Astha Thapa Pande is the Executive Director of TEWA. Pande talked with Suraksha Adhikari of The Corporate regarding the philosophies her organization has adopted and current scenario of women entrepreneurship in Nepal. Excerpts:

Your organisation claims it is focusing on self-reliant development. Would you please elaborate? 

Tewa was founded in 1995 in a context where development was entirely driven by foreign aid. New organizations were sprouting but many were allowing their organizational missions to be dictated by what funds were available. At such a time, Tewa was set up, not just as an organization, but as an idea that self-reliance is possible, that we can and must partake in our own development, and that resources can be mobilized locally. Tewa has shown that this can be done, and Nepalis have donated both their money and their time to the cause of women these past nearly two decades since Tewa was established. 

In today’s context Tewa feels that there is much more thinking and doing to be done with regards to self-reliant development and Tewa is striving yet again to set an example through its physical endowment (land and building) project. The Tewa Centre, which is now nearing completion is a revenue generating centre that will ultimately make Tewa, the women’s fund, far more self-reliant with its focus on raising funds primarily to give grants for women’s rights and empowerment. 

So, your organization has decided to not be donor dependent. How difficult is it to execute such decision? 

I would approach donor dependence as a concept with caution, so there are no misunderstandings. Tewa is not opposed to donors, but wants to encourage organisations to set their own mission and vision, principles and values and not be swayed or change simply for the sake of funding.

What difficulties are women facing regarding entrepreneurship in Nepal? 

Most of the females in Nepal are uneducated as a result of which their decisions are not given priority in the family. Similarly, the main reason of Nepali women lagging behind in entrepreneurship is poor access to finance. The landed assets are not owned by them because of which they don’t get opportunity to invest in the sector they want to. Though their level has increased in terms of economy and business, there is still much to improve.

How do you evaluate the present status of women entrepreneurship in Nepal? 

Women are seen increasing their independency level and seeking for self employment. As far as we see, women are capable of being successful entrepreneurs as they are sincere in their business. They are being educated which makes them able to use that available finance in business. Women are also introducing themselves as social entrepreneurs as they come up with their ideas and form a group in a society to provide employment opportunities to other females.