“You spend a good chunk of your life working and if you love your work, you are much happier in life.”

Kathmandu

Kaymu Nepal Pvt Ltd, an online marketplace forum, connecting buyers and sellers across the country, was introduced in Nepal by the company’s Managing Director Rajeev Amatya in August 2014. He was

approached by the mother company (Kaymu) to open a branch in Nepal while in Berlin.

“I loved the idea of coming back home to help build an entire industry, therefore, I took the offer. The following week, I was already in Kathmandu running the business,” he says.

Before his return to Nepal, he worked as a business analyst in a boutique healthcare consulting firm called Novumed in Munich, Germany. “We supported some of the world’s leading pharmaceutical and biotech companies with growth and market entry strategies.

When I came to learn about a start-up incubator programme in Italy, with two of my friends I applied for the programme. We were selected from a worldwide competition where we spent over six months in northern Italy building our own business. Unfortunately, things did not go as expected and we decided to shut down our company,” he says.

To lead one of the largest and fastest growing e-commerce marketplaces in Nepal comes with a huge responsibility, he says. Amatya’s first responsibilities included hiring a team, finding office space and getting the company registered.

“Initially, I did everything — from company registration, building the office and hiring and training the team. Now, we have a proper structure in place and I mostly spend time communicating with our European team and coming up with newer strategies to grow and sustain the business,” he says.

As it is a new business  model in Nepal, his job is filled with challenges. Amatya says that there are infrastructural issues such as lack of proper e-commerce delivery companies and easy payment methods. “One of the larger challenge we are facing now is lack of talent. We have highly qualified people with no relevant skill.

We get several applications from candidates with master’s degree from reputed universities in Nepal; however, they need to be trained heavily before they can start adding value to the company,” he shares.

To take Kaymu to newer heights Amatya sets high target and goals. “We are part of a larger international company called Rocket Internet. We work with our international team to set our growth target that is also aligned with our global plans.

Then all teams are briefed about targets and our general plans to achieve it. We anticipate challenges in advance and create plan A, B and C so that we do not miss our targets even when things do not go as expected, which happens quite often in Nepal,” he says.

For him success is finding out what he wants to do in life, and then doing it and being good at it, while making a positive impact on other’s lives. “You spend a good chunk of your life working, and if you love your work, you are much happier in life. Your work also needs to serve a purpose.

I am happy that Kaymu has been helping many small entrepreneurs and local businesses grow their business and create jobs for many people,” he says.

His major achievements include building a healthy online business from scratch. “Within a year of operation, Kaymu is now an industry leader in Nepal. Among 35 Kaymu countries, we are ranked among the top three in terms of overall performance. I am also proud that we have provided training and work experience to many youngsters in the country. We are a young team with the average age less than 25 years.

I feel very happy to see several people with no prior work experience starting to lead a team or department within a year,” he says.

Amatya believes that most people learn on the job and having prior experience is not a prerequisite. He says, “Most of our team members are young and are learning the ropes of the business.

They improve with each passing day. We have team leaders in each team who are responsible for training new joinees.”

Kaymu in a nutshell

Kaymu is the largest and fastest growing e-commerce marketplace in Nepal, where buyers and sellers can meet and make deals. Kaymu brings a wide variety of products online at best prices. It operates in 35+ countries across Europe, Asia and Africa and is backed by OOREDOO and Rocket Internet, one of world's largest e-commerce focused venture capital firms and start-up incubators. Kaymu Nepal Pvt Ltd was established in August, 2014 and currently employs around 40 people in Nepal

Amatya’s management tips

1.    Build a company culture.

2.    Create strong yet flexible structure and processes in a company.

3.    Empower and encourage teams to make their own decisions so that you can focus on bigger things.