CIM wins CACCI Awards

Kathmandu, Nov. 13

The Chamber of Industries Morang (CIM) has won the prestigious CACCI Award for the Best Local Chamber, Best Chamber in the 'Big Category' and a cash prize of US$2,000.

The association outperformed over 81 local industrial and trade chambers from 27 countries across the Asia-Pacific region.

The award was presented to CIM's President, Rakesh Surana, at the closing ceremony of the Economic Forum and the 38^th CACCI Conference, jointly organised by the Confederation of Asia-Pacific Chambers of Commerce and Industry (CACCI) and the Singapore Manufacturing Association in Singapore on November 10-11.  

CACCI recognised the CIM for its role in promoting local economic development, advocating for policy reforms, and contributing to industrial activities and overall economic and industrial growth.

The competition featured 81 business organisations from 27 member countries, with CIM standing out based on its initiatives, documentation, and programmes aimed at industrial advancement.

Expressing his delight at winning the international award, President Surana credited the achievement to the collective efforts of the executive committee, member industries, the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry, and the association’s well-wishers. He also invited business delegates from various countries attending the CACCI Conference to participate in the Koshi Province Investment Summit and the Birat Expo 2025, scheduled to be held in Biratnagar from January 24-26.

President Surana led the delegation to Singapore which included past president Suyash Pyakurel, senior vice-president Nanda Kishor Rathi, and vice-presidents Raj Kumar Golchha and Bholaeswar Dulal, among others.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 14 November 2024.  

GTC to organise Tourism Hero Awards

Kathmandu, Feb. 14

Global Tourism Council (GTC) is organising Tourism Hero Awards in Nepal for the first time.

The awards will be given in 31 different categories among individuals and organisations which have contributed to the promotion of tourism in Nepal.

According to the GTC, award trophies will be handed over to the winners in a ceremony to be held in Kathmandu on March 19.

It is estimated that more than 500 contestants will compete in 14 hotel categories and 17 other tourism categories.

According to the organisers, anyone can file a nomination for themselves or others with detailed information by visiting the Tourism Hero Awards 2024 official website at TourismHero.org. Among the nominations received, the nominations with complete and official details will be shortlisted and made eligible for voting.

Based on the public vote received, the winner will be announced. This entire process will be web-based and free.

Dharmendra Sapkota, Chairman of the GTC, said that this award is being organised with the aim of encouraging individuals and organisations involved in tourism and its promotion in Nepal.

The award categories include the best in travel agency (holiday/inbound), technology, CEOs, startup, journalism, entrepreneur, women entrepreneurs, branding and marketing, infrastructure, municipality and rural municipality, mayor and Tourism Hero.

Likewise, categories in hotel sector include best five/four/three star hotel, resort, boutique hotel, chain hotel, chef, chain restaurant, eco-friendly etc. 

 Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 15 February 2024.      

Excellence awards 2023 handed out

Kathmandu, Mar. 31

Suman Pokharel, Senior Vice-President of the IME Group was awarded with the 'Excellence in HR Leadership Award 2023' by Growth Sellers Pvt. Ltd.

He was felicitated with the award at a programme organised in the Capital during the two-day HR Meet 2023 on Friday.

Dabur Nepal Pvt. Ltd. won the 'National HR excellence award'. Likewise, Ncell Axiata won excellence in HR innovation and technology, Standard Chartered Bank Nepal received excellence in employee experience award, and Worldlink Communications won excellence in learning and development award.

Jawalakhel Group of Industries and Save the Children received excellence in industrial relations award and excellence in employer branding award, respectively.

A jury comprising Professor Dr. Bijay KC, former Dean of KU School of Management, Durga Rijal, Principal of Apex College, and Sohan Babu Khatri, Chief Officer of Three H Management.

A book titled 'The Great Leadership Book' was also launched on the occasion. Authored by Mohan Raj Ojha and Manohar Man Shrestha, the book is about great leadership and what it takes to become a great leader in the highly challenging, demanding and fast changing world.

