Blogs | IT and Trends | CellApp Innovations

Posted by Nipuna Neupane

Managing life in lockdown!

May 15, 2020Disaster & Emergency Response, Experiences, Impact, Startup 0

Day 53 of the nationwide lockdown today when I am writing this and as of now, the duration of this pandemic can only be guessed. It could be months before it is safe to return to our pre-Corona lifestyles. Personally for me, it has been quite an experience adjusting to this life in lockdown. Everything from work, learning, communication has been online and without much social interaction, things can get quite monotonous and it might affect our mood, behavior and mental health.

HOW AM I COPING WITH THE LOCKDOWN?

As soon as I realized that this lockdown could last a very long time (that was a week into the lockdown), I decided on some things to help adjust with this unfortunate situation. These were what I decided was required:

• Acceptance was first in line. I accepted that the fact that we are in a perishable situation and staying home is what must be done in order to control the spreading of the virus. It can extend to an indefinite period of time.

• After that I needed a routine. How to get along with my day? As I am working from home, it was perhaps easier for me to deal with being locked down as work keeps your mind off other things. Working at Cellapp Innovations and SmartPalika, it is amazing to see how efficiently things get done even while working from home! If you are not working, you could think of things to do like learning to play a new instrument or watching all the best rated movies in IMDB or anything else. It does not have to be a compulsion, just make a flexible routine but meet your targets, get things done!

• I decided to follow a daily workout routine (I don’t really exercise)! As our movements halt, no sports, no going out for activities, we must at least stretch our body once a day. Just to condition the body.

• As I went on thinking about ways to cope with the lockdown, I decided to focus on the positive things that is happening due to this lockdown. Personally for me, I thought of things like: Spending quality time with family. Healthy homemade food every day. Watching sunsets. Working from your bed (not advisable). Learning new skills (I cut my dad’s hair). You could have your own experiences, but we must always try and look forward with optimism and positivity.

• I decided to take at least 15 minutes every day to meditate. Does wonders, trust me!

After all, we must make the most out of what we are dealt with in life!

SO, IS IT WORKING? AM I REAPING THE BENEFITS?

I would say that I am doing very well. In terms of my mental health and well-being, I feel fresh and I look forward to each day with hope, optimism and positivity. The things I do every day have made it easier for me to adjust and mold into this lockdown.

Professionally, I am proud to be able to contribute in helping develop, distribute and implement a Covid-19 Management System to use for local governments of Nepal, free of cost. You can check our work timeline HERE.

It is a difficult time for all of us. Just remember that in a crisis, the winners come out swinging! Stay safe!

Thank You for reading. Pass me your comments below on how this read might have helped you.

Connect with me on LinkedIn.

Posted by Akshun Thapa

Government to provide a capital grant of up-to Rs 50 lakhs for startups

May 20, 2020Journal, Startup 2

The Government of Nepal has invited proposals for the purpose of providing capital grants for startup (innovation) through the National Planning Commission. The commission has asked for proposals through their website.

Innovators, Entrepreneurs, Individuals or Institutions are invited to submit a proposal for a capital grant of Rs. 500,000 to Rs. 5,000,000.

Where to submit the form?

A notice has been issued to prepare the proposal in the format mentioned in the working procedures and criteria and send it to the office of the National Planning Commission within 30 days. To submit an offer, you need to register through the online system, create a username and password then login. For this, the commission has called for submitting the form through this website http://startup.npc.gov.np.

How to submit the proposal for Startup Capital?

Here are the steps you can follow to submit a proposal.

Go to the website provided by the National Planning Commission
Register by entering your name and email.
Verify the account with your email
The application form will be now available
Provide your idea, details of what you are trying to do, all the information (It will be kept safe) and submit the proposal
It will be sent for review and you will be notified soon.

Click here to download the procedure.
Click here to understand the criteria.
Click here to download the form format.

Also to let you know, we are an incubator. At cellapp we turn ideas into products. Let’s talk if you have an idea. Here, we have free mentorship programs for any startup teams. For free mentorship session click here.

Thank You for reading. Pass me your comments below on how this read might have helped you.

Connect with me on LinkedIn.

Posted by Akshun Thapa

The Positives from this Lock-down | A Productive Period

May 8, 2020Impact, Products, Technology 0

It’s us who make a better society. We are all part of it. Now is the time for us to give something back when our society needs us.

