Mr. Giuseppe Luizi Bazzani is a notable hotelier, who has served as a General Manager in over a dozen 5-star hotels, including such global brands as the Waldorf Astoria – New York, Swiss hotels around the world, Hilton London, Sweden, Turkey, Tel Aviv and many more. Mr. Bazzani has also lectured in many universities and hotel schools around the world, including the Cornell University, during his 60-year long hospitality career. When he visited GATE College in March 2009 for his 6-week assignment by referral through a Swiss contact, he was in for a surprise! It was an ordinary Tuesday morning, until all of a sudden he saw the entire GATE College student community dressed in T-shirts, masks and gloves, and armed with brooms, bins and buckets, heading towards the street of Mandikhatar, instead of their classrooms for their regular classes, cooking, and serving.


Having seen the number of unannounced protests in Nepal, his worries had reasonable ground and he dialed the receptionist to confirm what was happening. The receptionist informed him that this was a part of the 23rd street cleaning by GATE College which had been going on every week at the same time. He had never experienced anything like this before, such amazing energy, enthusiasm and group work spontaneously generated for a genuine cause - the Environment. He picked up his camera and followed them and began to take pictures as soon as the students began to pick the plastics off the road, and emptied the dust bins. He mentioned – this is what should be written in the Western media, they often see what disasters or misfortunes befall Nepal, but never something that is going right and worth sharing. His eyes sparkled with hope and he said “Sure Nepal will prosper soon with these young Nepalese students who possess great values, good attitude, think differently, and have courage and passion for change”.



It was back in early March, but now it’s already June and GATE has already completed their 28th street cleaning to date. On 5th June 2009, as the entire world marked the Environment Day, GATE College too organized an event followed by participation in a rally in the morning that gathered all the concerned organizations, local police, clubs, and schools together. GATE Students held banners for the World Environment Day and small placards that read “Your planet Needs you, Unite to combat climate change”, (slogan for World Environment Day 2009) leading the rally and marching from local Shankha Park covering portion of ring road and returned back to the same park.



That was not all – at College premises, they organized international cultural programs supported by “Maiti – Nepal”, one of the most celebrated Nepali social organizations that has rescued thousands of women and children from trafficking and also those in potential danger of exploitation. The GATE College students had a different role there altogether. Some students were baking; others were busy vending delicious foods from their stalls. Wines from 3 different countries - France, Chile and Australia were on display and available for tasting, while 100s of expatriates, business people, journalists and diplomats attended the ceremony. Mr. Arjun Bhandari represented the “Mark Davidson” organic wine from Australia. Speaking at the ceremony, he mentioned that Mr. Mark Davidson was a visionary, as he realized 2 decades back that people must be sensitive towards the environment and we must put the environment before business. Therefore, his organic wine is becoming more popular day by day because people appreciate his initiative of working towards “Zero Carbon Footprint”.



GATE students formed their own ECO-Club which was inspired by the idea of making a difference when they learned their management lessons from one of the most renowned global management coaches, Ms Deborah Koehler who is presently consulting the GATE College. Deborah has worked globally and coached the highest ranking CEO’s and GM’s from global companies such as Goldman Sachs, Kenter, Shell, including the conception project of American Idol, and strategic training for Japanese Army and bankers.

Some remarkable art work was also on display which was created by GATE College students and also some guest artists including some from Maiti Nepal students. Speaking at the function, Ms Anuradha Koirala from Maiti Nepal said, GATE College has been taking a tremendous initiative for not only the environment but also social responsibilities and she thanked GATE for the training support through which those vulnerable group of minors and women will learn the skills that will truly liberate them in the long run by helping them to get gainful employment and lead a respectful life.

Another speaker, Ms Deborah Koehler – faculty of Cross Culture and Business Management expressed her gratitude to all the students who learned the lesson of leadership and implemented the same in their own community. The function was also attended by H.E. Mr. Tatsuo Mizuno, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary from Japanese Embassy, Mr. Urs Fluckiger – Consulate General of Switzerland and many diplomats from other embassies, former minister of law & justice Mr. Bhim Bahadur Tamang, Human rights activist Mr. Daman Nath Dhungana, President of Nepal Association of Tour & Travel Agent (NATA) Mr. Ram Kaji Koney, various business leaders and notable hoteliers from Kathmandu. Flair artwork was presented by Mr. Youbaraj Poon and GATE students led by Mr. Dipendra Sharma.



Speaking at the ceremony, GATE College Founder and CEO, Mr. Khem Raj Lakai said, “The next generation will judge us by the level of greenery and clean air we keep for them therefore if we wish to prevent the nature from further destruction; we all have to unite and fulfill our individual responsibility.” He added that with the grand success of GATE College Street cleaning program, we are more confident than ever before that the change is possible if the people wanted to do so.”

The event itself was a senior-level management project organized by third semester students.

GATE – Media Club

tags: gate, hotel-schools, gate-academy, gate-nepal, environment-day, hotels, hospitality, tourism, travel, nepal