--By Gaurav Aryal

 

CE Construction Pvt Ltd is going for territorial expansion. As a part of its business extension plan, the company is not only looking at the growing demands for the company's deliverables outside the Kathmandu Valley but also beyond national territories.

 

Bijay Rajbhandary, chairman and managing director of CE Construction says that numerous hurdles in Nepali business environment hinder business growth here. He believes that investing outside the country will open up new avenues for business expansion and growth. Investing abroad for the company would mean new business prospects, greater opportunities for expansion, higher profit and also new career prospects for the employees.

 

Business Model

Rajbhandary shares that his company is looking forward to work in partnership with local partners and also to tie-up with multinational partners as demanded by the projects. He says, “Our business model is always based on partnership, be it for domestic or international ventures. If we need exponential growth, partnership is the only solution. Having strategic partner means good qualities of both the partners will be cashed in while the weaknesses will be mitigated.”

 

The company will be exploring those areas where it has its expertise and experience – in the real estate - as a contractor, designer, construction manager and interior designer. “We have that strength and we have not seen one company doing all of those in those markets. Either any one of those or all of the responsibilities can be taken up in a partnership,” says Rajbhandary. He adds that his company is developing competence to work in the international environment.

 

Cashing the Expertise

However, this is not the first time the company is trying to go beyond borders. The CE Construction has its subsidiary, Collaborative Endeavour in Qatar, operating for five years as a contractor. Rajbhandary reveals that construction works are going on in seven projects is ongoing. The company has been working on development of villas, farmhouse, residential buildings and meat processing plant. He adds that his company is soon planning to go for large-scale projects in Qatar.

 

Similarly, the company is soon going to Bhutan. According to Rajbhandary, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) is signed with a local partner and project works are expected to begin soon. Apart from these countries, the company has couple of other similar partnershps in pipeline. 

 

Crossing the Barriers

International expansion comes with numerous hurdles and biggest of them is the legal barrier. As of now, the government of Nepal does not allow Nepalis to invest abroad. However, the company has found a way around it. The CE Construction signs an understanding with the international partner for offering its services to the partner in another country against a certain share of the total profit. Rajbhandary says thus earned profit is turned into equity and invested in other projects and at need even sent to another country where the company is willing to expand. He adds that the initial phase would be challenging. 

 

Rajbhandary suggests that the government should allow certain percentage of capital of company working here to be invested in foreign ventures so that foreign investment can be taken to the next level. He explains that this would expedite the foreign currency earning. “As of now, the foreign currency earned through remittance is mainly through physical strength and once we can invest, it can be earned using our intellectual strength,” he says. Once the legal barriers are removed and government provides support and encouragement to the entrepreneurs, Rajbhandary believes that they will bring more money into the country than they take abroad.

 

 

Going Beyond the Valley

Besides the international market, the company is also tapping the emerging housing market in cities and towns outside Kathmandu. Construction of a new project is ongoing in Pokhara. This project has over 100 residential units. Likewise, the company is starting projects in Narayangarh and Bhairahawa soon. Rajbhandary says that these locations were selected in the first phase as they have easy transportation access and this enabled his team to look after the project development with ease. In these projects outside the Valley, local landowners are made partners as they are said to be influential people in their area. The number of housing units in Narayangarh and Bhairahawa are yet to be finalised. Rajbhandary says these projects will also be developing affordable houses, as per the company’s principle.

 

The business expansion project of CE Construction will be creating additional 1500 jobs. Rajbhandary says that this addition will make CE Construction employer of 5,000 people. He adds that his company has never laid-off employees and hopes to create more employment opportunities with the upcoming expansion.  Along with the new projects outside the valley, the company also has new large-scale projects within Kathmandu Valley in its pipeline, as the market here is yet to reach the saturation point.