Back in 2012, Biddha Nanda Jha was a part-time employee at a mobile shop in the busy street of Mahaboudha. While working there, he witnessed that people frequently visited an agro-vet store in front of the shop for purchasing drugs to kill cockroaches and other rodents. Seeing a possible business opportunity, he conducted his own research and learned that cockroaches and bedbugs were causing problems for people residing in Kathmandu. The people also lacked adequate knowledge regarding proper usage of the chemicals for control. Tapping on this gap, he started his own pest control service in 2012 and decided to name the company Orange Ball as it was catchy name that jog one’s memory of sweet candies everyone loved during their childhood.   

Orange Ball commenced its test operation in 2012, and was finally registered in 2016. Orange Ball provides a variety of services ranging from control of bedbugs and termites to rats and rodents to both household and corporate clients. To date, Orange Ball has served over 2000 households and more than a hundred corporate clients that include major hotels and restaurants, offices, NGOs, and INGOs and banks. The company currently employs 19 people and has secured Annual Maintenance Contracts (AMCs) with 32 companies.

The company was doing really well and had expanded its business to major cities such as Biratnagar and Pokhara when the business was abruptly halted by the Covid pandemic. Foreseeing the strain in future cash flow, Biddha Nanda Jha quickly pivoted his business to provide disinfection services and also started selling Covid-19 PPE Kits, face masks and sanitizers for the survival of the business. Recently, Orange Ball also started providing cleaning services exploring opportunities to provide a one-stop cleaning and disinfection solution to its customers. 

Orange Ball is one of the beneficiaries of the COVID-19 MSME Fund Nepal, supported by the Swiss Agency for Development and Corporation – SDC and FMO – Dutch Entrepreneurial Development Bank, and managed by One to Watch. With the help of the fund, Orange Ball was able to receive an interest-free and collateral-free from Laxmi Bank which was mainly utilized to meet their working capital requirements and purchase chemicals for pest control and disinfection. OTW also aims to provide tailored business development services to Orange Ball by assisting the company to adopt a sustainable pivot of the business,  develop SOPs for smooth operation, and help the business in formulating a marketing strategy.