August 23: Thulo.Com, an e-commerce market, along with Enterprise for Management, Economic Reform and Gender Equality (EMERGE) is implementing a project ‘Fostering Resilience of Women-Led Businesses and Consumers’ with support from USAID’s Tayar Nepal - Improved Disaster Risk Management Project - to support home-based women producers from both formal and informal sector in the wake of Covid-19 pandemic.

The project aims to provide a platform to home-based women producers and equip them with necessary skills and information to become resilient during disasters beyond COVID-19.

In this regard, Thulo.Com and EMERGE conducted a virtual inception meeting on 18th August 2021, reads a joint statement issued by the organisers. The participants of the programme included women entrepreneurs, representatives from various ministries, local government, banks, insurance, tech companies, development agencies,  private sector organizations, and media.

Welcoming the participants of the programme, Dr, Mona Shrestha Adhikari, CEO of EMERGE,  shed light on the objectives of the project. She mentioned that the main objectives behind this project are to impart skills on Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (DRRM) for holistic business management and to enhance the economic resilience of women-led businesses.

The project’s geographical focus is on five provinces, which include 10 districts and 15 municipalities. She also shared that they are collaborating with organizations namely SAARC Business Association of Home-Based Workers (SABAH Nepal), National Indigenous Disabled Women Association Nepal (NIDWAN), Federation of Business and Professional Women Nepal (FBPWN), and Federation of Women with Disability-Nepal (FWDN) along with four municipalities: Birendranagar, Surkhet district; Godavari, Kailali district; Neelakantha, Dhading district; and Tulsipur sub-metropolitan city, Dang district - that are working areas of USAID’s Tayar Nepal.

In her opening remarks Tammie Harris of Tayar Nepal shared that this project is an extension of last year’s pilot project named “Revitalizing Women’s Businesses Amidst COVID-19 Pandemic”.

She expressed her belief that this project will equip women entrepreneurs and producers with tools to enhance their business resilience and to assist them to explore more entrepreneurship opportunities in producing the products that will contribute to enhancing the resilience of communities. She also appreciated the in-kind contribution of Thulo and the EMERGE team to this project.

Durga Prasad Bhusal, under-secretary, Ministry of Industry Commerce and Supplies (MOICS), expressed that this project is perfectly timed to grab the opportunities presented by e-commerce and mitigate the challenges brought by the disasters like COVID-19 pandemic. On behalf of MOICS, Under Secretary Bhusal expressed enthusiasm in supporting this project and beyond to enable MSMEs including women businesses to benefit from e-commerce regulations and plans of the government.

Surakchya Adhikari, COO of Thulo.Com, and the focal person of the project, shared the activities that will be covered during the project period.

She highlighted the effort of being as inclusive as possible by including project beneficiaries from formal and informal businesses, both urban and rural areas as well as from marginalized and socially excluded communities such as women with disabilities and women from ethnic groups. She highlighted that the project aims to upskill 120 women entrepreneurs and home based producers among which 40 will get access to online promotion and sales along with developing a dedicated App to disseminate information related to DRRM.

Ambica Shrestha, president, FBPWN,  stressed that many women entrepreneurs are home based and in today’s time digitization of business is essential.