A DREAMWEAVER
Your heart is where your home is.” This idiom stands true to all of us. In this pressed-for-time world, taking enough time off to watch your home getting built brick by brick might not be a practical idea. You wish you had someone else taking care of all these things for you. Well, since the last seven years, there is one man who has been doing all this and more for scores of people who had been yearning to acquire houses at posh locations, complete with all the modern facilities—running water, uninterrupted electric supply, admirable interior decor, clean surrounding, park, swimming pool, temple, gymnasium, and round the clock security. Om Rajbhandary, Chairman and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the realestate firm, The Comfort Housing Pvt. Ltd., can possibly be called a dreamweaver, who has been working tirelessly for so many years now to get people what they consider the ultimate dream of their lives—a home they can call their own.
“After my college years were over, I wanted to start something unconventional,” Rajbhandary says, “but my family wanted me to move to America to pursue further education.” For him, to get the visa for the US was not big deal. He just had to make the wish for it as his father had been working at the US embassy. But he always resisted this ‘abroad’ temptation. He wanted to do something different in the country itself—something that would earn him his own reputation. As he shuffled around, one of his friends, who worked as a wholesale distributor for an American pharmaceuticals company, invited Rajbhandary to discuss about his possible undertakings. “His brother persuaded me to join the field as a medical representative. He put forth the logic that the working at that rank would earn me the level of exposure and experience that even an MBA student struggles to acquire,” Rajbhandary remembers. “So I appeared for the interview, got the job and made a decent journey up in the organisation. I guess I was the youngest employee to reach the level of front-line manager in that field back then,” he recounts.
It didn’t take him long after that to get to the row of second-line managers. But then Rajbhandary ran into a difficult situation. His boss, whom he regarded as his godfather as well, asked him to take charge of a region. “As per the deal, I would have to take over our regional headquarter in Calcutta or in Bihar in India ,” he adds. “The organisation offered me 5-star accommodation, air-only travel and lucrative remuneration. But even that could not satiate my urge of staying back and doing something here.” After wandering in and out of the proposition for a few days, Rajbhandary finally submitted his resignation and soon after, switched to construction business with some of his friends and his brother. “It was a difficult choice to make. To switch profession in your mid-career doesn’t usually work out. But I followed my instincts,” he adds.
Together, they started CE Constructions, where CE stood for Committed Entrepreneurs. After some time, as they grew a little used to the business, they preferred to be called Competent Entrepreneurs. “After another transition, as people started to trust us and began to approach us with their construction proposals, we stepped up on the pedestal of Creative Entrepreneurs. So this CE had three phases,” Rajbhandary explains. Then this construction company started to expand its wings into the housing business, which was a pretty new concept in Nepal back then. “We started to assess the living styles of people from countries across the world. We looked into how Americans lived, how Japanese preferred their houses to be like and so on,” he says. “Then we came up with this community housing approach. Since it needed huge investment, considering the business alone was not possible. I sought help and support of my board members and we established The Comfort Housing (TCH) Pvt. Ltd. in May 2001.”
About the initial project capital, Rajbhandary makes an interesting narration. “We collected Rs. 25 million as equity and managed Rs. 35 million from bank loans. Ten or twenty millions more was managed from land and by deferred payments to the vendors. However, the total projected investment requirement was around Rs. 230 million,” he shares. Some Executive MBA students from ACE Institute of Management were conducting a research on real-estate business around the same time. They approached him with their set of questions and asked him the obvious one: how would he manage for the rest of money? “Would you leave the project midway if you couldn’t?” was the poser. “I had just one explanation in mind,” Rajbhandary recollects. His answer was, as he recalls: “Look, I am the CEO of this company and I am here to ensure that this project takes its final shape. If I can’t make this work out, I will be a failed CEO. Come to me next year and we will sit again and talk.” After one year, some Executive MBA students from the Kathmandu University approached him again with similar curiosities. But Rajbhandary had already moved long ahead. He had his hands full with other projects in line. Learning: Capital is never a constraint if you are a true entrepreneur.