Today is the 46th day of lock-down in Nepal. Who would have ever thought about this situation? We’ve all faced the disaster and had one of our most difficult times. Also we’re witnessing the economy crumble.

However, I guess there are some positives which we can pick out. The general facts such as being safe from the virus, a positive change in the climate condition and many more are there. But I would like to focus here about personal development and capitalizing the crisis for productivity. (Productivity here means providing something to the society from our side as a part of CSR)

Let’s get started with Personal Development

There was a busy time in our life where we wished we had more time so that we could focus on our growth. Well, we’ve got one. But did we fully utilize it? Maybe yes for some and no for many. I was also the part of that ‘many‘ category for the first few days. Thereafter, with sessions and guidance from my mentor, I’d realized that being a Digital Marketer this is the time where I can learn best and know about the market psychology even better. Well, I’ve worked on it and seen the changes. That was from a personal experience but the opportunity for growth in this time is for everybody willing to learn and grow.

How were we productive in this Lock-down?

There is no hindrance for anyone who’s got the will to work hard. And for a team that’s got the same desire, “Productivity is inevitable“. This lock-down where the economy has crumbled and businesses have fallen, we’ve managed to increase the level of our productivity. The crisis came unexpected but we’ve worked since day 1 for providing as much as we can to help fight this situation.

We’ve developed our own Team Collab app – Collaboration tool for Smart Teams and provided it for free to more than 50 companies and are still giving it away for free to anyone who needs and inquires for it.
We’ve also developed a full fledged COVID-19 Response System with features such as Quarantine Management, Live Tracking Contact Tracing, Relief Management, Volunteer Management and many more. The system is also announced free for all the Local Government Bodies of Nepal. It is already in use for 80+ Local Governments including 3 Metro Cities and the work still goes on. ( A Timeline of our Project: HERE)

What to conclude from this?

To sum up, there’s no stopping the willingness to do or the desire to learn and grow. We’ve got a crisis situation here and as a part of the society it is our responsibility to give something back at such time. Such belief and work done upon it will only lead to positives and productive society. By being productive I mean to give back to the society as a part of our CSR. This lock-down is indeed a difficult time for all of us but the choice on how to face it and what to do in this period depends all upon us. There are many choices but I guess what matters the most at the end will be how much did we bring out of ourselves during this time.

Thank You for reading. Pass me your comments below on how we can be more effective. Connect with me on LinkedIn.

**Here are some highlights of our cellapp innovations team before the Lockdown**

Posted by Manoj Bhattarai

My Team is still fighting COVID-19, harder everyday!

April 21, 2020Business, Disaster & Emergency Response, Impact, Journal, Startup, Technology 0

Every time there was a disaster, we stood up with whatever we had. Back in August 2008, we just had a hashtag that went effectively viral and now we have a Complete Disaster Response System that has been deployed to 60+ Local Governments in Nepal.

I’ll start with some Team Chat:

One night, around 2:30AM, I ask ‘still not slept Shahel?’ He says, no sir I think I have found the logic now. Then I poke Sushant and he says ‘such an interesting project after so long dai, I’m liking the switch and I don’t feel like sleeping.’

Shristi and Sanjay, our Mobile Masters have been mass producing Mobile Applications. This might sound woo??
They lead the team of 7. Once assigned, its just a few moments I talk to them for collaboration. As of today while I write this up, they’re producing 10-12 Mobile Applications a day!

If you are wondering what we did this time:

We made and updated Authentic COVID-19 modules to 15 Government Applications,
We built a Nepali Language Covid19 Bot – Botu,
We developed a full fledged Backend Application System with Live Tracking, Quarantine/Isolation Management, Communication Automation and Contact Tracing,
We handed over the Integrated Systems to 61+ Local Governments (as of April 18, 2020), Free!
We’re developing more..

A Government should have done all these..?

As a state, we are yet away from some development. It’s our duty to give, as much it is our duty to earn money via profession. As per SmartPalika‘s vision we Researched, Developed and Handed over the System for Free to 61+ Municipalities, Metropolitan Cities, etc. We’re glad to have committed the whole month of lockdown into giving for the nation.

Bibash leads the Offline Outreach and Campaigns. He gets 100+ calls a day and those all to be bridged to respective departments. If that was not a motivation, that’d certainly be a another disaster. Akshun leads Digital Outreach along with his team. His part of dedication keeps us all motivated even when its time to sleep :p

I’ll introduce you to one fine guy Nischal. Every-other in the team pokes him 10s-20s of times a day as he leads the Creatives. I once joked, you’ve become more demanding than me, Cheers!

