Most of the people, especially those who are less educated and less aware while applying for a job abroad, apply though middlemen who charge ridiculously high commission and sometimes con them. Having applied for aboard twice himself, Manindra Purush Upadhyaya saw how these middle men were hiking up the price. So, he got together with Sovita Ghimire to come up with “Naya Jagir”. Read this interview with the duo as we delve into the details of their start up.
How did you come up with the concept?
The idea came up while I was thinking of going abroad to one of the gulf countries. The man power agency I went to asked for a very high amount of fees, I was shocked. I thought about how the blue-collar workers could ever pay so much. I also worked in Manpower Company which gave me a lot of idea about the business. With our app, we try to directly connect actual recruiters to potential employees bypassing middlemen. We are targeting even remote places. In doing so, we do make some profit, but the profit is minimal just for the sustainability of business.
Do you think the app will work in remote places?
Yes, internet is more accessible than newspaper in remote Nepal these days. We have developed our app in Nepali language for the ease of users which is a very difficult thing to do. We don’t use any graphic so it’s faster and cheaper.
How many people and manpower are you connected with?
We have 800 registered manpower companies with us. We also keep a “contact us” form through which, more than 100 people have already contacted us but most of the people find us via Facebook. They seem very excited about our idea and even tell us how this app can help to prevent fraud.
What are some of the challenges you have faced?
The main challenge is time management from our end and another factor is investments as we are working full time. We have paid for the domain name, web hosting and website designing all from our own pockets. All the work right from data entry to marketing is done by us. The other challenge is convincing people specially the manpower companies.
What social problems are you trying to solve?
We aren’t only limited to bypassing the middlemen. We have introduced part time and internship section in our app so that we can help in skill building as well. We look after all kinds of people especially focusing on less experienced and working class. Monthly salary is a common practice in Nepal and we are trying to get companies that can pay per hour basis for part time employees. There is a huge market for that. This directly helps in economic upliftment of people.
If you were to win Yunus Social Business Challenge, what would you do with the fund?
We are currently promoting through emails and messenger but we need extensive marketing. So, we will use the seed fund for branding and promotion of our company.
Want to learn more about Naya Jagir? Click here for their Facebook Page and here for website. You can also write to them on nayajagir@nullgmail.com.
