August 25: Governance Lab, a research organization that supports the government to make evidence-based policy decisions by conducting policy research, collaborated with the Federation of Woman Entrepreneurs’ Associations of Nepal (FWEAN) to organize a panel discussion during the 6th International Women’s Trade Expo and Symposium 2022.

According to a statement issued by Governance Lab, the discussion on the topic of “Accelerating Women-led Enterprises through Innovative Approaches” focused on the issues, existing policies and programmes, and innovative ideas and approaches on how women-led enterprises can be strengthened for the sustainable economic growth of the nation.

At the programme, Nicola Pollitt, British Ambassador to Nepal emphasized on the importance of women-centric policies and programmes to sustainably accelerate the women-led enterprises. “More needs to be done to address the systemic constraints that prevent women from contributing to and benefitting from Nepal’s economic growth,” the statement quoted Pollitt as saying.

Neeru Rayamajhi Khatri, president of FWEAN said that the government of Nepal has acknowledged FWEAN as one of the policy partners. “So the conclusions drawn from this discussion will be documented and submitted to the government as recommendations. FWEAN will strongly push to bring some positive changes in the policies related to women entrepreneurship,” she said.

Salina Bhattarai, research coordinator at Governance Lab stated that such discussions are very important to examine the current situation of women entrepreneurs and support in accelerating them through innovative approaches to ensure sustainable economic growth of Nepal.

“We are very hopeful with this collaboration and excited to come up with meaningful projects that can escalate women entrepreneurship in Nepal.”