></div> <div> Worldlink Communications Pvt Ltd has tied up with e-Sewa for online bill payment system. With this, the customers of Worldlink can make the online payment of the services through eSewa. eSewa is a digital payment portal for online transaction for payment to various merchants and transfer funds to various banks among other services. The service has been made available from February 10, 2014.</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Pooja International Launches Kobelco Construction Equipment</strong></span></div> <div> Pooja International Nepal Pvt Ltd under Vishal Group Automotive Division has acquired the sole importer and dealership of Kobelco Construction Equipment India Pvt Limited (KCEI) for Nepal. KCEI, a subsidiary of Kobelco Construction Machinery, Japan has manufacturing facility in Andhra Pradesh, India. Pooja International also launched Kobelco excavator on 13th February. According to the company, the excavators are the most fuel efficient in its segment and offer higher productivity. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Colors’ New Range of Bar Phones</strong></span></div> <div> Colors Mobile has launched seven different models of bar phones in Fighter Series for the year 2014. The launched phones are F28, F25, F21, F15n, F12, F9 and F7n. According to the company, the models have individual unique features like big battery, big screen, stylish look, big speaker and wireless FM among others. The price of the phones ranges from Rs 1645 to Rs 2745. Colors is providing a 1-year warranty for the handsets and six months warranty for battery.</div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2014-02-19', 'modified' => '2014-02-20', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'Eol Pvt Ltd, the sole authorized distributor for Godrej appliances in Nepal has launched Godrej Edge Pro refrigerator models and Godrej Eon Glitz washing machine in the market.', 'sortorder' => '2476', 'image' => null, 'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '0' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2632', 'article_category_id' => '212', 'title' => 'BlackBerry Octa-core 64-bit Device By 2015', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> </div> <div> The rumored BlackBerry Ontario, which is apart of the O-series, recently had benchmarks surface. BlackBerry will be utilizing the 2.3GHz Snapdragon MSM8974 quad-core Krait in the Ontario. Additionally, BlackBerry will utilize this same MSM8974 Qualcomm chip in the W-series (QWERTY device) and B-series (All-touch). </div> <div> Even though the future of high-end BlackBerry devices seems strong, it has had us all wanting more.</div> <div> </div> <div> Reaching out to a few sources, we’ve confirmed that BlackBerry has been planning to utilize the SnapdragonMSM8994. This chip uses the 20 nm HKMG process and uses an octa-core 64-bit architecture. Each core can reach a frequency of up to 2.5 GHz with 4MB L2 cache.</div> <div> </div> <div> Will BlackBerry still continue on the path to an octa-core device now that John Chen is the CEO? If so, the plan is to have it ready by summer of 2015.</div> <div> </div> <div> BlackBerry employees working on such projects haven’t yet been told they’re canceled. However, what the future may hold for high-end BlackBerry devices is anything less than transparent. (N4BB)</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Other features of the MSM8994 include:</strong></span></div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>1600MHz 4GB RAM LPDDR3 PoP</div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Adreno 430 500 MHz</div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Pixel fill Rate 6Gpix / s</div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Vertex 500Mtri / s</div> <div> •<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>OpenGL ES3.0, direct x11.1, OpenCL1.2</div> <div> </div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2014-02-19', 'modified' => '2014-02-19', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'The rumored BlackBerry Ontario, which is apart of the O-series, recently had benchmarks surface. BlackBerry will be utilizing the 2.3GHz Snapdragon MSM8974 quad-core Krait in the Ontario', 'sortorder' => '2475', 'image' => null, 'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '0' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2630', 'article_category_id' => '202', 'title' => 'An Entrepreneur’s Love For Music', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> </div> <div> <strong>--By Upashana Neupane</strong></div> <div> </div> <div> Bajra and Bajracharya Enterprises’ Managing Director Prakas Bajracharya is a man of balance. Along with being a successful businessman, he has equally managed his beyond office hours for his family. He claims that he is devoted and committed to his family and spends his weekly holidays and spare time with his family. </div> <div> </div> <div> Bajracharya shares that he often makes foreign business visits and that he enjoys such trips with his family as much as possible. While doing his work, he also makes the best of it and enjoys business trips. He finds New York as the best place for shopping and Mauritius as the best place for family holiday.