Yes, here arrives the first Nepali photojournalist to scale-up the world’s highest peak Mount Qomolangma, and her name is Purnima Shrestha.

In her first such attempt, 27-year-old Purnima recently made her first-ever summit to the 8,848-meter-high Qomolangma or Sagarmatha of Nepal.

“Purnima Shrestha reached summit on May 19, 2018 at 8:10 A.M. local time,” read an official statement by Gyanendra Shrestha, an official from the Department of Tourism, Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Government of Nepal.

Elated at Purnima’s success, the world record holder and a Qomolangma climber Temba Tsheri Sherpa said, “I feel very happy to share that she made it to the top along with other Chinese climbers in the team. The team will hopefully get back to base camp by Sunday,” on May 20, 2018.

Temba Tsheri also heads Sherpa Khangri Outdoor, a firm that handled Purnima’s expedition.

First of its Kind

Purnima belongs to the Gorkha District of Nepal and has been into the field of photo journalism since five years.

As part of her trek journey to the Qomolangma peak, Purnima also carried forward her love for photo journalism as evident in a special solo exhibition she organized in the Qomolangma region.

Along with the summit, Purnima also held a first-of-its-kind solo photo exhibition in the region under the theme ‘Smiling Nepali Women’.

The exhibition, also supported by Nepal Tourism Board and Photojournalists’ Club of Nepal (PJ Club), featured portraits of Nepali women belonging to all walks of life.

“Purnima has created a history by becoming the first Nepali photojournalist to reach the top of the world. It is a proud moment for all of us and it will definitely inspire other photojournalists to follow the path of dreams,” says Bikash Karki, Chairman of the PJ Club.

“The major objective of the exhibition is to promote Nepali culture and tourism of the country. It will enable the world climbers and trekkers gathering in the region to know other aspects of Nepal,”

As a photojournalist, Purnima has been associated with a Nepal-based National Daily newspaper and a magazine.

The post First Nepali Photoscribe Scales Mt. Qomolangma appeared first on Nepali Sansar.

In a recent announcement, Anupama has been named as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Mega Bank Nepal as a replacement to the former CEO Anil Shah as per the Nepal Rastra Bank’s regulation.

Anupama’s appointment to the top post in one of the class A banks of Nepal is being seen as the landmark announcement and also as an inspiration to Nepali women community looking for careers in the banking sector.

“I will put all my efforts into safeguarding the interests of stakeholders, promoters and customers of the bank while ensuring compliance with the regulations of the central bank and government bodies to benefit society at large,” Anupama said in a statement.

Speaking on her appointment, Anupama pitches on the need for encouraging more women to pursue careers in the banking sector.

Strong Commitment

Anupama’s appointment is coming at a time when the Nepali banking sector is facing challenges in offering services to the rural and remote areas of the country.

To start with, Anupama considers this as her top priority post assuming office.

“As the CEO of Mega Bank, my first priority would be to bring unbanked rural people into the banking network,” says Anupama.

Speaking further on challenges in the Nepali banking sector, she informed that Nepali central bank’s regulation seeking rise in paid-up capital of banks resulted in rise of interest rates, which resulted in bankers increase their business to meet the demands. Lack of loanable funds moved Nepali banks to raise interest rates to meet the demand.

“If the central bank’s policy to reduce the number of commercial banks through mergers had been successful, such a severe problem might not have arisen,” says Anupama.

Speaking further on the country’s financial progress, Anupama opined that the Government of Nepal should ramp up its investment in productive sectors as a step towards strengthening the country’s financial sector.

“There should be a clarity in the government’s policy regarding productive sectors. In addition, there is a need to introduce more derivative products to boost the financial market,” she adds.

Overall, she says, “We have to accept the ups and downs in the business cycle and move accordingly to deal with the challenges.”

A Story of Hard Work!

Having been associated with the banking sector for more than three decades serving in key positions, Anupama cites hard work and opportunity as keys to success.

Anupama adds that it’s the years of experience that gave her enough strength to overcome the current challenges.

Having completed her schooling at St Mary’s School, Khunjeli moved to India for further studies.

On her return home, she pursued her bachelor’s degree in management from the Shankar Dev Campus and further got her Master’s in Business Administration from the Ace Institute of Management.

Anupama began her employment career in the banking sector at the age of 27, starting with ANZ Grindlays Bank Nepal that was later acquired by Standard Chartered Bank Nepal.

After gaining a decade of experience in her first job, she moved on to Nabil Bank from where, she joined Mega Bank at the time of its establishment and continued further to what she is today.

“I praise the bank board for taking the right decision to promote Khunjeli to the post of CEO. As she has been with the bank since its establishment, she has a thorough knowledge of the bank’s legacy, promoters, customers and other stakeholders,” says the Mega Bank’s former CEO Shah.

Now that the Nepali banking sector is transforming itself as an attractive destination for employment careers, Anupama’s appointment comes as a needed boost to the Nepali women bankers looking for careers in the banking sector.