TCH finished its first community housing project in Sitapaila with 76 units spread over 43 ropanis of land. “When we started, people had very conventional opinions about making homes. They believed a man who hasn’t built a home and a woman who hasn’t delivered a child never get to know what hardship is all about. So, to promote the concept of community housing made us involve rounds of leg work, discussions and consultations,” Rajbhandary adds further. The concept of community living was divided into three parts—infrastructural facilities, community facilities and stand alone houses. “Under infrastructural facilities, physical requirements like roads, water treatment plants, uninterrupted electric supply, telephone lines, fire hydrants, sewerage system, rain-water drainage system, security system, guest parking areas, etc. have been made available,” he explains. “Suitable arrangements have been made in case of community facilities as well which includes room sizes, space divisions and other housing requirements. We also introduced the provision of handing over the land acquisition papers to the buyers of the stand alone houses.”
Personal side
- He has been involved with an organisation called Hospice Nepal that provides care and affection to critical cancer patients.
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He is the Executive Chairman of the Comfort Care (P) Ltd., which has more than 100 members. It provides a range of services including strata management, service apartment and overseas trading.
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Born in Yangal, he studied at Lab School and graduated with BSc from Amrit Science Campus.
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His grandfather, Bhairav Rajbhandary, was the first English teacher who taught Ranas at Durbar High School.
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He has his elder brother, Bijay Rajbhandary, in his board of directors, who is a guiding force in construction business. He is a practical trainer and a carrier counselor for young engineers. He has two sisters.
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As a child, he wanted to become a lawyer, though his parents wanted him to become a doctor. He started his first professional career as a medical representative in 1984.
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His wife, Purnima Rajbhandary, works in ACE Development Bank Ltd. at senior management level.
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He is non-smoker and avoids alcohol.
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He lives in Sitapaila at a home within the community housing complex developed by his company while his brother is living next to his house.
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He does yoga early in the morning, plays badminton, performs puja and takes simple breakfast. He avoids tea or any other cold beverage. He prefers to have coffee, though.
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He believes in effective time management.
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He hasn't terminated an employee yet.
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He wants to get back to college to study management. Looking forward to some distance mode of education. He is an avid reader, likes to read about business and management issues.
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He believes that you never retire in business-you keep going as an entrepreneur.
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After the success of community housing outside the ring-road of Kathmandu, in Sitapaila, Ichangu and Budhanilkantha, Rajbhandary replicated the same concept inside the ring-road in Lazimpat in the form of vertical housing, which includes all the facilities as that of community housing. He put the 36 apartments on sale between the price range of Rs. 6 and 7 million. More than 160 buyers filed in to acquire the units. “I thought it would take me more than two years to sell those units. The quick sales confirm that housing business has picked up speed now, though, unlike in other countries, land acquisition is still a big hurdle here,” he says. “People have their sentiments attached to their lands, so it’s difficult to acquire the required piece of land at suitable location even if you are ready to shell out a little more money than the ongoing price.”
TCH has crossed the sales volume of Rs. 1240 million from its completed projects. It has a community living project in Dharan as well apart from its ongoing projects in TCH Tower I-Bijeshwori, TCH Tower III-Panipokhari and one more in TCH Tower IV-Sitapaila. Rajbhandary credits much of this success to his committed endeavour and outstanding support of his employees. “If you ask me what I am proud of at this moment, I would say that’s credibility,” he says. “I believe in the management concept that 80 percent of your business comes from 20 percent of your customers. That’s my working philosophy.” He conducts self-development classes for his employees every week to make them equipped with strategic knowledge in order to take management decisions. “I believe if all my employees are able and productive, this company will prosper along with their personal achievements. I want to send out the message that it’s not me but my team that gets most of the jobs done. I just motivate them and oversee their overall performances. I believe in transformation of knowledge,” he adds.
