From a remote village in Khotang to building a massive empire of 30 million customers in India: That one scholarship that changed Dipesh Karki's life!
Born in a remote village in Khotang, Dipesh Karki has established a massive empire in India's financial technology (fintech) sector today. Sharing his experiences of struggle and success with the Embassy of India in Nepal, he revealed how he successfully became the co-founder of 'LenDenClub', India's leading peer-to-peer lending platform. Currently, his company serves over 30 million customers, something that was once beyond the wildest dreams for a resident of a remote village.
Born into an ordinary family of school teachers in Hauchur, Khotang, Dipesh's childhood was filled with struggles. Although both of his parents were teachers, they also had to engage in farming to meet the family's daily needs and fund their sons' education. Fascinated by gadgets and machines since childhood, Dipesh aspired to become a pilot or an aeronautical engineer, but his family's financial situation stood in the way. A major turning point came in his life during 2007–08 when he received the COMPEX scholarship. Securing the 20th rank in that highly competitive exam, he won a full scholarship to study Electronics and Communication Engineering at India's prestigious National Institute of Technology (NIT), Kurukshetra.
The academic environment, advanced laboratories, and leadership roles in various college activities at NIT Kurukshetra laid the foundation for Dipesh to become an entrepreneur. After graduating from college, he initially launched an engineering software company called 'PipeIso', where he learned the practical lesson that selling technology in the market is much harder than building it. Undeterred, he moved forward and co-founded 'LenDenClub' in Mumbai alongside his business partner, Bhavin Patel.
Remarkably, the inspiration behind establishing 'LenDenClub'—which handles digital transactions worth millions today—came from Dipesh's own village in Khotang. In the absence of banks in his ancestral village, people relied on mutual trust and community support for loans, medical treatment, and farming expenses. He took that traditional concept of trust-based community lending from a Nepali village and modernized it into a digital financial platform using technology, which became a huge success in India.
The Indian government's digital identity system, financial inclusion drives, and the progressive policies of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) played a crucial role in scaling his company. Believing that breaking down complex problems into smaller parts is the ultimate secret to success, Karki is now actively working to foster tech collaboration between Nepal and India. He firmly believes that Nepal should not only be celebrated as the land of Mount Everest and Lord Buddha, but also be recognized globally for producing world-class entrepreneurs and researchers.