VISAKHAPATNAM: In a bid to promote the products made by the women entrepreneurs in Nepal, the South Asian Women Development Forum (SAWDF) is eyeing the markets in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries, its president Pramila Acharya Rijal has said.
The SAWDF, a recognised body of SAARC, along with a team of women entrepreneurs from Nepal, is taking part in the ongoing three-day women entrepreneurs conference being organised by the Association of Lady Entrepreneurs of Andhra Pradesh (ALEAP) in association with the Andhra Pradesh government, in Vizag.
“Such programmes help the women entrepreneurs to interact with their counterparts in various countries. The goal here is to exchange ideas and establish market linkages with multi-national companies. We have been eagerly looking forward to it,” Pramila Acharya Rijal says.Giving details about the scenario of women entrepreneurship in Nepal, she says it is still in budding stage and much is to be done to promote the ideas of making a venture profitable and sustainable.
“In Nepal, the women have achieved political and social freedom, with 33 per cent reservation in Parliament. However, a notable growth in the economy is yet to be achieved. In Nepal, the percentage of women entrepreneurs in tourism, handicraft and agro-based industries is only 5 per cent. The women there work out of necessity, not to float a profitable venture. It is a mindset which needs to be changed,” explains Rijal.Apart from many gender-friendly schemes introduced by the Nepal government, the South Asian Women Development Forum have raised an entrepreneur development fund of `5 lakh for each woman entrepreneur.
“We are trying to increase it to `25 lakh for every woman entrepreneur. The proposed global trade centre and technology hub for women entrepreneurs in Vizag will make them access a bigger market in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Maldives. The move will also help the entrepreneurs organise training and capacity building programmes to exchange technology, innovation and new concepts,” explains Rijal.
Market potential
Saying that Nepal has a range of exclusive handicraft products and agro-based products with tremendous market potential, she says, “We need to get into partnership models to ensure sustainability and growth of the products. Now, the women in the interior villages are aware of the work models, though they are not entrepreneurs. The entrepreneurs need to tap the supply chain potential before marketing the products.
In Vizag conference, she says, the women entrepreneurs are focusing on food sector as Nepal is an agrarian economy. “We have fruits like Lapsi which is sold as a candy in India by Amazon. We are looking forward to learning new technologies to make the product more market-worthy, which will help women entrepreneurs earn better profits,” she adds.