It is at promising time, I got a chance to participate at
Nepal in Global Preneurship Conference as part delegation for Indian Social
Entrepreneur. The moment at which Nepal seems to be focused to stabilised
itself political and economically after internal turmoil for last two decades
especially since 2006 and rebuild itself after the devastating earthquake last
year. The interactions there officially
involved various social organisation, public institutions and visits to
historic and cultural places; however, we had amble time to have conversation
with general public about nation and progress.
The first visit was to Children’s Art Museum (CAM) of Nepal
(CAM), a creative art studio cum workshop specially designed for children and
youth. It was a unique project for creative learning of young children in
Kathmandu, Nepal. The next visit was to Edushala and business model workshop
with its founder, Ruchin Singh, a passion driven and innovative entrepreneur to
running the venture to impart training from educational to vocational to skill
or hobbies. The set-up based out of Patan, Nepal Edushala works for rebuilding
Nepal through education. The workshop of business models, was important learning
for entrepreneurs. Our subsequent discussion with N-Agro founder Robin Sitoula,
involved understanding situation of agriculture in Nepal, and farmers with
small holding small. It was motivating to understand how they are trying to
works with small & marginal farmers and teaches them about the importance
of land pooling and organic farming. The
interactive talk session also highlighted their focus to increase the eco
friendly consumption and healthy food chain.
We also met the leaders of YUWA,
at youth based organisation at their office in Katmandu, which was very similar
to our organisation, BYNF – Bharatiya Yuva Netritva Forum (Indian Youth
Leadership Forum). The talk was interactive, illustrating their work and issues
faced by youth in Nepal. In addition we had business ideation workshop with
students of Nobel College, which received positive feedback. One of the
highlight of the conference was meeting at 3 Sisters Adventure Trekking Company
and Empowering women of Nepal at Pokhara founded by 3 Nepalese women. Founders
explained their journey in last two decades and how their idea developed from
initial phase of facing stiff resistance by the local people and society at
large and how they overcame their challenge. It is a well-awarded success story
now, and has been empowering local Nepalese women.
The conference was inspiring, helping us to understand
various good practices and investigating these case studies of social
entrepreneurship. The extraordinary beautiful terrain of Nepal also provided us
with some extraordinary experiences, specially helping us in understanding dynamics
at play in the country. In addition, we had a small trekking trip to World
Peace Pagoda in Pohkara, Shambhu temple in Kathmandu, Mountaineering Museums,
Bhakatpur and much more. It was a cultural delight with historic and spiritual
sites, with variety of local cuisines and welcoming local folk songs. Besides
program, I was fortunate enough to get time to explore more of Nepal, sign up
partnerships for BYNF, have darshan at Pashupathinath and visit Patan. After
UK, it was first time I was away from India on 15 August, our Independence day, however visit to Embassy
and listening to the warm speeches their
