Bikash Nepal went to London in 2009 to pursue an MBA. Once there, he started working to meet his expenses and gain some first-hand experience. He started with a door-to-door sales and marketing job, and kept switching companies until 2014 when he decided to do something on his own.
“As a Nepali, doing door-to-door sales in London was really difficult for me, but I never gave up. I studied marketing and worked in the field, so I thought I should do something along similar lines,” says Bikash. Seeing untapped opportunities in the FMCG (Fast-Moving Consumer Goods) sector in the UK, he started Market Direct, a company that looked after the sales, marketing and merchandising of popular Indian-manufactured FMCG products. “I started with one famous rice brand in 2009 and now I am selling 27 different Indian brands all over the UK.”
Selling Indian-made food products in the UK is what gave Bikash the idea of promoting and marketing Nepali food in the European market, and so in 2016, he came to Nepal to extend his offer to Nepali manufacturers to market their products in the UK. His offer was rejected by some reluctant companies, which again gave him an idea to create his own brand of Nepali food products that he could package and sell in the UK. Thus, together with his childhood friend, Rishab Pyara Shrestha, Bikash opened Nepal Foods.
Nepal Foods imports lentils, flour, pickles, beans, tea and spices, all produced in Nepal, to the UK with international standard packaging and globally accepted labelling. “There have been importers of Nepali products in the UK for quite some time, but there is a lack of proper packaging to give the products a standard look,” says Bikash. “We want our products to become global, and packaging and presentation play a key role in the international market.”
With a production warehouse in Kirtipur, Nepal Food sources its products directly from farmers from all over Nepal to ensure that middlemen are avoided and both parties get the best deal. The packaging and labelling is done at Kirtipur and the products are exported to UK via India as sea cargo. Nepal Foods’ first export to the UK landed in December 2017 and since then, around 50 Nepali stores, and a few Indian-run chain departmental stores, sell its products. Selling through other non-Nepali or Indian supermarket chains has been a challenge though, as their requirements are very high.
“Right now, we’ve been able to sell around six containers worth Rs 2.5 million each per year, but we are still far from our goal,” says Rishab. “Being a landlocked country, our shipping costs are very high and competing with suppliers from other countries is difficult.” Another challenge for Nepali products to sell in the UK is they do not have proper nutritional values on their labels, which is a must for all food products in the UK. Finding accurate nutritional facts of their exports was difficult in Nepal, so Bikash took samples to the UK in the beginning to measure them.
“For me, my company Market Direct is my bread and butter, my main business,” Bikash says, “I’m doing Nepal Foods only to promote Nepal in the international markets and make Nepalis living across the globe proud of their nationality. Also, for every pound we earn in the UK, we want half of it to go to Nepal. That’s our small contribution to the Nepali economy.”
The young duo (both 30) are also aware that branding and advertising play a major role in creating value for their products and competing with established international brands. So they are actively involved in promoting Nepal Foods through television commercials in the UK, event sponsorships, celebrity endorsements and social media presence. Apart from the products of Nepal Food, Bikash’s company Market Direct is also the distributor of recognized Nepali brands like Wai Wai, Old Durbar and Khukri Rum. At present, besides the UK, Nepal Foods products are available in Germany, Portugal, Poland, Sweden and Denmark. By the end of 2019, they will be available in the US and Australia too.
