KATHMANDU: Chandra Prasad Dhakal has been elected the senior Vice-President of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI).

In the counting of votes that concluded this morning, Dhakal defeated his rival Kishor Pradhan with 54.26 percent votes against 45.74 percent. The election was held on Saturday.

Likewise, Ram Chandra Sanghai has been elected Associate Vice-President, Ajan Shrestha Vice-President of Commodity, and Dinesh Shrestha District Municipal Vice-President.

Incumbent Senior Vice-President is automatically elected to the post of President as per the statute of the FNCCI through the general meeting.

The newly elected executive members of the Federation are Rajan Shrestha, Taranath Adhikari, Kamal Kumar Shrestha, Chakra Bahadur Adhikari, Arunraj Sumargi, Dev Kumar Shrestha, Rameswar Manandhar, Shobha Kant Poudel, Sur Krishna Baidya, Gajendra Bhagat, Kubir Kumar Shrestha, Kaman Bahadur Khadka, Gopal Kedia, Mahendra Kumar Shrestha, Kamal Kumar Shrestha, Umesh Dalmiya and Kishor Kumar Acharya.

In his brief remarks after the announcement of the result, newly-elected senior Vice-President Dhakal expressed the commitment to make the Federation strong and united.

Dhakal further said that he represented all the businessmen and his victory was the victory of the businessmen.

Dhakal, who contested the election by forming a panel, expressed his commitment to work in the interest of the business community by breaking the boundary of the panel.

“I said it before. From today, the voice of the entire private sector will be raised. I would like to inform you that all of us will raise the same voice regarding the business community. We will advocate for the private sector with the regulatory body. My victory has come as a representative of all business friends,” Dhakal said.

Born in a middle-class family in Baglung district, Dhakal is currently the chairman of the country’s largest bank, the Global IME Bank.

Reminisces Dhakal with a sense of self-importance, “That was the right decision.” According to him, taking a risk at a certain point in time will undoubtedly make a mark in one’s life.

Dhakal did venture out to open a cold store back in 1991 later switching on to a cargo business. However, since he needed around 1.3 million rupees, he decided to take a risk by resigning from the bank and ask the bank for a loan.

Dhakal, who is also the Honorary Consul of Indonesia to Nepal since 2010, is currently into businesses such as enterprises, remittance, banks, insurance, hydropower, service sector, tourism, cable car, hospitality and infrastructure running a business empire.

It was back in 2001 when this determined businessman ventured into the remittance business by establishing the International Money Express (IME), a private-sector money transfer company, in Nepal and Malaysia.

Since Dhakal knew when to strike the iron, his business continued to flourish. This, as he claims, was his other right decision at the right time because he realized that Nepali migrant workers were finding it difficult to transfer their money back to Nepal from Malaysia and other countries.

This group then entered the financial sector with IME Finance. In 2012, the IME Group went into a merger bringing the Global Bank, IME Finance and Lord Buddha Finance to make it the Global IME Bank. Later, it then merged with Commerz and Trust Bank Nepal and acquired Pacific Development Bank and Reliable Development Bank.

The IME Group, currently, is Nepal’s popular and fastest-growing business company with its presence in the insurance, and tourism and hospitality sector as well. It owns the Chandragiri Hill project, a popular tourism spot in the Kathmandu Valley.