</div> <div> </div> <div> Everything he has is the outcome of his meticulous planning, according to him. Bajracharya has a unique habit of working during the mid-night hours, between 10 pm to 2 am. “It’s peaceful during these hours and it allows me to focus,” he shares. He thinks it is the perfect time to work and make business plans because no one disturbs him these hours from concentrating.“This planning helps me stay ahead and remain on guard to cater to the needs of customers and the business during my office hours”, he shares.</div> <div> </div> <div> Bajracharya is fitness conscious. Every morning he goes to gym and sweats out for one to two hours. He also loves swimming for refreshment but that is only in summer. He believes that health is our biggest asset and opines that if we have a good health, we have everything. When he is in peace and to himself, Bajracharya loves scribbling poems and has deep love for writing. He has written several songs and even got recorded some of them in the voice of prominent Bollywood singers like Sunidhi Chauhan, and Kollywood singers like Babin Pradhan, Hemanta Rana, among others. An containing five songs in the voices of these singers with music composition of Om Bikram Bista is already launched.</div> <div> </div> <div> Bajracharya remembers that he had been in love for writing since childhood and maintained a diary. “My writing habit started with diary writing”, he shares. “I used to write all the things that I did throughout the day, things I need to do, and the surprising and unplanned things that happened to me,” he shares, “This gradually improved my writing habit and the quality of writing.” He remembers the gradual development of his diary writing habit into love for writing poems and then into songs writing. </div> <div> </div> <div> As a passionate music lover, he has his own list of favourite musical figures. Michael Jackson, Enrique, and Jennifer Lopez top the list among western singers and Sunidhi Chauhan, Sonu Nigam and Adnan Sami in Bollywood singers. Bajracharya acted in one of his album’s video and is happy with his musical journey and the feedback he’s got so far. Apart from the love for music, Bajracharya also has love for books. He prefers reading non-fiction to fiction, especially those that provide creative ideas. He also loves reading biographies of prominent people. His all time favourite has been the book on Steve Jobs. He doesn’t miss even a single book by American entrepreneur Donald Trump.</div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2014-02-18', 'modified' => '2014-02-23', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'Bajra and Bajracharya Enterprises’ Managing Director Prakas Bajracharya is a man of balance. Along with being a successful businessman, he has equally managed his beyond office hours for his family. He claims that he is devoted and committed to his family and spends his weekly holidays and spare time with his family.', 'sortorder' => '2474', 'image' => null, 'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '0' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2631', 'article_category_id' => '212', 'title' => 'Nokia Touts Video Recording In New Lumia Phone', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> </div> <div> Nokia is selling a new Windows phone that promises enhanced video-recording capabilities.The new Lumia Icon sports four microphones, compared with the one or two typically found in smartphones. The two on the front are activated when making phone calls, while the two on the rear are used when taking video — to better capture sound coming from the subjects.</div> <div> </div> <div> The Icon takes video in 1080p high-definition resolution as well as still images of up to 19 megapixels. The resolution for still images isn't as sharp as the 38-megapixel maximum on Nokia's flagship Lumia 1020, but that allows the Icon camera to be flatter, without a protruding lens.</div> <div> </div> <div> Nokia is one of the main companies making phones based on Microsoft's Windows Phone 8 system. The system is growing in use, but it lags iPhones and Android devices in market share. Many apps come to iPhones and Android devices first.</div> <div> </div> <div> Microsoft Corp. is trying to boost its Windows Phone system as sales of traditional personal computers decline. Microsoft is buying Nokia's phone business and patent rights for $7.3 billion in a deal expected to be completed by the end of March.</div> <div> </div> <div> The Lumia Icon will be available starting Feb. 20 through Verizon Wireless for $200 with a two-year service contract, or $550 without.</div> <div> </div> <div> The Icon is similar to Nokia Corp.'s Lumia 1520, except its screen measures just 5 inches diagonally, compared with 6 inches on the 1520. The 1520 is available only through AT&T.