Pravin, the finest in terms of supporting me with my Application/Server related researches. He’s an aspiring Cloud Architect and the one who gets to hold a lot of my pressure everyday. Sometimes I feel bad for him and then I get a hint of his future, so I carry on, haha.

Rajananda Jee looks after our relationship with clients. These days, I am not very frequent to communicate with him as both of his phones throw engaged tones almost every-time I call him. He’s become a busy man communicating our efforts on the market.

Cheers to Everyone!

How did it start? What made us so? Is disaster our domain?

It was around 2007, I personally understood the value of Volunteering. I used to be in a closed circle, did not like to open up unless there was a challenge. Amazingly, when I started volunteering, my motorbike started standing calm in red light signal. Evening at home I’d collect a bunch of wrappers from my pockets, those could land on street and so on.

I realized that I was being responsible. Post that, I might have enforced my teams into it, at times when I felt the need. Volunteering is for both – Giving and Enhancing your own Quality.

Later on be it #NepalEarthQuake #TeraiFlood #KerelaFlood #HurricaneIrma #HurricaneMaria and so on.. we had our tools delivered and results those would sooth you from inside. As I realize today, little things we did has brought us to the position where we can confidently lead #DisasterResponse.

Namaste! Thank You for reading. Pass me your comments below on how we can be more effective. Connect with me on LinkedIn.

Support Project Rakshya.

Posted by Nipuna Neupane

COVID-19: Fighting back with Technology

May 11, 2020Disaster & Emergency Response, Impact 0

In order to fight the worldwide #COVID19 pandemic, our team at Cellapp Innovations has been working tirelessly since the very beginning in collaboration with SmartPalika and Rakshya. We hope our technological expertise and past experiences with Disaster Response will certainly assist in this mission of #CombatCovid.

After an initiation by SmartPalika, a few of us representing #COVID19 Projects from Ministries and other independent initiations discussed on how we could play an exemplary role in streamlining #CrisisManagement via Technology. We held a video conference using the Team Collab App.

We would like to learn your suggestions on this.

It goes without saying, we were so excited to learn that all of us are very much willing and looking for ways to contribute in this unfortunate time of crisis. There are the major points we concluded:

Learning more on the possibilities of Integrated #CovidResponse Systems with Standard Data Sharing, Security, etc. We talked about Synergy. Such systems are really helpful and may be most necessary if the situation goes worst. (Hopefully, this does not happen)
Looking at the initiations of Federal and Local Level Governments, we see lack of co-ordination, proper roadmap and the zeal to bring about best results. We discussed on the possibilities of being a platform of Initiators who can guide/suggest/transfer technology to the Governments in order to Streamline #CovidRespose Activities.
We talked about how in future (post COVID-19) we together can give a guidance to Local Governments regarding acquisition duplication, scattered systems, etc.

Further development will be updated as it unfolds!

We are overwhelmed by the response we have been receiving and pledge to do our part to overcome these tough times. You can check our work in Disaster response in the past by clicking HERE and all about our initiations for COVID-19 Response system HERE.

Some Snaps from the Video Discussion Session

Posted by Akshun Thapa

COVID-19 Disaster Response System Handed over to Bharatpur Metropolitan City

August 13, 2020Business, Disaster & Emergency Response, Impact, Technology 0

Covid Response System created by Smart Palika, Cellapp Innovations and Rakshya has been handed over to Bharatpur Metropolitan City on Friday.

Also along with Birgunj Metropolitan City this system will be handed over online to 17 other local Governments within next Monday.

This system currently includes mobile apps and integrated COVID-19 control measures:

Quarantine management
Isolation / Self Isolation Management
Self Assessment / Daily Reporting
Live Tracking and Monitoring
Contact tracing
Information and data management
Reports
Relief Management
Inventory Management
Volunteer Management
Municipal Connect

Download the Bharatpur Covid Response app here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=co.cellapp.bharatpurcovid

To visit our Covid-19 Response Data Portal, CLICK HERE!

We are always open for feedback and suggestions. CLICK HERE to reach us!

