Social remittance

The Korea Employment Permit Scheme (EPS) is one of the most sought-after bilateral labour mobility programs for Nepali workers. 

Many prospective workers prepare hard for the language tests like their “life depended on it” or “like studying for the civil service exam”. EPS is not just survival migration, but one that is financially rewarding.

One worker said migrants referred to the Korean Dream as दुई गुणा अन्ठाउन्न — referring to the Rs200,000 monthly salary over a 58-month period, a transformative amount. 

“Anyhow, कोरिया जौँ,” was a popular slogan while cramming for the language exams (Read Diaspora Diaries, across). South Korea has also benefited from foreign workers, and the rapidly aging nation will continue to rely on expanding its foreign worker intake to offset its demographic drag.

A recent entrepreneurship initiative targeting current and former Nepali migrants in Korea funded by KOICA and implemented by the group Bridge International, demonstrates how the Returnee Innovator for Nepal (RIN) program can be made even more rewarding by maximising not just financial, but also social remittances.

The program is unique because the support begins not once workers arrive in Nepal, but in Korea itself. Selected candidates attend classes on basic entrepreneurship while in Korea and to work on their business ideas which they can further 'localise' once back in Nepal.

They also get linked to mentors from Korea-based companies from their area of interest to brainstorm, refine ideas, and get practical real-world guidance. In some cases, these can grow into business ties.

Santosh Timalsina runs a successful coffee machine repair business Jumli Cafe in Pokhara, and was connected by Bridge International with a Korea-based coffee entrepreneur who trained him. Even though his EPS jobs entailed making golf balls or car parts, he took advantage of whatever free time he had to prepare for return by taking up coffee machine repair. 

“Even now I rely on my Korean trainer for guidance and to access spare parts that are not available in Nepal,” says Timalsina.

CEO of Bridge International Jinsol Hwang says the next cohorts will also be provided the option of using business plans that Korean entrepreneurs may have for those workers who are unsure about what to invest in once they are back.

The returnee program is in its early phases, and has just called for the second cohort, but demonstrates that labour mobility programs can be made more impactful. The return stage also merits as much attention, including from host country agencies like KOICA, social enterprises and even employers. 

Jinsol says migration was part of Korea’s growth story in the 1970s with workers headed to West Germany as miners and nurses and to the Middle East as construction workers. The remittances and skills acquired abroad were critical in Korea's transformation.

The role of returnees as entrepreneurs in creating jobs and contributing to the economy was a way to level the playing field. It provided access to capital, networks and skills they may not have otherwise had.

The second winning team at the recent Returnee Innovators Showcase of the RIN program was Hankook Meat Mart. It is a profitable effort by three Korea returnees to provide high quality meat products that they source from another Korean returnee who runs a pig farm. 

Read also: Bringing Korea’s prosperity to Nepal

The approach is to build a supply chain using high quality meat production, and diversifying to small complementary businesses such as a tiny but profitable Korean restaurant, and small factories making Kimchi and rice-cakes. 

Dil Bahadur Tamang from Hankook successfully pitched his business, saying programs like RIN are useful to learn formal business management practices, for networking and exposure. The financial award it won was helpful for business expansion as it launches a second branch. 

“Those of us who go to work in Korea are not from a business background, so the switch from an employee to becoming self-employed is difficult especially in a country like ours,” Tamang says. “Start-up failure rates are high globally, if we don’t understand the market and launch businesses without proper preparation, the chances of failure will be high and we lose our hard-earned money.”

There are returnees who rush to businesses and subsequently fail. In the Diaspora Diaries series in this newspaper, one consistent advice, based on their own failures in some cases, has always been to take time just to understand Nepal's market before rushing into a business even if it is a sector they have years of overseas experience in.

Read also: Overseas job-seeker now creates jobs in Nepal, Mahesh Sah

The decision ‘to return to Nepal or remain overseas’ for current migrants is perhaps tougher than the decision youth face to ‘migrate or stay in Nepal’. Migrants with the intention to return, whether by choice as they have stayed overseas enough, or because their contracts are ending, need more support with developing their plans back home. 

This includes workers from the Middle East and Malaysia who inevitably return, not just EPS workers from Korea. In the Philippines, the Technical Education and Skills Development (TESDA), offers an online self-based business entrepreneurship program targeting current overseas Filipinos. 

Such resources would also be useful for Nepali migrants who are trying to decide whether to return and what to do after returning.  

Upasana Khadka heads Migration Lab, a social enterprise aimed at making migration outcomes better for workers and their families. Labour Mobility is a regular column in Nepali Times.