PROJECT MANAGEMENT AT UJELI NEPAL

A business case in project management

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Ujeli Nepal pvt Ltd was established in 2016 as producer of alternate energy. The company is a
manufacturer of Solar water heater panels and also working on solar electricity panels. The
founder of the company was Mr Nirodh Pandey an electrical engineer from UK. After nearly
nine years of work experience in UK in an alternate energy consulting firm he finally decided to
reside in Nepal and contribute to the utilization of solar energy.

After four years of operation he has a management team as follows (in 2020):

Mr Nirodh Pandey , Managing Director

Mr Toran Sharma, MBA Germany CEO

Ms Basu Pandey MBA TU Finance manager

Ms Ritu Goenka, BE MBA(KU) Marketing Manager

Mr Raman Sigdel R & D /Production Manager

The company was established at a time when there was power crisis in Nepal. The crisis has no
sign of getting controlled within few years as still Nepal is getting electricity supply from its
neighboring country to full fill its demand at a higher price. Mr Pandey the MD strongly feels
that it is a growing market. The growth is due to the rise in housing, the frequent power cuts and
the high cost required to build dam which the country is not capable of.

The company has two product lines: solar water heaters and solar DC panels for lighting
purpose.

The company has not yet been able to successfully sell the solar panels, but the solar water
heaters have picked up. They have made few samples of solar panel but the sales have not picked
up because of multiple technical complains. They are trying to rectify it. But they are selling
imported solar panels from China.

Their corporate strategy is growth by expansion in domestic market.

Their business strategy is to remain the low cost producer and use the local materials as much as
possible -although the vacuum tubes cannot be made in Nepal.

Mr Nirodh Pandey does not believe that gas heaters are the competitors to the solar panel. The
gas geysers are unsafe, difficult to carry, and getting costlier, but solar heaters are very safe and
suitable for family.

The company has achieved an yearly revenue of Nrs 3 crore in year 2018 and 3.5 crore in
2019.The company has set the goal of achieving a sales of Nrs 10 crore by 2023.In 2022 they
achieved the sales of only 5 crore rupees and in 2023 they expect sales of Nrs 5.5 crores – which
was not the satisfactory achievement.

Mr. Nirodh Pandey says “the company wants to maintain the quality, so we cannot set the
aggressive targets, once we develop the right solar panels and right solar heaters our sales will
grow at a faster rate”

The overall solar energy sector is an industry with a slow growth rate, although there is demand
in the market. The slow growth is mainly due to the high cost of the products. Mr Nirodh wants
to establish the company as a low cost producer, so he wants more R&D projects to be running.

The company has two production centers one at Bhairahawa and another at Bhaktapur. The
company has workforce of thirty skilled employees including the senior management team.

Mr Toran , CEO , a graduate from a German University has joined the company in 2017.He
initiated the project based management system in 2017.The employees were involved in several
project activities . He applied project management techniques that he had learned while
implementing the projects The company is also going to announce some projects for year 2023
as attached in aggregate project plan.(see attached table at the end of case)

One project is still running now and the team (comprising of three people) is still working hard at
Bhairahawa to finalize the design of the low cost solar electricity panel. The project has been
extended by three months and the output is still being awaited. The project team has some
dissatisfaction that there is lack of technical support from the head office. As per their practice,
few employees from every department are engaged in some project activities .The project
manager is usually given adequate authority to run the project.

The projects are created, but lack support and coordination. The overindulgence of employees in
the project activities seems to have hampered their departmental functions. There is complain
from customers about the customer service. There is complain from the suppliers about delayed
payment.

The organization has not been not free from conflict. At the end of the year 2019 and 2020 the
employees demanded the bonus out of the profit, but the bonus was not distributed. The
employees claim that there was a net profit (after deducting all expense and tax) of Nrs30 lakh in
2020. Management has given the argument that the profit has been transferred to reserve for
project expenses in coming years. The employees now seem to be more organized than before.
The issue of bonus first or the project first has not been resolved. They have already submitted
demand letter for bonus. Management wonders if the bonus is distributed there will be no budget
for projects!

The employees did not seem to be very positive about the project based management system.

One of the supervisor level employee commented “the projects are for the senior employees and
few other selected employees. They earn good income by taking project allowances but what the
projects have delivered to the organization…!Last year also they said they spent Nrs 950,000 in
projects and one project is still running – but what is the benefit to the organization ?Where is
performance evaluation of projects? This company has not been able to sell the reliable solar
panels yet! Yes it has produced the water heater panel which is slightly cheaper in the market but
the technology is not very different!” Many problems have not yet been resolved.

Multiple projects have been completed since 2017, but those who have worked in project do not
know what has been the impact of the project they have completed to the organization.

One of the employees even doubted under clause of anonymity that the findings of the research
projects in the past have been sold to the German firms rather than being used in the
organization!

It seems there is conflict between management and employees. There is conflict among
employees working in project and not working in project. There is rising expectation from
customers that Ujeli will produce something cheap and reliable for the local market. CEO Mr
Nirodh Pandey untiringly and repeatedly speaks in front of the media that Ujeli will bring out the
cheapest and best solar panels and heaters, but neither the customers are happy nor employees.
Somewhere CEO is creating over expectations.

But despite all the conflicts the employees have good friendly relations among themselves. They
celebrate many activities together.

The management team is not unaware of the problems. They have called an interactive session
on 24th May 2021 to propose the projects for the coming year (2022) and get the feedback from
employees. They have invited all the employees, and few members from the community forum
located in Bhairahawa..
Questions:

Q1. Was there the need of Project Management in the company or regular Functional Unit could
have performed the task? Discuss
Q2. Evaluate the project management approach and the management process adopted by the
company based on your personal evaluation.
Q3. Critically evaluate the Project Plan and the ranking made by the management for next year.
(See Attachment of proposed 2021)
Q4. How to handle the bonus issue?
Q5. Give some specific suggestions to management. Also give suggestions which projects to be
selected and which to be discarded.
Q6. If you were the project manager, what do you think you would have done differently?