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Shankar Uprety
Founder & CEO, Hamro Patro
What initially started as a hobby project has today become one of the most downloaded Nepali apps in the country. Shankar Uprety, Founder and CEO of Hamro Patro, shares that the idea of developing Hamro Patro took root while pursuing his Master’s degree in the United States.
Uprety has held a keen fascination for computers and technology since his school days in Birgunj. This led him to pursue a degree in Computer Engineering from the Institute of Engineering, Pulchowk Campus, and postgraduate studies in Computer Science from Boston University. While in the United States, he found that it was difficult to get information on important dates in the Nepali calendar. “Social media was non-existent then. While it was not difficult to get information on bigger festivals like Dashain and Tihar, it was near possible to find anything on the internet for other occasions like Nepali Mother’s Day and Father’s Day,” he recalls.
“I found this to be a common problem for other Nepalis too and so I worked on Hamro Patro and launched it in 2009,” shares Uprety.
Here, he is quick to add that the app was launched as a hobby project and at that time he had no inkling that it would become the most famous Nepali app, and that he would later be leading a business ecosystem around it someday.
In this edition of Business 360, we spoke to Uprety to learn about his journey, about Hamro Patro, and about the information technology ecosystem. Excerpts from the interview.