Alumni in Focus: Basanta Adhikari

Atlas Network partners in their own words

Basanta Adhikari

After finishing my master’s degree in South Korea in 2011, I returned to Nepal with the desire to do meaningful work to make my country a better place. At that time, my thinking was influenced by populist and left-wing political views. However, my mind started to change after I took part in a research program organized by Center for Public Policy Research (India). The same year, I participated in Atlas Network’s Asia Liberty Forum in Delhi, where I learned about the worldwide liberty movement and the values of freedom, which I realized were crucial for individual survival and the economic flourishing of my country.

In July 2013, I left my home in Biratnagar to take part in an internship at Samriddhi Foundation in Kathmandu. While there, I decided to start Bikalpa—an Alternative to promote the values of freedom and entrepreneurship. There were many organizations already at work in Biratnagar, but hardly any of them were seeking to reduce poverty through entrepreneurship.

After returning home in February 2014, I started my organization in a one-room office with minimal resources. Now, we have nine full-time staff.

Bikalpa conducts policy research, advocacy, and educational programs to further its mission and bring change at the grassroots. We focus on engaging the local and provincial governments in eastern Nepal with our policy reform agenda, and every year we educate more than 1,000 youths on the values of freedom and entrepreneurship. We also reach a large Nepalese audience with our regular visual media content. This has helped to enhance our organization's visibility and reputation inside and outside the region.

We are proud that our work won Atlas Network’s Asia Liberty Award in 2019 and earned us a spot as a finalist for Think Tank Shark Tank in 2021. Now, we are part of the 2023 Smart Bets program, which will help us scale up our work even further.

Without Atlas Network’s continuous support and guidance, things would have been much more difficult for us. Atlas Network programs and events have helped me to grow personally and professionally. They have helped me gain knowledge, learn new skills, network and build connections, and receive exposure that has had an immense impact on me, my team, and the growth of my organization.

In 2019, I took part in Atlas Network Academy’s Executive Accelerator. The 10-day summit helped me identify my personal strengths and weaknesses and encouraged me to develop a plan for personal and organizational growth. The program also taught me how to improve my team’s effectiveness, my core leadership skills, and my strategy in running a think tank. Most importantly, I had the opportunity to meet like-minded friends from all around the world.

Since 2016, the Lights, Camera, Liberty program has helped Bikalpa start and scale up our filmmaking activities. We have a strong visual media team, but without the support of Lights, Camera, Liberty, this would not have been possible. We’re proud to have been named a finalist for the Lights, Camera, Liberty Film Festival Award in 2017 and in 2020.

Bikalpa continues to work to create discourse for a free and prosperous Nepal, and we are hopeful that our efforts will not be in vain, despite the challenges we face. My team and I are deeply committed to the cause of freedom and prosperity. I named my daughter Liberty and my son Freedom, in the hope that future generations will continue to work for the idea of human flourishing and betterment of society.