Best Foot Forward: Atish Shrestha on Football and Finding Home

By Ishaani Budhraja

Football has a way of making the world feel smaller. A familiar club, a shared chant, or a match watched thousands of kilometers from home can bridge the distance between places and people much like it has for Atish Shrestha, Regional Director at Western Union. Hailing from Kathmandu, Nepal, he has spent much of his career navigating new countries, cultures, and communities, eventually making his home in Thailand.

For someone whose career is defined by crossing borders, football acts as a connection to his roots, a link to his family’s past, and a vehicle to mentor the next generation. As countries, stadiums, and years shift, the game remains his anchor.

You’ve travelled across the world to watch the last three World Cups and even manage a football club in Nepal. Where did this intense passion for the game come from, and what has managing a club taught you about people that a boardroom never could?

Football has taught me time management, discipline, punctuality, and focus. These are lessons that extend well beyond the pitch.

I come from a sporting family. Both my father and uncle were involved in football, and my uncle was Nepal’s first official International Federation of Association Football (FIFA)-accredited football coach back in the 1970s. The sport is in our blood and in our DNA.

I’ve watched the FIFA World Cup in three different countries: Russia in 2018, Qatar in 2022, and the United States in 2026. Beyond watching the game, I also support underprivileged footballers in Nepal who sustain injuries while playing. The facilities available to injured players back home are limited, so I help arrange treatment in Thailand. Whenever I hear of a player who needs help, I try to reach out, whether that means providing financial support or helping with the arrangements.

Having travelled across so many different countries, how has moving between cultures shaped the way you view the world and relate to people?

I’ve lived and worked in 12 countries and travelled to more than 40. My aim is to visit a new country every year, and I’m hoping to explore Africa next. Growing up in Kathmandu, I witnessed considerable political change, including the civil war. I wanted to make a mark and build something meaningful, but the circumstances at the time made me feel that I needed to look for opportunities outside the country.

I worked at a commercial bank before joining Western Union in 2006, when I took on responsibility for South Asia. Each place taught me something different. Bhutan has a close-knit community and a strong Buddhist influence. The Maldives has its own pace of life, while Bangladesh requires you to be more vocal and assertive to get things done. I’m naturally soft-spoken, so I had to learn to adjust my approach.

That’s the most important lesson I’ve learnt. If you can’t adapt, you’ll never grow beyond a certain point. Success comes with adaptation and change.

Bangkok is a magnetic city for global citizens, but every expat goes through an adjustment period. What was your own transition like when settling into Thailand?

I moved from the Philippines to Thailand in 2014. Thailand was very welcoming, and the people were friendly. The respect people show one another is something you can really sense, so the transition was relatively easy compared with some of the other places I’ve lived.

The pace of life was something I struggled with initially. In other places, if you asked for something to be done, you might expect it to happen within 10 or 15 minutes. The pace in Thailand is different, and I had to adjust my expectations. I also learnt that being direct can sometimes be interpreted differently here. I’ve had to manage my own communication style and understand the context in which I’m engaging with people. I call it the “rules of engagement”. When you interact with people, you need to understand how they communicate and respect those differences.

When you look at the life you’ve built in Thailand compared with other major international hubs you’ve experienced, what is it about the lifestyle, community and pace here that makes it feel uniquely special?

My connection with Thailand goes back to the 1980s. At the time, the main destinations we could fly to from Nepal were India and Thailand. Even then, I was drawn to the lifestyle, the restaurants, the bars and the culture. I remember wondering why we couldn’t have something similar in Nepal.

Looking back, it’s interesting to find myself living in the same country that fascinated me as a young man. I was working in the Philippines when the opportunity to move to Thailand came along, and I decided almost overnight. I hadn’t planned it out, but in hindsight, it feels like a full-circle moment. Even if I weren’t in the position I’m in today, having had the opportunity to live in Bangkok for 13 years is something I feel very content about.

For someone who has spent years moving across borders, the concept of home often evolves. How do you personally define home today, and how do you keep your Nepalese heritage central to your daily life in Bangkok?

My heart is in Thailand, but I have obligations in Nepal. Thailand feels like home because my two children have grown up here and have a Thai-oriented lifestyle. We haven’t made a final decision about where we’ll eventually settle, but we sometimes talk about spending summers in Nepal and winters in Thailand.

We try to keep our Nepalese heritage alive through food, and language. I encourage my family to speak our own language at home rather than defaulting to English or Thai. We also make a point of celebrating our cultural festivals, including Dussehra and Diwali.

Behind the executive title, how do you protect your personal time?

In 2026, I was out of the country for 112 days out of 365, mainly because of business travel. During that time, my daughter was in her final year of high school and applying to colleges, while my son had recently moved from the United States to Hong Kong. They needed me at different points, and I also have my mother living with me.

For me, one of the most important things in life is being there when someone needs you, whether it’s midnight or 4 AM. I don’t really believe it when people say they don’t have time. It’s about how you create moments to spend with the people you love. I also make sure I spend at least 30 to 45 minutes at the gym, four to five days a week. Sport teaches you discipline, which carries into how you manage your time and responsibilities.

In your work with global payments, every transaction represents a real person’s story. Can you share an instance that reminded you of the human connection behind cross-border payments?

There are many examples, but one that stands out is Myanmar. Western Union began offering money-transfer services there in 2012, shortly after the United States lifted sanctions. At the time, I was based in Thailand and was asked to help establish the business in Myanmar. I arrived knowing no one, and my team and I went from bank to bank, introducing ourselves and explaining what we wanted to build.

Over time, we saw the challenges faced by Myanmar nationals living in Thailand who needed to send money home. Some did not feel welcome going into banks to make transfers, and opening bank accounts could also be difficult. We introduced an option that allowed customers to send money through the Western Union app. That required significant investment and community education.

We worked with community leaders who attended Myanmar festivals and other gatherings to help people understand how to use the app. We also introduced a zero-fee initiative. Personally, I feel that people who work long hours to support their families should be able to send money home without having to pay a fee for the service. These transfers help families cover tuition fees, medical expenses, and the needs of elderly relatives.

For many Myanmar workers in Thailand, the service is a lifeline. They are away from their families, working hard to support them, and being able to move money reliably can make a real difference to the people waiting at home.

How does having reliable financial bridges back home change the expat experience and ease the feeling of distance from loved ones?

It depends on the circumstances of the person sending the money. In Thailand, a significant part of our customer base comprises blue-collar workers from Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, and the Philippines. They rely on being able to send money home quickly and reliably, knowing that their families will receive it. Many of these workers send money every fortnight or month because their families depend on it for everyday expenses.

For white-collar workers, including many Indian professionals, the need may be different. They might send money less frequently for investments, property purchases, or savings.

For someone whose family depends on that money, the ability to send it home reliably is an important part of their life abroad. It’s not simply a financial transaction. It is how they continue to support their families while living and working in another country.