</div> <div> </div> <div> The Icon supports wireless re-charging and works with a variety of charging mats and other accessories sold separately. (AP)</div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2014-02-19', 'modified' => '2014-02-19', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'Nokia is selling a new Windows phone that promises enhanced video-recording capabilities.The new Lumia Icon sports four microphones, compared with the one or two typically found in smartphones. The two on the front are activated when making phone calls, while the two on the rear are used when taking video — to better capture sound coming from the subjects.', 'sortorder' => '2473', 'image' => null, 'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '0' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2626', 'article_category_id' => '99', 'title' => 'Ang Tshiring And Ang Dendi Win Club Championship', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> </div> <div> Ang Tshring Sherpa was declared gross champion and Ang Dendi Sherpa was nett champion after the final round of Surya Nepal Gokarna Monthly Medal final round played at Gokarna Forest Resort on 8th February. Ang Tshiring Sherpa turned in a card of 10 over par on a challenging round to win the trophy and title ahead of Prabhat Singh. Ang Dendi scored three under par 69 and accumulated 320 points to defeat the leader from 11 rounds, Rekha Ghimire by 60 points.</div> <div> </div> <div> On the Medal round, Ang Dendi Sherpa won the first prize, Sonam Ongdi Lama scored one-under 71 to finish second. Daman Ghale was second runner-up with the score of one over 73. Tashi Ghale won the best gross award with the score of 82 (ten over par) on the count back.</div> <div> </div> <div> Top 30 players from the last 10 medal rounds qualified to play the final two rounds along with top three gross scorers of each medal rounds. Out of those who qualified, 19 players took part in the final edition. Club President Suhrid Ghimire and Brand Manager of Surya Nepal Pvt Ltd Keshav Pradhan gave away the prizes to the winners.</div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2014-02-18', 'modified' => '2014-02-19', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'Ang Tshring Sherpa was declared gross champion and Ang Dendi Sherpa was nett champion after the final round of Surya Nepal Gokarna Monthly Medal final round played at Gokarna Forest Resort on 8th February.', 'sortorder' => '2472', 'image' => null, 'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '0' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2629', 'article_category_id' => '100', 'title' => 'Tourism Briefs (17 - 23 February 2014)', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> <span style="font-size:16px;"><strong>India to Roll-Out Global Visa-On-Arrival System</strong></span></div> <div> <img alt="" src="/userfiles/images/tt3%20(Copy)(4).jpg" style="float: left; margin: 0px 10px 0px 0px;width: 200px; height: 143px;" />India will soon offer visa-on-arrival (VOA) to citizens of almost every country in the world, authorities have revealed. The country’s much-maligned tourist visa processing system will be completely overhauled, in an effort to allow the country to achieve a greater share of global visitor arrivals. Announcing the decision in Delhi late on Wednesday, planning minister Rajiv Shukla told reporters; “We have decided to extend the visa-on-arrival facility to tourists from 180 nations.” This marks a major upgrade from the an original plan mooted in October last year, which suggested the VOA scheme could be offered to 40 countries, including the UK, US, France, Germany, China, Russia, Brazil, Australia, the UAE and Saudi Arabia. Under the expanded plan however, tourists from almost every nation on Earth will be able to apply for VOA to India. The only major exceptions are Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Iraq, which have been omitted on security grounds. Bangladesh is among the countries included. (Traveldailymedia.com)</div> <div> </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:16px;"><strong>80% Tripadvisor Users Read Up To 12 Reviews before Choosing a Hotel </strong></span></div> <div> <img alt="" src="/userfiles/images/tt4%20(Copy)(4).jpg" style="float: left; margin: 0px 10px 0px 0px;width: 200px; height: 136px;" />TripAdvisor announced the results of an independent study that underscores how essential online traveller reviews are in the research and booking process. The study reveals that more than half of global respondents do not want to make a booking commitment until they read reviews and find out what other travellers thought about the property. According to the study, respondents turn to TripAdvisor on a regular basis. Twenty nine percent visit the site several times a month, 12 percent say they check the site at least once a week and 26 percent regularly use the site more than once a week. Overall, this means that 67 percent of respondents check TripAdvisor a few times a month or more. More than 80 percent say the site’s reviews help them feel more confident in their travel decisions, and help them to have a better trip. Of those polled, 93 percent of respondents feel that a hotel stay is very important to the overall trip experience. (Traveldailynews.com)</div> <div> </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:16px;"><strong>Global Ad Campaign Urges Tourists to Boycott Botswana </strong></span></div> <div> <img alt="" src="/userfiles/images/tt5%20(Copy)(3).jpg" style="float: left; margin: 0px 10px 0px 0px;width: 250px; height: 127px;" />Survival International – the global