A pioneer in the tourism industry, Prabhakar SJB Rana has touched the lives of many. A man of virtue, he always put others first and took no nonsense when it came to producing results. A man who was credited with taking Soaltee Crown Plaza and Surya Nepal and various other organization to new heights both as a businesses and as responsible companies, Prabhakar SJB Rana will be missed dearly by those who worked with him, lived with him and all the people who had the honor of interacting with him. One such person whose life was changed by him is Shambhu Dahal, Director of Sipradi Trading Pvt. Ltd and President of NADA. An employee and a dear friend, Shambu Dahal always put Prabhakar SJB Rana on a pedestal and sought to be a person like him. “He was a man of integrity. Such a charismatic leader. He attracted people and he always wished for the best in them,” said Dahal.
Shambu Dahal met Prabhakhar SJB Rana when he joined the Soaltee Hotel in 1993, where he was responsible for making the hotel’s financial policies. As a man with immense knowledge, Prabhakar SJB Rana was a teacher to many. On recounting what he learned from him, Dahal shares, “As a fresh new employee, the first thing he demanded from me was honesty. He wanted to conduct his business in an honest way. He did not believe in taking advantage of people. That is one thing that resounded with me when I first met him.” He also shares how Rana wanted transparency and trust. “People need to know what we are doing. They need to know where everything is coming from. He always wanted a transparent business model. He did not want to hide anything nor there was anything to hide,” shares Dahal. “He believed transparency creates trust. And once he trusted you, whatever may happen in the future, his trust for you never faded away. He had this quality of maintaining relationships.” With a strong judgment based on fair treatment, Prabhkhar SJB Rana was also practical says, Dahal. “He was a very practical man. He wanted to see results. Of course there were theoretical applications involved as well but he focused more on practicality.” Discipline was key and he believed that there was a difference between personal discipline and company discipline.
Prabhkhar SJB Rana’s name is massively associated with the tourism sector of Nepal. “He loved Nepal. He always wanted to promote Nepal in various seminars and such. He had that charisma and personality and people valued his ideas. Top foreign officials would ask for his advice,” shares Dahal. A private man, he was very humble and down to earth. “He had a sense of clarity within himself. Of course he would socialize and attend functions but he always knew when to stay away and step back.” Wanting people to grow and develop, Rana gave advice without expecting anything in return. “In this world, people help each other because they want something from them in return but he was not like that, he genuinely wanted to help people grow and develop and expected nothing in return,” says Dahal. With the freedom to work and grow, people who worked with him are now in the top echelons of society thanks to his ideas and teachings.
“Power never corrupted him. He was very close with the Royal Family of Nepal and if he wanted he could have taken advantage of this, but he never used that a tool to get things done. He always had this clear cut idea of what he wanted to do and how he wanted to do it. A clear thought process was his strength and not his connections,” says Dahal. The biggest thing Shambhu Dahal will miss about Prabhakar SJB Rana is his personality. “When he passed away, there wasn’t a single dry eye. Each and every one who were associated with him cried their hearts out. Just the thought of him not being with us anymore and just thinking about how he was makes people emotional and sensitive.”
Prabhkhar SJB Rana passed away at the age of 84, while undergoing treatment in New York. A pioneer and visionary, he has been credited with bringing international standards to the country’s hospitality sector. And as his associate and colleague, Shambhu Dahal will always keep him close to his heart and says he will always be in awe of Prabhakar SJB Rana: “I was always learning from him and observing him. What I learned from him are valuable lessons which I will continue to uphold in this life as well as the next. The respect and credibility I have gained in society and business alike are all because of him. A person like him is very difficult to find, and he was dearly loved by everybody associated with him.”
