Bikash Prasai and Anu Prasai are one of the most successful Nepali business couples in Qatar. The humble couple landed in Doha in 2006, and started working in the Account and Marketing sections in Crystal Company and Solar Qatar Company, respectively.
Two years later, Bikash had left his company and started his own business – Al Arab Technical Contracting Company. He started off by hiring 25 employees for the company. Now Al Arab Technical Construction Company has grown to have 400 employees from Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan and India.
But this is not all. The couple has managed to start multiple businesses in the 11 years they have been in Qatar. They have started Green Vision Trading and Contracting Company and Brass International Company. They also own Al Arab Fresh Mart at the Al Merad Area in the Government Complex called Al Furjan Markets. Their Alianz Beauty Saloon has two branches, in Al Wakrah and at the Ansar Gallery Mall in Abu Hamour. Lastly, they own the Ruman Restaurant in Souq Al Wakrah. The multi-cuisine restaurant serves Arabic, Chinese, Nepali and Indian cuisine.
The couple is currently working to set up their next project, the Kantipur Medical Center. The centre already has an Indian and three Nepali – a skin specialist, a general physician and a dental specialist – doctors. The visas for the support staff have also been issued.
Bikash says he wants to open branches of Kantipur Medical Center all over the Gulf. “The centre will largely help Nepali patients as they face language barriers while dealing with physicians from other nationalities.”
Bikash Prasai and Anu Prasai did not bring money of their own and owe their success to Qatar. Both were born to middle class families in Jhapa, in the eastern plains of Nepal. Bikash graduated as a computer engineer in 2004. As the eldest son with two siblings, he worked as a tea-seller and a grocer to fund his study. After graduation, he worked as a computer teacher in a secondary school and later worked as a computer lecturer in a reputed college of his town. He had a salary of just Nepali Rs10,000 (USD 94).
Anu, his wife, found a job that paid her QR1,500 in Qatar and decided to come here. Working as a marketing executive, she found Qatar to be safe and secure to work in. “Even nights feel as safe as the days,” she said. Her confidence grew as she worked in her job, interacting with people. Despite having started their own company, Anu stayed at her job till 2015.
Bikash, meanwhile, gives the entire credit of their success to his sponsors, Mohammed Abdulla M K al-Khatter and his wife. He is also glad for the support that Anu has provided him as he has worked to build his business up.
The two have also not forgotten their homeland. They have opened Helping Heart Nepal, a charity that funds the education of street children. The organisation also gives warm clothes and other stationery items to children. So far, the organisation has distributed items of basic needs worth Nepali Rs3 million to the 2015 earthquake survivors.
The couple have two children, a daughter and a son, studying in Gems American Academy and Delhi Public School. They have plans still to grow their business operations in and around Qatar and are “very happy to work” in Qatar.
Bikash Prasai and Anu Prasai work in the same office now and have come a long way from their starting days.
