Shesh Ghale

Ghale and his wife, Gurung, are the first billionaires in the global Nepalese diaspora and the only second billionaire of Nepalese origin.[2]

Ghale and Gurung first appeared on the BRW Rich 200 in 2009,[2] and jointly appeared on subsequent rich lists.[2][3][4][5][6] With a net worth of approximately A$1.18 billion in 2019, Ghale and Gurung were named by The Australian Financial Review Rich List as the 78th richest Australians.[7][8] They were previously ranked as the 81st-richest Australian by The Australian Financial Review in the 2018 Rich List.[9]

Year	Financial Review Rich List		Forbes Australia's 50 Richest
	Rank	Net worth (A$) [note 1]	Rank	Net worth (US$)
2014[3]		$335 million
2015[3]	99	$528 million
2016[3]	105	$586 million
2017[2][10][11]	101	$647 million
2018[9]	81	$876 million
2019[7][8]	78	$1.18 billion
2020[1]	105	$994 million

Legend
Icon	Description
	Has not changed from the previous year
	Has increased from the previous year
	Has decreased from the previous year

Note

• ^1 : Net worth held jointly with Jamuna Gurung.

Ghale is known both for his philanthropic work, especially in the aftermath of the April and May 2015 earthquakes in Nepal, as well as for his rise from an international student to his listing on the list of Australian billionaires. Following the 2015 Nepal earthquakes, as the president of NRNA International Coordination Council (ICC), Ghale led a well-coordinated relief and reconstruction activities. As a result, he and his wife spent much of the following years leading the campaign by stationing themselves closer to the ground zero of the devastating earthquake.

Some of his key achievements included service as the Honorary Consul General of Nepal in Victoria (1997-2000); nominated for the 2013 Ernst and Young Australian Entrepreneur of the Year Award; elected president of the Non-Resident Nepali Association (NRNA) for an inaugural two-year term (2013–2015) and re-elected for a second two-year term (2015–2017); awarded Doctor of the University Honoris Causa in 2015 by the Federation University in recognition of Ghale's distinguished service and contribution to Australian Higher Education, and to urban preservation and development, and of course to the people of Nepal; appointed "Special Envoy for Nepal Earthquake Reconstruction and Development" by the Government of Nepal in 2015; and in the same year appointed "Goodwill Ambassador for 2015-17" in the Male Leaders in the campaign against Domestic Violence by the Nepalese Ministry of Children, Women and Social Services.

In 2015, Ghale and Gurung co-founded the MIT Group Foundation to help under-privileged and vulnerable communities of Nepal through education and health. They have donated NPR रू1 billion to the Foundation.[12][13][14][15][16]