Nepal billionaire’s advice to Bangladesh students: ‘Be a dreamer’

Markets with a difficult environment provide huge opportunities, Nepal’s first Forbes billionaire Binod Chaudhary says asking business students’ to be “a dreamer”.

He was delivering a lecture at Eastern University in Dhaka on Sunday.

Chaudhary told the business students that emerging markets like Bangladesh “give you the chance to explore your ideas and add value to the customers”.

He advised them “to use that momentum today and go forward with their ideas”.

“The key to success is discipline,” he told his audience.

Chaudhary is the chairman of the Cinnovation/Chaudhury Group that owns nearly 80 companies with interests in banking, foods, cement, real estate, hotels, power, retail, and electronics.

Hamstrung at home during the Maoist regime, Chaudhury, 57, built much of his estimated $1 billion fortune overseas through his Singapore-based arm Cinnovation.

Chaudhury’s grandfather started a shop after the 1933 earthquake in Nepal with a yearly rental of Rs 200. Bhuramull Chaudhury used to sell textiles imported from India.

After his death, his son Lunkaran Das Chaudhury took over the business at the age of 23.

He was innovative and switched his business to jute for exporting to US and Europe. He was also an importer of fabric from Japan and Korea.

But the turning point of this family came with the establishment of Modern Hosiery Industries and the Nepal Spinning, Weaving and Knitting factory.

Binod Chaudhary joined his father when he was 18.

He first spoke in Dhaka in June last year soon after he was announced as a billionaire by the Forbes magazine.

Bangladesh German Chamber of Commerce & Industry (BGCCI) in a media statement said Pro-Vice Chancellor of the Eastern University Prof Abdul Hannan Chowdhury invited Chaudhary and the bilateral chamber’s Executive Director Daniel Seidl to speak about entrepreneurship and leadership before the business students on Sunday.

BGCCI said Chaudhary explained why one has to be a dreamer and that his success pyramid was based on five pillars, namely “personal life, family life, social life, public and professional life”.

He also advised students “not to procrastinate and to believe in themselves”.

Seidl said Bangladesh was in a way a lot like Germany where 80 percent of enterprises are of small and medium sizes.

“What entrepreneurs need are vision, passion, ability to make time-appropriate decisions, learn from mistakes and transparency,” he said.

“Being an entrepreneur means to take responsibility and not just to make some quick money like a trader.”