Accelerate My Business Empowers Women Entrepreneurs in Koshi, Nepal
Program Year: 2024
Through our Accelerate My Business Program (AMB) under the South Asian Governance Program, The Asia Foundation has successfully trained over 300 women-led small businesses in Koshi province, Nepal. The initiative is implemented with support from Visa and in partnership with Vrock and Company, the Federation of Women Entrepreneurs Association (FWEAN), and Aaprabasi Mahila Kamdar Samuha (AMKAS), a network of returning migrant women workers.
A crucial sector in the Nepalese economy, micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) account for 90 percent of all businesses and 45 percent of all jobs, employing 2.7 million people. Despite its contributions, the sector remains underserved – particularly with women-led enterprises that face gaps in skilling and financial support.
AMB filled this gap by providing business, financial, and digital literacy training and mentoring to women entrepreneurs, helping them broaden their economic prospects in the digital economy. Kicking off with a Training of Trainers masterclass in August, the program worked with local partners to design micro-learning modules on business planning, operations, sales and marketing, customer relations, finance, and cybersecurity for MSMEs. Twenty-seven instructors facilitated the learning sessions in the identified communities from September to December, reaching 317 MSMEs across various sectors and industries, including agriculture, food and beverage, manufacturing, services, and education.
AMB is part of The Asia Foundation’s Future Skills Alliance, a collective impact platform for private and public sector partners to deliver future skills at scale to the region’s underserved groups.
For more information, visit http://accelerate-msme.com.
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