Unlocking Diaspora Potential for Nepal’s Economic Growth

April 5, 2025

The Sustainable Startup and Entrepreneurship Conference 2025, an initiative of the MIT Group Foundation in collaboration with United Nepali Diaspora Organisation (UNDO) with strategic partnership from Nepal Young Entrepreneurs Forum (NYEF) took place at the Hotel Himalaya in Kupondol on Saturday 29th March. The event saw the presence of the guest of honour Her Excellency Ms Leann Johnston, Australian Ambassador to Nepal alongside president of the MIT Group Foundation Dr Shesh Ghale. The keynote speech was expected to be delivered by the Honourable Sumana Shrestha, Former Minister of Education, Science and Technology, however she and many other noted speakers were unable to attend due to the protests that took place in Kathmandu the day before which unfortunately led to the deaths of two people.

What is UNDO?

United Nepali Diaspora Organisation is a forward-looking organisation dedicated to empowering the Nepali diaspora, fostering global connections and contributing to Nepal’s development through collective efforts and shared resources.

Sustainability and the diaspora and those that have many years experience working for global firms were the focus of this day-long conference. As someone from the Nepali diaspora myself, I had the privilege of being the master of ceremony for the event. This conference theme was “From Roots to Growth: Mobilizing Diaspora Investments and Innovation to Power Nepal’s Sustainable Economy”.

Here are some things that I noted as reflections, pointers and possible highlights:

The Nepali diaspora investing in Nepal currently have some form of connection to Nepal (they may have spent their formative years in Nepal) but this may not be the same for the future diaspora as they will be born and raised overseas entirely.
Diasporas are often operating out of their deep-rooted sense of place and purpose in Nepal more than monetary goals. It seems apparent that their time and effort elsewhere, or in their present host country could yield faster results.
While many are arriving with their own ideas to create enterprises, there lies a huge gap to upgrade and nurture talent in Nepal; to give entry-level and mid-manager level staff the skills and qualities to be a diligent and committed employee. We cannot just have good employers; we need good employees (and if people keep migrating – who are we left with).
There are hugely experienced individuals in Nepal that bring working experiences from across the globe! It’s important that more is done to harness them, connect them to young or new returnees to provide a mentor support system (formal or informal).
UNDO is in a good position to create informal quarterly socials bringing together returnees, investors and those looking for opportunities.
Future Roots Award, which recognises startups with the most impactful and innovative concept exhibiting a strong commitment to sustainability brought five enterprises! They presented to a panel of judges and three winners took prizes from Nrs 50,000, Nrs 100,000 to Nrs 1,50,000. I believe there’s a huge opportunity to make this award segment a bigger part of the future conference!
The four panel sessions featured panellists of diverse experience and background, which is a great thing! However, it maybe worth having few panels that are sector specific – either focusing solely on Digital and Tech or Beauty and Service for example. Thematic panels may attract more topic specific audience.

Leveraging the connections of the diaspora is a huge need! Diasporas contribute to the human, social and cultural enrichment of their countries of their countries of origin, transit and destination by building bridges and fostering mutual understanding among different cultures and can play an important role in the economic development of their countries of origin. This is very much an important need in Nepal which in the recent past has seen huge numbers of out-migration.

Future Roots Award winners, in order, Khona Farm, Bhoomithan and Vayudrishti. Nitro Grow Tech and Vermi Cow also made it to the TOP 5.

I hope the UNDO continue to organize events, workshop and activities bridging the Nepali diaspora together. These are early beginnings and there is much to be done.

For information, here are the panel information.

PANEL 1: Transforming Nepal’s Economy; Sustainable Business Models and the Role of Nepali Diaspora

Moderator: Samanata Thapa

Panellist: Dr Maheshwar Dhakal, Anima Piya, Tejan Gurung, PJ Shrestha, Niraj Khanal