When Ram Krishna Manandhar returned to Nepal from Sikkim in 2014, he wanted to establish a drive-through restaurant in Kathmandu. The businessman who has had years of experience in import-export business wanted to try something new.
“My partner and I leased around 38,000 square ft of land on the outskirts of Kathmandu in Kalanki to start a drive-in restaurant,” remembers Manandhar. “We wanted the restaurant to become a hub for people going in and out of Kathmandu,” he adds.
However, his plans unravelled pretty quickly. His partner backed out of the project, and Manandhar had to put everything on hold for some time. People who passed by Manandhar’s ‘restaurant’ would wonder why the place had been abandoned and who actually owned the place.
It was only a matter of time before importers, who are constantly looking for warehouse space, saw the true potential of the space Manandhar had acquired on lease. “I got calls asking if the space in Kalanki could be used for a warehouse,” says Manandhar. He seriously considered the idea, weighed the consequences and then answered. It was a ‘yes’.
Every day, hundreds of container-laden trucks enter Kathmandu, a burgeoning market for goods ranging from electronics to food. But as real estate prices skyrocket in the city, warehouse space comes at a premium.
In addition to that, Kathmandu has a limited amount of space built up and customised for a warehouse. Traders have no option but to rent residential buildings to store their stock and the rent keeps increasing every year.
These were the problems Manandhar considered as he developed his new business model. “Under my business model, I acquire land on lease, develop my warehouse facility and then rent it out,” shares Mananadhar. “My warehouse is like a bank locker. Importers get to stock whatever they want, and since I give them the keys, they have round the clock access to the facility,” says Manandhar. “I do business only after a contract has been signed and rent rates have been fixed. The rent will be hiked by a certain percent every year, but I am not going to change the rate by going against the contract,” he informs.
To deal with the issue of the ever-increasing price of land, Manandhar has decided not to buy land for his business. “I would need billions of rupees to buy the land where my warehouses are located. So I have decided to acquire land on lease.”
Since Godam Sewa does not manage the warehouses, it has employed only a handful of people for its operations. Most of the staff employed by the company work in marketing. “I get calls every day asking if I have a vacant warehouse,” says Manandhar, whose clients now include reputed MNCs. “There is so much demand that we have not been able to cater to everyone. The potential this business has on offer is yet to be realised.”
The biggest challenges Manandhar faces is getting the human resource to run his business. “It is difficult to find people to market our service. That is the single-biggest challenge we face,” he says.
Four years after Manandhar took the crucial decision, his new company Godam Sewa has become one of the prominent warehouse service providers in Kathmandu. “Not just in Kathmandu, I now want to expand my business to industrial areas such as Hetauda, Biratnagar and Birgunj,” he says. “I want Godam Sewa to be the number one warehouse provider in the country.”
