Some 50 years after the formation of the Rotary club (to be specific the second San Francisco club), four Nepalese professionals and business persons were conferring to start Rotary movement by forming a Rotary Club in Nepal (Kathmandu). Rotary Club of Dharbanga (Dharbanga-3250) came forward for sponsorship. The four pioneering individuals were Dr. J.N. Giri, General Kiran Shamsher JB Rana, Gopal Raj Rajbhandari and Dr. Dev Rath. In the gracious presence of the then King Late Mahendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev, The Rotary Club of Kathmandu was organized on November 20, 1958 and received the membership of RI on April 13, 1959.
Almost 18 years later, the Rotary Club of Kathmandu organized the second club in the eastern part of the country in Biratnagar, which received the RI membership on August 22, 1977. Almost 18 years later, eight more clubs – Patan (1985), Dharan (1985), Birgunj (1987), Kathmandu Mid town (1989), Chitwan (1991), Hetauda (1992), Butwal (1993) and Kathmandu North (1993) were formed. By the mid-1990s, the number of Rotary Clubs in Nepal grew to 10 with around 350 members.
The Rotary movement, during the first three and half decades appears to have grown in snails’ space but one should appreciate that during this time the Rotary was steadily becoming visible as a group of serious business & professional people for doing good in the community. In the Rotary movement of Nepal, the year 1995 is considered as a turning point. PRIP Rtn. Herbert Brown (1995/96), then RIPE, was in a visit to the country and in a meeting with the Rotarians advised to form at least 25 clubs and also told that RI would favorably take up the case for a separate RI District for Nepal. The RI Manual of Procedure (MOP) then required 40 clubs and 1400 members to qualify for a separate district and the current MOP requires 75 clubs and 2700 members. It was a challenge worth taking up. All the members and clubs vowed with “each one bring one”. The Rotary movement entered into another phase with a single goal to “Own your own District”. As a result membership rapidly grew two fold in next three years, and again in another three years almost 35 clubs were established with 1150 members by 2001/02.