Ekraj Ghimire is an 18-year-old Environmentalist & IT Person from Palpa who is passionate about teaching young minds about technology. He is working as an IT Officer in well renowned IT company Semicolon Tec; the franchise of the USA currently situated at Devinagar, Butwal, Rupandehi. Similarly, he is working at Drishya Events as a cinematographer and video editor.
Recently, He has also created an app for his college named ‘Tilottama Campusʼ which was published in the Google Play store. Apart from that, He is running an e-Commerce site named “Naya Koseli” – An online shopping which provides quality goods for a better experience for the audience or society. He has also recently formed a Butwal Robotics Club in Butwal which provides training to students related to Robotics and AI.
He actively works for a safe environment. Ekraj has been working with Plant-for-the-Planet as an Ambassador; Tillion Tree campaign and Sano Sansar Initiative as his support to Sustainable Development Goals. Ekraj is also a member of One Earth One Love; where they run awareness programs and different plantation programs.
His dedication and enthusiasm towards bringing impact in society has made him one of the change-makers and recognized him as one of the Top 6 Finalists of Glocal Teen Hero 2020 and has been sharing his knowledge to the young people who are keen on the technology sector. We had a few conversations with him regarding his project and journey on Glocal Teen Hero 2020. The major highlights of the interview are given below:
How was your experience when you were announced as Top 6 Finalist of Wai Wai Glocal Teen Hero Nepal?
It was really surprising and yet very exciting for me. Being a grade 12 student, I was preparing for my Physics exam. In the evening, I suddenly received a call from Ranju didi, she congratulated me for being selected. I couldn’t think. I was happy, excited, and surprised all at once. I could feel my body gushing with positivity. I imagined myself as the winner of Glocal’s Teen Hero. My hard work paid off. It was a really fantastic and memorable moment.
What has inspired you to work in the IT sector? What kind of challenges did you face on your way?
Everyone has a story about what caught their interest in technology and IT. The belief that your work should carry with it a larger meaning or significance has been cemented in the minds of the newest generation of tech-savvy workers. For better or worse, millennials want their work to change the world.
Before they can ever spark change, they’ve got to believe fully in the work they’re involved in, which makes them energetic for building something great. But fostering such a mindset, as many team leaders know, is no small task. The new inventions and new gadgets are my sources of inspiration. For me, Steve Jobs was a person of inspiration. His thinking, ideas, and creativity; all boost my interest in the subject.
I’ve been working in this field for more than four years. With all the progress, it’s clear that my today is better than my yesterday. Since Grade V, I was attracted to the field of IT; I did a lot of self-research and came up with a mindset to develop a website during Grade VIII. Subsequently, self-learning motivated me to develop a website. My first website was of my own nickname “manishshow.tk” which was a free domain with free hosting. The site was about myself, which proved to be so impressive that it brought a smile to everyone’s face. Later, I developed a news portal website named “infotechbar.com” which provided daily news related to Science & Technology. The site was informative but, because of certain reasons, I couldn’t continue posting articles daily. With all the success, I motivated myself to proceed towards the field of creativity.
In the context of IT & Environment, I often contemplate connecting with each other at the same time. I got an opportunity to attend the campaign run by Plant-for-the-Planet which helped me flourish in protecting the environment. So, I started my journey as an Environmentalist & IT person. Recently, I developed an app for my college named “Tilottama Campus”. For publishing school results, there used to be a huge waste of high-quality papers. For those quality papers, a massive tree used to be cut down, I had thought ‘Why not publish the result online and stop hard copy published results?’ So, I planned to create a digital way to publish the results. After a lot of self-study, I became successful to create an app for my college which has proved to be a great stepping stone towards the conservation of trees.
