7 Unthought-Of Businesses In Nepal Affected By COVID19

DWAIPAYAN REGMI

In this pandemic time, there is a lot of business which got hit badly. More than 330 companies in the United States declared bankruptcy because of COVID 19. Be it energy-based company, or entertainment-based company – businesses from helicopter charter to guitar shops had to shut down permanently in the United States because of COVID. Popular magazine Fortune explains that these businesses initially decided to shut down temporarily, and later turned out to shut down permanently. The case is no different in India, where it has been claimed that more than 6 lakh small companies had to shut down because of COVID19.

Nepal is facing a tough time too – from the tourism industry to the film industry – they are all almost at a halt these days. From theaters, gym clubs to hotels targeted for tourists are all at a halt. They gain highlights and news coverage too. Here we discuss that business that is facing a tough time in Nepal but is not gaining any news coverage around.

When naming a most affected business, there certainly lies transportation business, people rather opt to travel through safe means than using a public vehicle; or restaurants – where people don’t want to engage a lot. The iron and grill center, which used to be busy all-time making big gates, and iron products – is rather free these days, and making the flower stand. The number of plates of food sold during parties in the party palace has drastically reduced too. Here are few businesses, which has been affected a lot, that we probably never thought of:

Technologies Effectively Used In COVID19 Pandemic Time

Hostel Business

There were several hostels in the streets of Kathmandu, along with other big cities. They had been doing amazing business and helping a large number of students to achieve students from competitive places in big cities. However, with the lockdown itself – all the educational institutes are shut down, and there is no need for physical presence for achieving them. This has led to big trouble for those hostels – as they need to pay rent on regular basis, and it could also be possible that they had loans from several places. As a result, today several hostels are seen with the ‘ON SALE’ mark.

Footpath Sales

Kathmandu Metropolitan City has brought the next strict rule about not permitting footpath sales. As a result, there are no huge crowds in front of Nepal Airlines, Sundhara; streets of Gaushala, or in the Old Bus Park region. COVID19 has certainly created an impact on footpath sales too. From those Pani Puri sellers in the streets of the Terai region to those Bhakka sellers – everyone in this business is severally affected.

Institutional Canteens

There had been several institutional canteens, offering food to the people involved in that particular institutes – from College Canteen, Office Canteen to other spaces. They are being severally affected too. Although offices are being into operation, the fear still exists to order food from the canteen. To date, while everyone had been discussing big restaurants; they are into the fear zone as well.

Educational Institutes

There are educational institutes that should have been crowded at this time. Institutes like MBBS Preparation, CMAT Preparation, Engineering Preparation to Banking preparation, Language classes, Computer classes, or Lok Sewa preparation would have been the biggest charm at this time. However, the pandemic has kept them aloof this time. As a result, there is no craze for students opting to visit the institute for their studies. These institutes have been paying rent in the commercial regions anyway.

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Tea Shops

Tea and cigarettes had been a popular practice in Nepal. However, with the time of COVID, these tea shops don’t seem that crowded. People don’t prefer going out in a cafe to smoking. Meanwhile, their sales of snack items or bakery items have also been drastically reduced at this particular time.

Labor Jobs

There used to be rapid construction projects across the cities – from building personal houses to public construction tasks. However, with this pandemic – they have all lowered down. This has troubled laborers who used to live their lives through it. From plumber, painter, carpenter to other labor jobs are all affected. They have not dared to return to cities and towns after the pandemic period.

Manpower agencies

Foreign employment is in a troublesome state too. This has a directly created impact on manpower agencies’ job. These agencies have been paying rent on regular basis, but have not been able to get a regular business. The population of youth attempting to fly abroad has drastically reduced.

It is not yet known how long should we all deal with this pandemic period; but maybe things will get fine gradually, because after night – there’s a bright and fresh new morning. Several other businesses are badly affected and ruined – among which few could never stand as well. BFIs have tried their best to provide leverage to big firms, but these small firms seem to be in real trouble too. May the vision of concerned authorities get over them as well.

[Mr. Dwaipayan Regmi is currently working as the Assistant Manager in Rastriya Banijya Bank]

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