Sonam Lama was born and raised in Mustang, one of Nepal’s most beautiful places in the lap of the Himalayas, in 1960. Since Mr. Lama’s family had a successful business, he had a great childhood until he was twelve when he lost his mother. Mr. Lama attended the local school at the age of eight. Still, since it was a tradition for everyone in his village to discontinue education and start as a businessman or worker at sixteen, Mr. Lama followed the same path.
Mr. Lama was only seventeen when he started exporting handicrafts to Assam, India. As he recalls the early days in India, the feel of the cold pavements on which he spent his many nights rushes through his body. After expanding his business to Thailand, Mr. Lama established his office in Hong Kong in 1984. He then started a carpet factory in Kathmandu in 1987 and expanded his business to Europe, America, Korea, and Japan.
Mr. Lama moved to the United States in 1994, hoping for excellent educational opportunities for his children. He tried to establish a carpet business in the US but quickly switched to the food business after observing more possibilities in the field. He started his first organic health food market in New York in 1995 and has now expanded it to six outlets (four in New York, one in Boston, and one in Connecticut). When Mr. Lama noticed the lack of a proper Nepalese restaurant in New York, he became a pioneer of Nepali restaurants in New York by establishing Himalayan Yak Restaurant in 2004.
Mr. Lama’s contributions to promoting Nepali culture and community are endless. He was the founding president of the Mustang Society USA from 1999 to 2004 and the Himali Buddhist community vice president in 2005. He established Buddha Park in Muktinath and built a road to the park through his initiative. He also owns a resort, Hotel Lo Mustang Himalayan Resort, located in one of the tourist areas. Further, Mr. Lama has devoted more than a decade to the welfare of the Non-Resident Nepali Association (NRNA) to date and was the project manager of the Lafrak Project, one of the most significant projects of the NRNA, through which they rebuilt 573 modern houses damaged by the earthquake in Gorkha, Nepal, in 2015.
Despite coming from one of the most remote places in the world, Mr. Lama is successful today because of his persistence, hard work, honesty, and self-belief. His future goal is to promote education in remote places of Nepal, like Dolpa. He plans to start an organic agriculture firm in Mustang, where he wants to spend his life after retirement. He is extremely grateful to his wife; his daughter, a doctor; and his son, a computer engineer, for always walking alongside him on his incredible journey. Mr. Lama sets a high bar for all social entrepreneurs on a journey to change the world while inspiring them never to give up.
Sonam Lama: Pioneering Entrepreneur and NRNA Activist from New York