movement for tribal peoples’ rights – has launched a worldwide advertising campaign highlighting Botswana’s persecution of Africa’s last hunting Bushmen. Under the headline ‘Discover the hidden secrets of Botswana’, the ad exposes Botswana’s use of glossy and contrived images of Bushmen to attract tourists, while at the same time using violence and torture to deport the Bushmen from their ancestral land in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. The ad is being published in five languages (English, French, German, Spanish and Italian) and will be placed in luxury and travel magazines and newspapers worldwide. The first ad has appeared in the March issue of Wired Magazine. Botswana’s government has been persecuting its first people for decades in an attempt to drive them from their land. Banned from hunting, and forced to apply for permits to enter the reserve, they are now being pushed to the brink of extinction. The ad urges tourists to join Survival’s boycott and not go to Botswana until the Bushmen are allowed to live on their land in peace. (Traveldailynews.com)</div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2014-02-18', 'modified' => '2014-02-27', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'India will soon offer visa-on-arrival (VOA) to citizens of almost every country in the world, authorities have revealed. The country’s much-maligned tourist visa processing system will be completely overhauled, in an effort to allow the country to achieve a greater share of global visitor arrivals', 'sortorder' => '2471', 'image' => null, 'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '0' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2628', 'article_category_id' => '99', 'title' => 'Tripadvisor Honours Hyatt Regency Kathmandu', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> Hyatt Regency Kathmandu is named as one of the ‘Top 10 Hotels in Nepal’ in the Tripadvisor’s 2014 Travellers’ Choice awards, arriving in third place. In the twelfth year of the awards, the world’s most outstanding properties were identified in the categories of Top Hotel, Bargain, B and Bs and Inns, Family, Luxury, Romance, and Small Hotel. The winners of the Travellers’ Choice awards were determined by the reviews and opinions of millions of TripAdvisor travellers from around the globe.</div> <div> </div> <div> “We at Hyatt Regency Kathmandu feel privileged to have been named as one of the top ten hotels in Nepal for the second year in a row by the prestigious Travellers’ Choice Awards. TripAdvisor’s vast community and in-depth reviews help us to realise our shortcomings, so we can constantly work towards providing a better quality of service,” said Suman Shrestha, Director of Marketing for Hyatt Regency Kathmandu.</div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2014-02-18', 'modified' => '2014-02-18', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'Hyatt Regency Kathmandu is named as one of the ‘Top 10 Hotels in Nepal’ in the Tripadvisor’s 2014 Travellers’ Choice awards, arriving in third place.', 'sortorder' => '2470', 'image' => null, 'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '0' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2624', 'article_category_id' => '99', 'title' => 'Soaltee Re-launches Barbeque Lunch', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> <div> </div> <div> <strong>--By TC Correspondent</strong></div> <div> </div> <div> Hotel Soaltee Crowne Plaza has re-launched its barbeque buffet lunch from 15th February. The lunch starts from 12:30 PM till 3 PM every Saturday and Sunday at the poolside of the hotel. The poolside offers a warm ambience, a beautiful garden and reviving music for a great outdoor dining experience. The buffet features Mediterranean, Australian, Oriental, Indian and South East Asian barbeque delicacies along with a selection of soups, salads, and desserts. </div> <div> </div> <div> The delicacies offered includes pasta varieties and grilled dishes like Citrus Marinated Tiger Prawns, Fresh water trout and Australian pork chop among others. Vegetarians can enjoy grill veggies like Mushroom and Tofu Dengaku, Tori Tare along with freshly baked breads.</div> <div> </div> <div> A scrumptious variety of desserts are also available, like Sweet Sabayon in mini tequila glass, Flambéed French Crepes, Juicy Fudge Bullets and more. The menu is priced at Rs 1800 plus taxes for adults and Rs 1000 plus taxes for child below 10 years. It also includes a complimentary glass of wine or a bottle of beer or a can of Coke. Hotel Soaltee is the place to be every weekend if you want to unwind and enjoy scrumptious barbeque varieties. </div> </div> <p> </p>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2014-02-18', 'modified' => '2014-02-23', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'Hotel Soaltee Crowne Plaza has re-launched its barbeque buffet lunch from 15th February. The lunch starts from 12:30 PM till 3 PM every Saturday and Sunday at the poolside of the hotel.', 'sortorder' => '2469', 'image' => null, 'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '0' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2627', 'article_category_id' => '99', 'title' => 'Simrik Takes Seniors