Manoj Bhattarai

Manoj Bhattarai is a Nepalese tech entrepreneur and the leader of CellApp, an incubator and mother company dedicated to launching impactful startups. His entrepreneurial journey began over a decade ago while studying at Apex College, where he co-founded his first IT company that specialized in outsourcing and early e-commerce. Over the years, Bhattarai transitioned his focus from offshore outsourcing to localized innovation and social impact. Through CellApp, he now champions the creation of need-based digital solutions, offering mentorship, developer tools, and resources to support the next generation of young entrepreneurs in Nepal.

A central pillar of Bhattarai's work is Smart Palika, a digital governance platform he initiated to decentralize and digitize local municipalities across Nepal. Currently collaborating with over one hundred and thirty-nine local government levels, the platform enables citizens to access recommendations, pay taxes, and communicate with representatives online. Alongside this mission project, Bhattarai has pioneered several other digital initiatives under the CellApp umbrella, including the hospitality platform Paahuna, the retail digitization brand Udhyami, and the disaster response system Rakshya. Driven by a strong sense of social responsibility, he continues to focus on accelerating Nepal's digital transformation and improving public systems.