Meet The Team
EYE NEPAL TRUSTEES
All the trustees associated with EYE Nepal work on an entirely voluntary basis in the UK and concentrate all the funds raised to directly supporting the various projects in Nepal. Over a number of years, the trustees have built a strong reputation in Nepal for their services to early years education and have established relationships with the municipalities in which EYE Nepal operates.
Mike Smith
CHAIRMAN
Mike has enjoyed a long a successful career in the hospitality industry. Formerly Managing Director of BaxterStorey, the largest independent FoodService business in the UK, more recently Mike was Chairman of Oakman Inns & Restaurants from 2009 until 2020. Oakman Inns is an independent hotel, pub and restaurant business with 30 plus locations mainly across the South of England and enjoys huge critical and financial success. Mike first became involved with early years education in Nepal in 2014 following a charity trek he undertook with a number of other hospitality executives. He has since returned to Nepal every year and takes a keen operational interest in all the schools supported by EYE Nepal. As well as his strategic, commercial and entrepreneurial knowledge, Mike brings an infectious enthusiasm and passion to the organisation.
Debra Adams
TREASURER
Debra Adams is based in the South of England and qualified as a Chartered Management Accountant (CIMA) in the 1990’s. Her early career was spent training and working in finance roles with an international hotel group followed by 11 years working as an academic in higher education. She now runs her own consultancy focusing on education and learning for middle to senior managers in the hospitality industry. Debra first visited Nepal in 2014 when she took part in a charity trek and community project for the UK based charity Springboard. This was a life changing experience and ignited her love for the Nepalese culture and people. She has since made several further visits and is passionate about creating equal opportunity for young people to access education based on sustainable solutions
Nick Howe
FUNDRAISING
Nick co-founded the contract catering business Holroyd Howe Ltd in 1997. Holroyd Howe now has a turnover of £100m with 2,800 employees. Nick’s accolades include; Contract Caterer of the Year, Catey Award Winner & Sunday Times Top 100 Business to Work For two years running. Nick has dedicated his entire career to the sector helping to make Holroyd Howe the leading organisation in the independent schools market. Nick’s life and business principles focus on fairness, opportunity and a desire to create the best. His fierce determination and commitment have helped Holroyd Howe achieve an unrivalled reputation as an employer with style, one that leads with initiatives and that has a strong internal culture of inclusiveness and integrity. Nick has previously been a Board member and Trustee of People 1st and is now a Trustee of EYE Nepal. Travelling the world has always been a life ambition for Nick and his sponsored participation of a group trip to Nepal in October 2018 has encouraged Nick to committing himself to work further for this wonderful and hugely valuable cause.
Kaye Mathew
MARKETING
Based in the North-West of England, Kaye Mathew has been the Marketing Director of the renown Northcote Hotel & Restaurant for many years. In 2018 Kaye helped to raise over £50k for early years school projects with a group of hospitality colleagues on a trekking and volunteering trip in Nepal. She brings her vast experience of event management and marketing to the EYE Nepal team and is vital to our fund raising and promotional activities.
Raju Bishowkarma
COUNTRY DIRECTOR
Raju initially worked with World Education on the Bandipur Project teaching at public school Bhanu Secondary School. He developed approaches to ensure greater learning outcomes for disadvantaged Dalit students. He helped design the program and setup Learning Centres in the community using peer educators to help students do homework and extra-curricular activities to enrich their reading skill and learning outcomes. He started his teaching career from the missionary school Notre Dame in his hometown Bandipur from where he was graduated. During his eight years of teaching tenure, Raju witnessed many gaps in public schools which motivated him to continue his services to promote quality education in public schools gaining experiences of one and half decade.
Helen Sherpa
Helen Sherpa has more than 25 years of experience working in the development sector and is highly experienced in the development and management of programs for the improvement of education and health for disadvantaged populations. As Country Director for World Education, Nepal, she serves as World Education’s key liaison with UNICEF and the Ministry of Education. Over the past ten years she has led the work to develop World Education’s Early Grade Reading program. As Education Specialist on USDOL funded projects from 2002 to 2013 she led the development of educational interventions for child laborers and children at risk in Nepal. She was involved in the management of the USAID funded conflict-mitigation program, SIWAG, which reached more than 17,000 women in western Nepal with literacy, financial literacy and income generation interventions and also played a key role in the development of the Schools as Zones of Peace (SZOP) Program. She has assisted with the development of training and materials to support decentralized management of public schools and the development of a resource package to support quality improvements in collaboration with UNICEF, the Ministry of Education, and networks of educators. Ms. Sherpa is the author of numerous articles focusing on education and health in Nepal, and completed her Master’s Degree in Development Studies with Honors from Massey University in New Zealand.
Shiva Kumar Acharya
PART TIME LIAISON OFFICER
Shiva lives and works in Sankhu town. He is a full-time government teacher having recently completed his Masters in English studies. The UK EYE Nepal Trustees first met Shiva in 2014 at Shree Mahendra Primary School in Sankhu whilst they were engaged in some community projects. Since that first meeting, Shiva has remained in contact with the EYE Nepal Trustees and assists with various projects liaising with the municipality, school and the community team.
Sanu Maya Rajbhandari
LEARNING MOTIVATOR IN SANKHU
Sanu is a key member of our team in Sankhu where EYE Nepal has the Teacher Training Centre. Sanu has developed her experience by working in community development in the hilly district of Sindhupalchowk. As a member of the EYE Nepal team Sanu visits all of our schools on a day-by-day basis to motivate teachers and students in the teaching and learning process. Using the facilities at Sankhu, she is able to provide technical support to the schoolteachers in the region.
Rachana Sunar
LEARNING MOTIVATOR – BOTETAR LEATNING CENTRE
​Rachana manages our Learning Centre in Botetar whilst pursuing her Bachelor degree in Education. She undertakes the day to day management of the Botetar Learning Center where she supports the community of children with after school education. She is currently supporting more than 50 children from ECD to grade 10 level who regularly attend the Centre for education support as well as pursuing creative activities.