How eSewa Scaled From Rs 7B to Rs 26B (Ex-CEO Jagdish Khadka)

From his early days navigating complex corporate finance to taking the helm of Nepal’s pioneer digital wallet and scaling annual sales from NPR 7 Arab to NPR 26 Arab, this is the unvarnished story of Jagdish Khadka. Over his transformative 4-year tenure as CEO of eSewa, Jagdish led a monumental 500% growth trajectory, scaling the platform to process over 55 Lakh (5.5 Million) daily transactions while engineering Nepal’s first distributed Cassandra database architecture capable of handling national-scale transaction concurrency. In this podcast with Anup Ghimire, Jagdish pulls back the curtain on what it truly takes to run the financial backbone of Nepal: forcing software engineers onto crying customer support calls, viewing public criticism as "Subha Chintak", launching Nepal’s first collateral-free digital loan for visually impaired entrepreneurs, the human psychology behind the 100-Rupee tempo metaphor, and why AI automation will soon make mobile payment apps completely invisible. Timestamps 00:00 - Highlights 01:53 - The Infrastructure Hook: Why Fintech Is Not Just an App 02:41 - The 4-Year CEO Tenure: Is 4 Years Too Short for a CEO? 05:16 - From 7 Arab to 26 Arab: The Playbook Behind 500% Growth 06:18 - Processing 55 Lakh Daily Transactions: Migrating MySQL to Cassandra 09:15 - Systems Run the Organization: The "Sabai Sadhai Sangai" Culture 12:39 - Handling Negative Media & Criticism: Why Critics Are "Subha Chintak" 14:53 - AI vs. Emotional Intelligence: Why EQ Beats AI in Leadership 22:53 - The 100-Rupee Tempo Metaphor: The Deep Human Anxiety Behind Money 28:00 - US Tap-to-Pay vs. Nepal Paper QR: Why Free QRs Beat Card POS Machines 38:12 - The Biggest CEO Regret: AI Automation & The "Invisible Wallet" Future 38:59 - Sabailai Man Karja (Sabalaman): Nepal's 1st Digital Loan for Visually Impaired 46:48 - One Day at the Call Center: Forcing Engineers & Execs onto Customer Calls 48:44 - Spending vs. Earning Mindset: High-Impact Marketing Strategy 49:16 - The Golden Leadership Rule Want to become a video podcaster? Get info: https://becomeadoer.com/programs/beco... For Collaborations ✉ Reach out to us at partners@doersnepal.com 🎧 Listen on audio platforms: https://www.podbean.com/eas/pb-99yjy-... 🎤 Host: Anup Ghimire Founder of The Doers LinkedIn:   / anup-ghimire-9366aa5a   🎙️ Guest: Jagdish Khadka Former CEO of Esewa Linkedin:   / jagdish-khadka-58b96255   📲 Follow The Doers Nepal: Instagram:   / thedoersglobal   Facebook:   / thedoersnepal   🎬 Production Partner: Viewfinders Production Instagram:   / viewfindersstudio   This episode is brought to you by Become a Doer Instagram:   / becomeadoer_   Facebook:   / becomeadoer2026   Website: https://becomeadoer.com This episode is strengthened by Hama Steels Facebook:   / hamaironandsteel   Instagram:   / hamasteel   Our ISP Partner: Vianet Communication Pvt. Ltd. Need help building a high-quality podcast? They’ve got you covered from set design and shooting to post-production and guest curation. 📸 Wedding Dreams Nepal Instagram:   / weddingdreamsnepal   Website: https://weddingdreamsnepal.com