Chet Man's Plan

10:15 AM -- It was with great interest that I received a note this morning from my most esteemed colleague, Chet Man Khadka, who recently relocated from Nigeria and appears to have developed a nice telecom business in Nepal:

To whom it my [sic] concern sub [sic], Business cooperation Supply and Delivery of Telecom Copper Cable We would like to take this opporunity [sic] to introduce our company as foriegn [sic] representation office on [sic] Nepal for the promotion of products and Services on behalf of foreign integrators/ manufacturers/Suppyrs [sic].

We are mainly involved in the field of telcom [sic sic] and power. From the internet i came to know that yur [sic sic sic] company has been invloved [sick] in providing Telecom Copper Cable.We would like to inform you that Nepal Telcom cooperation has floated a tender for the supply and delivery of Telecom Copper Cable. Should your esteem [sic sic sic sic sic] company be interested to participate in this tender opportunity [ed: We thought it was quite tender as well], Please let us know so that we could proceed on further. Thankyou for your time and hope to hear from you soon. Sincerely Yours, Chet Man Khadka [sic]

I feel kind of bad for Chet. He’s been floating these notes to me for months, yet he doesn’t seem to be making any headway. I’ve been thinking he’s obviously not talking to the right investment bankers, since clearly our strong American financial system has ways to handle this sort of financing need.

As a favor, I’ve forwarded Chet's letter on to several venture capitalists and investment bankers I know. No response. Maybe the problem is that he is marketing copper rather than fiber? Perhaps it’s perceived as a legacy business.

Or maybe it’s just that Chet is five years too late. His venture seems quite risky today, but I’m sure he would have hit the big time in 1999. If only Bernie Ebbers were still around to help make some introductions.

— R. Scott Raynovich, US Editor, Light Reading