Ojha said that the book is an effort to fill up the vacuum of leadership literature.

Meanwhile, the two-day HR Meet organised with the theme 'Restoring human aspects in HRM' concluded on Friday. 

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 1 April 2023.  

Sudeep Koirala receives Rotary Award

 Kathmandu, Mar. 21

Young entrepreneur Sudeep Koirala has received the 'Gopal-Kamala Rajbhandari Rotary Award for Vocational Excellence' that comes with a purse of Rs. 1 million.

The director of Didi Foundation received the award for playing an important role in social entrepreneurship and social change.

Koirala, 33, has managed to receive the biggest award in the Rotary field at a young age. Established in the name of Rotarian Gopal-Kamala Rajbhandari, founding members of Rotary Club in Nepal, this award has been given to those who have contributed to various fields of society. It is said that this award  will be given annually from this year, which was previously given every two years.

Amod Rajbhandari, grandson of Gopal-Kamala honoured Koirala with the award at a programme organised recently on the occasion of the 15^th National Conference of Rotary Club District 3292.

Dr. Ramkantha Makaju Shrestha, Chairman of Dhulikhel Hospital, Dr. Sureshraj Sharma, former vice chancellor of Kathmandu University, Satyamohan Joshi, cultural expert, Indira Rana Magar, President of Prisoners Nepal, and Biswas Dhakal, president of F1Soft International had received the award in the past.

Amod Rajbhandari said that the award was given to young entrepreneur Koirala with the aim of encouraging those who play an important role in social change. According to him, a six-member award selection committee was formed under the chairmanship of Basudev Golyan.

Koirala said that  he would invest the amount of the award for the betterment of the society. 

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 22 March 2023.      

Buddha Air, Qatar Airways bag ‘Best Airlines of the Year’ award

Kathmandu, Mar. 17

Buddha Air and Qatar Airways have bagged the Best Airlines of the Year award for 2022 on domestic and international category respectively.

Buddha Air's Birendra Bahadur Basnet also became the CEO of the year.

The awards were organised by the Best Aviation Awards Nepal (BAAN) earlier this week. It aimed at bringing Nepali tourism to the attention of media around the world and announced the awards in 16 different categories.

Likewise, Himalayan Airlines got the best airlines award on hybrid category and Emirates Airways on offline category. Nepal Airlines was honoured with the best national airlines and best service provider for aviation – it manages the ground handling at the Tribhuvan International Airport.

Other best are Qatar Airways for business class, airlines rewards programme, and air fare policy,  Fly Dubai for economy class, Air Arabia for cabin crew, Turkish Airlines for transit airport lounge, and Jazeera Airways for front desk support.

Similarly, Sarik Bogati of Qatar Airways received the best airlines manager of the year award while Society International got best general sales agent for foreign airlines.

According to the organisers, the winners were selected on the basis of results obtained from the combination of online voting by the public, data processing by the nomination board and the decision of the jury. Various business leaders, experts, bankers, tourism entrepreneurs and industrialists were included in the jury.

Nine internal airlines and 29 international airlines conducting flight services to and from Nepal were included in the competition. 

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 18 March 2023.      

Ila Sharma awarded with Int'l Electoral Award

Kathmandu, Dec. 8: Election Commissioner of Nepal has been awarded with the International Electoral Award in Gender Equality category.

According to a press statement of the Election Commission of Nepal, the award was meant for electoral officials or electoral management bodies who encouraged and implemented equal participation rights for women and men to guarantee the opportunity and representation of elections.

The award was given away at a red carpet ceremony held on Tuesday in Maputo, capital of Mozambique.

The event was organised by International Centre for Parliamentary Studies and locally hosted by the National Election Commission of Mozambique.

National Democratic Institute, Nigeria and Peruvian National Electoral Committee were the runner ups for the award.

The International Electoral Awards are given in 12 categories – international institutional engagement, accessibility, electoral conflict management, gender equality, minority participation, election management, citizens' engagement, first time voter, electoral ergonomy, electoral commissioner of the year, electoral commission of the year and the ICPS award.