Taking SEBS NA To The Next Level
Paramendra Bhagat
September 27, 2003

(Sent out to SEBS members worldwide over e-mail.)

I am considering running for SEBS NA President next summer. I will make my final decision, one way or the other, by Valentine's Day 2004, as good a day as any that month.

In my travels across the United States over the years or during my years in Kathmandu before that, I have always been impressed with the social bond among SEBSers, mostly existing along the batch level. That bond is not the gift of the SEBS organization, but the lifeblood that sustains the organization. The SEBS spirit existed long before the organization ever came into existence, and to this day is wider and deeper than the organization's scope or reach. The SEBS identity stays on, even among SEBSers who have not had anything to do with the organization in years. Many who prefer not to volunteer for any SEBS project or choose not to contribute in the ongoing SEBS fund-raising efforts frequent the SEBS online directory to seek this friend's phone number, and that friend's e-mail address.

I believe it is time to take SEBS NA to the next level by cashing on that SEBS spirit so as to help SEBS serve its members better, and to better become the vehicle through which the members, spread worldwide in the truest spirit of globalization, are better able to give back to the alma mater, and the members' country of origin.

I would like to present some ideas for public discussion. I seek your feedback. You could get in touch with me directly, or you could jot down your thoughts at the online forum thread on the topic. For those of you who would like to actively participate in some of the projects outlined below, please write to me, or call me. All you need is internet access. You could be anywhere in the world and still participate fully.

1. Integrate SEBS. As in, let there be a SEBS worldwide as the umbrella organization. SEBS Nepal, SEBS NA. Other regional chapters can be added as the organization grows. There would be the office of SEBS President, and a co-ordinator for SEBS NA, SEBS Nepal, and so on.
2. The SEBS website is the "office." And SEBS worldwide chips in the money for the Putali Sadak office in Kathmandu. SEBS elections take place online. The voting lasts for about a week. Maintain the current SEBS website as it is, the General Forum - the Hyde Park - and other information posted on the site available to any visitor. But add another layer to the site that is available only to registered SEBS members. And registration is your creating a profile page. Such profile pages become the basis for online voting during SEBS elections, as well as starting points for various mentor programs, collaborations on projects, and cross-batch interactions. I was on the phone with Rajan Nepal the other day, and I told him people like Kiran Sitoula and myself might be dispensable. But that he is indispensable. With help from other SEBS members in the IT field, I am sure Rajan will take the website, the real SEBS office, to the next level.
3. Enhance member to member communication. People communicate pretty well within their batches. But that can not be said of the cross-batch interactions which has to be enhanced substantially so that SEBS can be of a much greater benefit to its members. Member profiles should be searchable by topic. For example, members should have options to volunteer to be mentors to other SEBS members. Mainly for various transitions, like college applications, graduate school applications, job applications, entrepreneurship. Maybe even private, anonymous online pairing ups for those in momentary emotional distress. Finding another SEBS member to talk to. This might particularly appeal to those members who live in far flung parts of the world. A large chunk of the mentoring can happen at the enhanced SEBS website itself. But might spill over to e-mail and phone conversations, possible offline meetings. Where SEBS comes in is it helps you reach out to SEBS members that are not currently in your personal network circle.
4. I consider the Nationwide Scholarship Program to be the organization's crown jewel, if only because it is a vehicle that takes SEBS beyond SEBS. An outlet to give back to the country. But it deserves to be much larger than it is, or has been at any point in the past.
5. Do a massive fund-raising with the leading foundations for a Budhanilkantha School Endowment, so as to potentially turn the institution into a need-blind one. This might be among the more ambitious goals. But then a global organization like SEBS needs global aspirations.
6. Create an online think tank on the national economy, and issues of social justice in Nepal.
7. Globalization. I belive "brain drain" is an outdated, neo-colonial phrase. Go where you want to go, live where you want to live, work where you want to. Just make sure you give back. You pay taxes in the US. Well, pay your dues, financial, intellectual and otherwise to your country of origin on an ongoing basis.
8. Make SEBS NA part of some South Asian interest group on Capitol Hill. So as to espouse the Global South version of justice on issues like global trade.

And, while you are at it, I would like to request you sign the political petition that is the first link on my homepage: it is to do with the United Nations.