Nagad, a leading mobile financial service in Bangladesh, has extended its support to Ikramul Hasan Shakil, the first Bangladeshi mountaineer who climbed the Great Himalayan Trail, so that he can pay off the money he owes to several Nepalese people and come back to the country with pride.

Shakil, the 33rd person in the world to pull off the expedition, had to borrow money to complete his trekking, and he now cannot return home from Nepal's Kathmandu until the amount is repaid.

On the heels of his interview published in a Bangla newspaper Prothom Alo on Saturday that he cannot come back home even after having successfully completed his expedition to the Great Himalayan Trail owing to his inability to repay the money that he took from different people in Nepal, Nagad stepped up and gave him the money through one of his friends, Talukdar Moniruzzaman Miltan, in Bangladesh. 

In an online conversation with Tanvir A Mishuk, founder and managing director of Nagad Limited, Shakil said, "I'm grateful to Nagad and its managing director for lending me a helping hand in my crisis. Now, I can go back to my beloved country with joy of my successful expedition to the Great Himalayan Trail."

Nagad's founder and managing director Tanvir A Mishuk said, "You are a pride of Bangladesh as the people like you brighten the country's image all over the world. I have come to know that you are the first Bangladeshi to have climbed the Great Himalayan Trail. Our Nagad family feel proud of your great achievement for our country. At the same time, it's honour for us that we could become a little part of your endeavours."    

On 9 July, Ikramul Hasan Shakil reached the Kanchenjunga base camp and completed his expedition after walking 1,700 kilometres of the Great Himalayan Trail.

The mountaineer walked more than 96 days after having commenced his expedition from Hilsa town, at the north-west of Nepal-Tibet border, on 1 August 2022. He had to cross 29 difficult mountain passes to reach the Great Himalayan Trail amid hostile weather. Of them, some 14 passes were inaccessible and dangerous with a height of more than 5000 meters.