Citizens For Mountain Flight', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> Simrik Airlines organised a special mountain flight for the elderly people from Pashupati Briddhashram on 10th February. The airline took 12 senior citizens over the age of 70 for the flight, providing them an opportunity to watch Mount Gauri Shanker, Mount Ganesh and Mount Everest. The flight was organized in the management of Managing Director of Simrik Airlines Rajendra Bahadur Singh, and pilots Gopal Singh Bista and Riwaz Prasad Pradhan along with flight attendants Sony Shrestha and Shreya Basnet briefed the elderly during the mountain flight. </div> <div> </div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2014-02-18', 'modified' => '2014-02-18', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'Simrik Airlines organised a special mountain flight for the elderly people from Pashupati Briddhashram on 10th February.', 'sortorder' => '2468', 'image' => null, 'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '0' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2622', 'article_category_id' => '152', 'title' => 'Some Rules To Healthy Life', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> Ayurveda is a branch of medicine which originated and is practiced in South Asia for more than 5000 years. It is as fresh and useful to humans today as it was in the ancient times yet more relevant and applicable in these modern times. Its use provides a holistic approach to our daily lives.</div> <div> </div> <div> • <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>The Ayurvedic ‘dincharya’ or daily schedule helps to bring about peace and harmony in one’s life.</div> <div> </div> <div> • <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Ayurvedic daily life routines are meant to enhance the total health of man, both mental and physical. They are easy to follow and are not liable to cause trauma of any kind to the body or mind.</div> <div> </div> <div> • <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>According to ayurvedic lifestyle, one should get 7-8 hours sleep daily. On waking up in the morning, one should drink a glass of warm water which helps in flushing out toxins collected in the body overnight. One should wake up early in the morning and go for a walk</div> <div> </div> <div> • <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Personal hygiene is essential for a consistent good health. Regular brushing of teeth and tongue freshens the mouth, keeps the teeth healthy and removes the cause of bad breath. Brushing of teeth is preferably done after every meal. Washing of face should include washing eyes, nose and ears. Nails and hair should be kept trimmed and clean.</div> <div> </div> <div> • <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>All meals should be regularly taken and at a set time daily so as to keep the body system functioning optimally. Food items from nature are best for regular meals.</div> <div> </div> <div> • <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Clean clothes should be worn daily. It is more beneficial to wear clothes made out of cotton, silk, linens and wool which are natural fibers.</div> <div> </div> <div> • <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>One should do regular light exercises to keep the body supple and improve blood circulation to all parts of the body. Regular exercise includes walking, swimming and yoga amongst other light exercises, helping to maintain good health by making a person mentally relaxed and more active, alert, happy and strong.</div> <div> </div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2014-02-18', 'modified' => '2014-02-18', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'Ayurveda is a branch of medicine which originated and is practiced in South Asia for more than 5000 years. It is as fresh and useful to humans today as it was in the ancient times yet more relevant and applicable in these modern times. Its use provides a holistic approach to our daily lives.', 'sortorder' => '2467', 'image' => null, 'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '0' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = false $xml = falsesimplexml_load_file - [internal], line ?? include - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
| Currency | Unit |
Buy | Sell |
| U.S. Dollar | 1 | 121.23 | 121.83 |
| European Euro | 1 | 131.65 | 132.31 |
| UK Pound Sterling | 1 | 142.47 | 143.18 |
| Swiss Franc | 1 | 124.29 | 124.90 |
| Australian Dollar | 1 | 71.69 | 72.05 |
| Canadian Dollar | 1 | 83.90 | 84.32 |
| Japanese Yen | 10 | 10.94 | 11.00 |
| Chinese Yuan | 1 | 17.17 | 17.26 |
| Saudi Arabian Riyal | 1 | 32.27 | 32.43 |
| UAE Dirham | 1 | 33.01 | 33.17 |
| Malaysian Ringgit | 1 | 27.36 | 27.50 |
| South Korean Won | 100 | 9.77 | 9.82 |
Update: 2020-03-25 | Source: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB)
| Fine Gold | 1 tola | 77000.00 |
| Tejabi Gold | 1 tola | 76700.00 |
| Silver | 1 tola | 720.00 |
Update : 2020-03-25
Source: Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers' Association
| Petrol | 1 Liter | 106.00 |
| Diesel | 1 Liter | 95.00 |
| Kerosene | 1 Liter | 95.00 |
| LP Gas | 1 Cylinder | 1375.00 |
Update : 2020-03-25