There is a saying-” Working for the betterment of society we need to struggle a lot. When you face and solve all those problems, then you get success as sweet fruit. Likewise, I had a lot of struggle phases.” The main thing is that I never gave up. I was a single person in my town who had an interest in plantations and the conservation of the environment. I made people aware of the benefits of plantation and I was successful in planting trees along the roadside of my locality. Following that, I started a plantation in the barren fields. Most people were happy with the outcome. As we know, everyone has different opinions about different people, still, I was able to satisfy neighbours of the work carried out. Likewise, I developed trust among people that made it easy for me to ask for help regarding the maintenance and conservation of the environment. As we know there are always two sides to a coin, there were a lot of people who didn’t believe in my ideas, they pointed out my young age, my capacity, and my lack of an audience for this kind of work. But, I proved them wrong. Everything went according to my plan. Most of the work related to the plantation is going on and some are postponed due to this pandemic COVID-19. Anyway, a good thing takes time. That’s my motive to be here.
How did you start your journey as an Environmentalist?
Speaking about my journey as an Environmentalist, I was very curious about the things that used to happen around me since I was very young. One of my neighbours burnt a lot of waste plastics near my house. That smoke disturbed me and all the neighbors. I started having thoughts about pollution and its effects which are unknown to people. If they were aware of the harm, it could cause to the surrounding people and the environment, they wouldn’t burn it. It’s all happening due to a lack of awareness to the people. So, I printed a slogan and pasted it near the barren field where that neighbour’s aunt used to burn plastic all the time. After that, I noticed her; she visited there but didn’t burn. Thus, something strikes my mind- if I really want change, I need to provide knowledge for people about environmental conservation. After that, I started collecting different aspects, an idea of planting a barren field came into mind. I planned a meeting among people of my locality, started planting trees on the roadside and in the barren fields. In this way, I was attracted to the environment.
What were the difficulties that you experienced in your journey?
Without difficulties, there is no success. With the belief that ‘hard work pays off’, I used to enjoy tackling problems and face those difficulties. In spite of my young age and criticism, I made people listen to my voice by not giving up and continuing with my work. 
How did you start an e-commerce site “Naya Koseli”?
Before starting Naya Koseli, I had a dropshipping site which was an International Site and used to provide goods in most of the countries. From the experience, I started a new e-commerce site where products were imported from other countries. I have run that business for more than a year then, why not to promote our own Nepali products at the local level. So, by carrying out most of the experience and exercise I started Naya Koseli which delivers the online shopping experience to the customers. The website is live, and some work is going on. Due to my Board exam, it’s pending but still, we have made a lot of sales during Dashain and Tihar. This is also one of my great successes.
What are your plans further? What will you be working on?
For every work, I make a plan and work effectively. Making a plan under a certain project means half of the work is done. So, talking about my plans, I will be completing my pledge of 1,000 trees campaign which was postponed due to COVID-19. Furthermore, I have formed a club named Robotics Club of Butwal; from the club, we will be providing training in Robotics and AI to the students of grade VII, VIII, IX. I’m further planning to change the policy of publishing results online rather than using paper i.e. from a Website, App, or SMS. I’m also a member of One Earth One Love; from there we will run awareness programs and different plantation programs. Continue the pending works like the work of Naya Koseli, educational App (which is almost completed), and my part of the duty to develop websites. Hence, I’m researching more on the ways to interconnect IT & Environment.
Overall, how was your GTH experience? Can you share about your journey? What do you recall the most? What were the learnings?
Talking about the GTH experience, it was super exciting. I got a lot of new great knowledge, got to interact, and know different perspectives of the people. I got an opportunity to make lots of new friends from different countries too.
Yes, of course, this is gonna be the memorial part of my life. The programs, the interactions, and the workshop were fantastic. After that, the conference was great. During the journey, I was enjoying it a lot.
The interaction with different people during the interaction sessions, I recall the most.
Talking about the learnings, was a vital part of the session. I built up my self-confidence, got to know a lot of new things, got new ideas to carry out, ways to solve problems, and many more. Overall, it was really a wonderful and memorable, informative, and motivating journey for me.
Message to the teenagers!
If you really want something, work for it. One or the other day we will get it; the only thing is you should have a belief in yourself.
