Entrepreneurship Development In Nepal | Difficulties, And Opportunities

Entrepreneurship is one of the growing trends among the youths of Nepal. So by now, we know that an entrepreneur is someone willing to take a risk. The risk that possibly going to pay them a successful business or life. Within the present time, several biggest brands in Nepal are formed by young & energetic youths. Entrepreneurship development is one biggest thing that is taking place all over the world at present time. With the development of Entrepreneurship in Nepal, various difficulties and opportunities come along.

This article includes the overall development of entrepreneurship in Nepal along with the difficulties and opportunities in Nepal.

First, What is Entrepreneurship?

Before starting a discussion on Entrepreneurship development let’s look upon the etymology of the word. ” Entrepreneur” is a French loanword coined by French liberal economist Jean-Baptiste Say. The word is inspired by the word “entreprendre” which translates as “undertaker” or “adventurer”. In simple form, entrepreneurship means taking a risk of money or capital to get a good return of profit and success by setting up some kind of business. In general, an entrepreneur takes a high risk to develop a startup, hoping to generate good financial wealth, innovation, and growth.

Business vs Enterprise

People might not see any difference between business and entrepreneurship but they aren’t the same thing. A businessman works on a pre-existing idea to give service to a customer and generates income through it. However, the entrepreneur works on building the original idea working from starch.

In general, entrepreneurs carry a big social responsibility as they aim to come up with a solution to the existing problems in society and generate income while doing so.

Development of Entrepreneurship Culture in Nepal

• It is reported that the trend of entrepreneurship was introduced in Nepal by Thakalis of Marpha as a culture of possessing powerful impetus towards trade. The entrepreneurial ecosystem in Nepal became prominent around the early 2010s.
• Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have a significant contribution to Nation’s economy. In Nepal, SMEs contribute around 22% of GDP and generate around 17 lakh jobs.
• According to data from the fiscal year 2074/75 there were around 275433 registered SMEs in Nepal. Also, According to Industrial Act 2016, any business having capital up to Rs 100 million is categorized as a small enterprise whereas a business having fixed capital between Rs 100 million to Rs 250 million is categorized as a medium enterprise.
• And, According to World Bank’s- Doing Business Survey, Nepal ranks 135 out of 190 for starting a business. This demonstrates how miserable enterprises are in Nepal.

Challanges of Entrepreneurship in Nepal

There are several challenges that come in the journey of being an entrepreneur or developing a startup in Nepal. Whether personal, financial, or governmental there are plenty of problems that are ready to join you in the entrepreneurship journey. Some of the challenges are:

1. Funding

Entrepreneurs are frustrated by the apathy of the Nepali Government towards entrepreneurship. Starts ups have to struggle with problems related to funding. The banking sector has been the main source of funding for enterprises. There haven’t been any cases where SMEs have used the capital market to collect the initial funding. SMEs have to pay around a 12 % interest rate to banks for loan money and a 1% service charge in addition. Getting loans from banks and financial institutions is a very inconvenient process, also high-interest rate and lack of collateral is another major problem.

2. Lack of Good Governance

Another big challenge in entrepreneurship is the lack of good governance in Nepal. The unstable government, load-shedding, Nepal Bandas, Corruption, etc makes the situation even worse. Despite, Nepal not having a business-friendly environment, Youths are still coming up with dynamic entrepreneurial ideas.

Except for these problems there exists many other problems like lack of good policy, lack of suitable education and training, social judgment, etc are becoming a barrier in entrepreneurial development

3. Covid-19

Covid 19 outbreak has shattered the hopes and dreams of many entrepreneurs. Many startups couldn’t survive the lockdown. The government too didn’t show much interest in helping startups to sustain themselves. Instead, they had to pay exorbitant rent, high taxes, and other accountability even though they were already facing loss due to lockdown. However, the customers learned the value of the online business during the lockdown. Many enterprises upgraded themselves to the online module to sustain themselves. 

Opportunities of Entrepreneurship in Nepal

Despite facing so many challenges, youths are coming up with an entrepreneurial spirit. Some see more challenges and some see the opportunity of making a profit through these challenges. Many new startups are making some big names throughout the challenges in different conditions. Some of the opportunities of entrepreneurship in Nepal are:

1. Team Availiability

In Nepal, the unemployment rate is very high. People are desperate to have a productive engagement in organizations. So it is easy to manage a team to start an enterprise. Many youths are willing to be a part of a startup rather than going to foreign to do non-growing hard work. These youths will be the best team to build up any startups.

2. Less Competition

The chances of getting success when having less competition are very high. Nepal is a small country so there aren’t many international entrepreneurial companies working in Nepal. So, the competition is less in the market. You can bring any business or startup idea to the market in Nepal with a good team, the chances of getting success get high.

3. Necessity

Necessity is a key that can help in the journey of doing some new innovations. As Nepal is a developing country, getting an idea to launch a startup seems comparatively easy.

In Conclision

Nepalese are financially poor, only a few people have access to an elite lifestyle, rest are still struggling to meet basic needs. Therefore we need more and more enterprises for the country’s economic development. Entrepreneurship is the way to make our economy strong. If we want to make our place in the global economy then we must support and believe in raw and versatile entrepreneurial ideas.

Nepal government and other related authorities should take an initiative to promote entrepreneurship culture in Nepal. Youths should be provided with the necessary skills and knowledge to utilize the local resources. Enterprises should be encouraged, more employment should be generated and every Nepali should be provided with the opportunity to live with dignity in their own country.

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