Nepal welcomes the first woman CEO of the country’s commercial bank! All the best Anupama Khunjeli!

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Pratima Sherpa (18), a girl born to a couple working in the Royal Nepal Golf Club (RNGC) course next to the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) in Kathmandu, never thought that she would become Nepal’s top-rated female golf player.

Sounds That Resonated

                        Pratima Sherpa with her parents

Aspiring to become Nepal’s first female professional golfer, Pratima recalls her rejoicing moments in her early days where she used to feel refreshed listening to the sounds of golf balls hit by golfers at the club.

In fact, Pratima’s passion for golf sport stemmed out during her family’s stay at the golf course with lawnmowers as part of their employment and has moved her further to take up the sport properly from the age of 11 years.

Whereas, roots for her passion actually lies in the typical Nepali rural outdoor game Dandi Biyo, played by hitting a 6-inch long wooden pin (Biyo) into the air with a wooden stick (Dandi) and strike it again before other players catch it, which she played in her childhood.

Dandi Biyo has been Nepal’s unofficial national sport until Volleyball was declared officially on May 23, 2017.

Talent Finds Recognition

    Pratima Sherpa earns wide recognition

Pratima’s talent got due recognition from one of the coaches when she was learning the sport through juniors’ program run by the club.

The coach joined Pratima under his own wing for free and further appointed a member who introduced her to a set of old clubs.

Pratima continued her practice and eventually crossed various challenges that got her around 40 trophies, so far. But, she never relaxed and practices for at least two hours a day.

“Nepal is a smaller country than most, and playing golf can be difficult for poor families like ours. But I’ve got a big opportunity to play golf, and feel very proud and lucky that I’ve got that chance. I want to become a great golfer,” says Pratima.

From Kathmandu to Further Heights

Despite holding such a talent, Pratima had to struggle a lot for getting a passport to fly abroad to present her skill in the global arena.

Even though an American member of the club offered to adopt, Pratima never thought of leaving her parents.

Finally, with the help of her relations, she could get the passport and has recently travelled to the United States, where she stayed six weeks experiencing golf for the first time outside Nepal.

                          Pratima Sherpa (File Picture)

After being hosted by a Nepali software engineer, Pratima competed in five regional tournaments in California winning one of them and made it at top-6 in the two other matches.

A Hong Kong based sponsorship is also in offing for Pratima currently, which requires her to return to States and pursue golf classes at the California’s Santa Barbara City College.

Pratima, currently playing off a five golf handicap, loves to play for the Faldo Series China Championship, the tournament that hosted renowned Northern Ireland golfer Rory McIlroy and  Taiwanese golfer Yani Tseng.

“It’s really wonderful to see that the whole of Nepal has got excited about Pratima. They’re so proud of her and so supportive. She’s an amazing spokesperson, an amazing icon for Nepali golf and more generally for Nepal and Nepali women,” says Oliver Horovitz, a journalist, author and a golf caddy, who met Pratima at RNGC.

For the Country

Keeping aside key challenges in personal life (caring for family) and career passion, Pratima loves and finds her ability to balance both in a proper way.

In the process, she is also pursuing a four-year business studies course at Thames International College of Kathmandu.

“I can’t say how far my golf career will go. Ultimately, I want to become Nepal’s first female professional golfer,” says Pratima.

“Royal family is gone, we have a new government and there are more opportunities for women. There’s a Nepali proverb, Fruits of labor are always sweet, so now I’ve been given the opportunity to play golf I am going to try my hardest,” reads her latest statement.

Public supporters of Pratima have started www.teampratima.com to raise donations favoring Pratima’s career. This clearly shows the level of love and support Pratima has gained from Nepali society for her sincere efforts.

Pratima always wishes to give back to her nation.

“I want to develop golf in Nepal. I will give back to the Nepali golf community and will help underprivileged children enjoy the sport as I have,” she adds.

“Any competitive golfer that wants to be on the world stage is working hard. Not all of them have that joy for every single shot they hit. I thought that was a pretty striking difference from Pratima and other young players. She has an amazing opportunity to really influence a ton of kids over in Kathmandu. She’s inspiring a generation of kids over there,” says a renowned US’ Golf Coach Don Parsons.

 Golf in Nepal In Brief

Golf in Nepal took its actual form in 1917 when the then prime minister of the country introduced golf clubs following his Scotland trip and had also set up a basic course. However, the sport remained limited to the then Nepali elite families and expatriates for long until RNGC came up in 1965.

Apart from RNGC, which has 9 golf holes, Nepal has three other golf courses in the Kathmandu Valley (Gokarna Golf Course), Pokhara and Dharan.

Nepal’s golf community fear RNGC might get affected if the Government of Nepal’s supposed plans to expanding TIA are implemented.

Overall, Nepal has a total of four golf courses in contrast to hundreds of registered golf players.

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