SmartPalika | Cellapp Innovations
#fightagainstcovid #smartpalika #apps2impact #volunteering #ci #rakshya

Some Highlights of the System Handover Program at Bharatpur

Posted by Nipuna Neupane

Hack Corona Virus Impact: A Movement

May 11, 2020Disaster & Emergency Response, Impact, Technology 0

The Corona virus has spread around the world like wildfire and claimed the lives of so many people in a short span of time. Governments all over the world have either imposed a lockdown or advised their citizens to stay at home. Economies are crumbling and there is a deep sense of impending doom in the general atmosphere. Is this the end of the world?

CERTAINLY NOT! Among all this chaos, here at Cellapp Innovations, we are looking for ways to combat against this pandemic in the best way we know: by making meaningful and impact generating tools that can be used in our hack corona mission. We believe it is our responsibility as human beings to respond to any crisis that befalls upon us. During any crisis, we believe in following these steps in order to respond to it: Assess, Engage, Plan, Act and Communicate.

As soon as the pandemic started to hit, we held brainstorming sessions and came up with many ideas on how we could help minimize the impact. Among the ideas that came up, we have tried and integrated those that we felt were essential and helpful. Apart from many campaigns in social media with MYTHBUSTERS, information about Covid-19 and such, Cellapp Innovations in collaboration with SmartPalika has been able to develop some benchmark tools to help hack Corona.

As many false rumours is circulating all over the internet about Corona virus, we felt that there must be a source for authenticated information. Our first step was integrating a Corona Information Module in all official SmartPalika mobile apps of respected local governments. This module contains authentic information gathered from sources such as WHO. The module has the following features :
                1. Symptoms
                2. Precautions to be taken
                3. Myths VS Reality
                4. Self-examination feature

Even though it was a great start, we are always looking to do bigger and better things. Hack Corona then led us into another dimension and we started to work towards building a complete disaster response system with full-fledged Quarantine Management along with Live tracking facilities. After a lot of hard work from our development team, we have come up with the complete system.

The COVID-19 Quarantine Management / Live Tracking System has the following features:

Basic Information (Symptoms, Precautions, Myths VS Reality)
Quarantine Management
Isolation/Self Isolation Management
Assessment/Self Assessment
Medical History and Case Reviews
Live Tracking
Contact Tracing
Relief Management
Inventory Management
Volunteer Management
Municipal Connect

Powered by Rakshya, we are providing this system to all 753 Local Governments of Nepal FREE OF COST! In times of crisis, we are here to help you with whatever we can offer. To see a timeline of how we worked , click HERE!
If you want to contribute in any way in our fight against Corona, please click HERE and learn more!

Forbes Nepalese young entrepreneurs - Banner

Posted by Akshun Thapa

Let’s Congratulate these Entrepreneurs on Making it to the Forbes – 30 under 30 Asia List 2020

April 3, 2020Business, Impact, Journal, Startup 3

It is a proud moment for us Nepalese that six young Entrepreneurs from Nepal have made the list of Forbes, an American business journal’s stories of young innovators and entrepreneur.

They are the changemakers who have been added to the list of for social entrepreneur, retail & e-commerce, and athlete. These young innovators and entrepreneurs have made their mark in their respective fields and now have set an example to the whole nation.

Here, these are the heroes who are listed in the Forbes list of 30 under 30 Asia list 2020. Lets congratulate them:

Rohit Tiwari, Foodmario
Shubhangi Rana and Jesselina Rana ,Pad2go
Nikita Acharya and Kiran Timsina , Urban Girl
Pratima Sherpa, Golf

Posted by Manoj Bhattarai

Work From Home – We just came with a tool to help Entrepreneurs Manage their Teams during #Covid2019

April 3, 2020Business, Disaster & Emergency Response, Impact, incubation, Products, Technology 0

Entrepreneurs Cope to Change but Changes are Inevitable – More frequent and Unexpected at times. Here again we’re fighting the Noble Corona Virus.

As we’re now into lock-down and we care a lot for fellow entrepreneurs like you, we thought we should share the technology that we have been using daily.

Posted by Manoj Bhattarai

Lets Hack Corona Virus Impact!

March 25, 2020Disaster & Emergency Response, Impact, incubation, Technology 3

This Project is part of Rakshya – To keep us Safe. As part of our Years long contribution to Disaster and Emergency Response, we have thought of trying the same with Corona Virus. This is an Experiment, but we are hopeful that we’ll have some impact against Corona together with your support.