SNV Nepal and the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) have signed a three year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to work together for the development of the private sector and commercially viable commodities in Nepal.
Over the past years SNV Nepal has been active in propping up the private sector through its specialisation in value chain development of commodities such as cardamom, orthodox tea, lemon grass and seabuckthorn to name a few. SNV Nepal works by strengthening the capacity of local organisations, associations and District Chambers of Commerce in remote areas of Nepal to ensure that implementation is placed in the hands of local actors to guarantee sustainable development.
The Umbrella agreement between SNV and FNCCI will act as a catalyst to ensure that best practices that can be readily scaled up to other regions and provide a window to explore new innovative proposals – like bio-fuel production and the Inclusive Business model – in order to harness the existing entrepreneurship for a prosperous Nepal.
“Poverty reduction and private sector development go hand in hand” states SNV Nepal country director Hans Heijdra. “At SNV Nepal we are working to see how we can develop Nepalese businesses whilst alleviating poverty by incorporating poor and marginalised communities into the supply chains…we call that Inclusive Business.”
FNCCI president, Kush Kumar Joshi highlighted that the alliance will also work together on the Government of Nepal’s new “Self-Employment Programme” whereby resources will be mobilised to bring entrepreneurs from rural areas into the business mainstream. Kush Kumar Joshi added that “SNV’s knowledge of value chain development and Inclusive Business could be fundamental in achieving this goal.”
SNV Nepal and FNCCI have in fact been working closely on projects over the years such as the development of the cardamom and orthodox tea sub-sectors. Most recently, SNV Nepal has facilitated FNCCI to receive a project from International Centre for Bamboo and Rattan (ICBR) entitled “Development and Commoditisation of the Pre-fabricated Modular Bamboo Housing in Asia and Africa”. The objective of the project is to promote private sector enterprises by developing sustainable supply chain integrating poor bamboo farmers. SNV Nepal will support FNCCI for the establishment of commercially viable supply chains for existing bamboo industries in Nepal by establishing community owned and managed pre-processing units.