Last Thursdays withTashi Sherpa of Sherpa Adventure Gear
Hello Entrepreneurs for NEPAL member, here is the summary of the Oct 29th summary with Tashi Sherpa of Sherpa Adventure Gear!
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“Made in Nepal” crusader: Mr. Tashi Sherpa (Sherpa Adventure Gears)
http://www.sherpaadventuregear.com/
“Sherpa Adventure Gear”, the name itself gave goose bumps to the Marketing and Brand Manager when first mentioned for discussion. “That’s the effect a brand name should have”, says Mr. Tashi Sherpa, the owner of Sherpa Adventure Gear (SAG). SAG is a globally competitive company which manufactures and sells adventure clothes and trekking gears– all manufactured by Nepalis. Presently, they are exporting to 13 countries around the world with their headquarters in a swanky new five-storey building in Naxal, Kathmandu. The flagship store has a research and development unit and a bed and breakfast to cater to their foreign clientele.
Mr. Sherpa remembers a certain Mr. Verma whose harsh words made him vow to be successful enough so as to hire Mr. Verma himself later. Till then, he was running his business with just four sewing machines.
Suddenly he decided to start a garment business where he would take orders from India. The first business he started was without any proper planning and that’s when he not only made his first mistake but learned from it also.
—Lesson #1: A proper business plan is the initial step to establish any business.
In the year 1989 he moved to the US to start a new career. It was difficult because it was the time of the Depression of 1990, but he never got into selling burgers or working in a gas station—the effortless options. In Seattle, he opened up a sportswear store as selling clothes had always been his area of interest and expertise. The competition among the sellers from India and Bangladesh was getting fierce and he knew that getting into the price war would only get him defeated.
Lesson #2: Never get into a price war.
Thus, he got hold of a big distributor in Nepal and stayed away from the retail price war. This helped him to continue running the import clothing store along with his family.
The story behind how SAG happened is more of destiny according to Mr. Sherpa. It was in the year 2003 while strolling along the streets of Manhattan, New York, he was stunned to see his uncle, Ang Gyalzen Sherpa, on the cover page of a magazine. The magazine issue was commemorating the 50th anniversary of the first ascent of Mt. Everest. He bought the magazine right away and there he discovered that his uncle was one of the original Sherpa on Sir Edmund Hillary’s celebrated expedition in 1953. The magazine unfolded stories of Sherpas as high-altitude porters and skilled technical climbers, the valiant people behind almost all mountaineering expeditions. Unlike the mountaineers the work of Sherpas is not glorified and usually they live in poor economic condition. There he felt a strong urge to do something in order to honor the unsung heroes. That’s when the name Sherpa Adventure Gear came to his mind.
The company name not only identifies Sherpas as the gallant heroes of adventures but gives a glint to the company also. SAG has been sponsoring the best high altitude climbers in the world—the Sherpas– to test their products. The Sherpa Brand ambassador is paid a royalty based on sales and up to $0.50 from every product sold goes to a special fund for the underprivileged Sherpa children of Nepal.
Although he had always been in the garment industry it was not easy for him to operate SAG because the clothes made in SAG are functional clothes. He did not have the technical knowledge of manufacturing adventure clothes and trekking gear. But it is never too late to learn and especially when one is passionate. Mr. Sherpa learned everything like designing, manufacturing, sourcing the raw materials, packaging, marketing and exporting. ‘Having knowledge of these is important but getting your hands into everything might create disorder in an enterprise’, states Mr. Sherpa.
Lesson #3: Delegate responsibility and stress on hiring honest and passionate people.
SAG products are designed and developed with the help of Sherpa athletes and all the SAG team staffs are given special training.
Despite the turbulence going inside and outside the country, Mr. Sherpa seems cool and confident to compete in the world market with the label “Made in Nepal.” He believes that a businessperson should have control over the quality of the product and take good charge of the sales in order to keep going.
hope you enjoyed reading. for feedbacks, please add your thoughts in the comments below.
Ujwal
Nice article. Motivational and urge you to think to do something than just saying “Nepal ma ta kehi pani hudaina”. Best of luck to Mr. Tashi Sherpa (Made in Nepal).
This is good to findout that Mr.Tashi Sherpa did what he wanted to do. Made in Nepal with international standard. Sure his steps will lead him to the summits like others sherpas did.
feel free to visit his store in kathmandu, near jai nepal cinemas !