My participation in CeBIT in Germany became one of the defining turning points of my professional life. CeBIT was then among the largest international technology exhibitions in the world. More than one million visitors attended, and the event brought together leading global technology companies, innovators, policymakers, and software industries from across the world.
For me, attending the event was not easy financially. The trip cost me heavily from my personal resources, and I endured significant financial hardship to participate. But I believed that Nepal could not afford to remain isolated from the rapidly emerging global IT revolution.
At CeBIT, I witnessed something that deeply affected me.
There were nearly twenty major companies from India actively participating, networking, and signing international software and technology contracts. India had already begun positioning itself strategically as a global technology and software outsourcing destination. It was clear that they were preparing technical manpower at a scale far beyond what Nepal had even begun to imagine.
Some potential international clients and industry representatives approached me with a simple but powerful question:
“Can Nepal produce more than 100 computer engineers?”
At that moment, Nepal did not even have a sufficient base of computer engineering graduates. There were virtually no established graduates to lead the field of computer science and engineering in the country. I had to rely largely on students from electronic engineering.
Yet I confidently replied:
“I will go back and prepare.”
That commitment became a personal mission.
From the very beginning of the electronic engineering program in 1994 at the Institute of Engineering, I started encouraging and inspiring students to see themselves not merely as engineers, but as future leaders of Nepal’s IT sector. I constantly spoke to them about software development, global technology trends, digital industries, and the enormous opportunities that lay ahead.
But building this vision inside Nepal was extremely difficult.
Opening a dedicated computer engineering department required continuous struggle. The intake capacity was tiny—only about 24 students per batch. At a time when the global software industry was demanding massive technical manpower, Nepal’s system was still functioning on a very limited scale.
I repeatedly pressured ministries and policymakers to expand technical education capacity and to allow private sector participation in higher education. I strongly believed that Nepal could never produce enough skilled manpower through government institutions alone.
Later, as a Senate Member of Pokhara University, I was given significant responsibility and freedom to contribute to academic development. That became an important opportunity to translate vision into institutional action.
I played a leading role in developing curricula for:
- Computer Engineering,
- BE in Information Technology,
- BE in Software Engineering,
- and BCA programs.
At the same time, I actively encouraged private investors to establish technical colleges because I understood a fundamental reality:
software outsourcing industries require large-scale technical manpower.
Without mass technical education, Nepal would never be able to participate competitively in the global digital economy.
Those years involved constant advocacy, institutional resistance, policy battles, and personal sacrifice. Many people still did not fully understand why I was pushing so strongly for expansion in IT education. But I had already seen the future unfolding internationally.
Today, when I see thousands of Nepali students studying computer engineering, IT, software engineering, and related disciplines across public and private institutions, I feel deeply satisfied that the vision eventually materialized.
What once appeared unrealistic gradually became national necessity.
Looking back, I realize that technological transformation does not happen automatically. It requires people willing to imagine the future early, fight institutional inertia, take personal risks, and continue working even when others cannot yet see the possibilities ahead.