May 20: Four organisations from the development, banking and private sectors are working together to enable women in the Mid and Far Western Development Regions of Nepal to establish small businesses. This month, they came together to deliver training to 400 women entrepreneurs, according to a joint press statement issued by the organisations.

One of the four organisations, Unilever Nepal Limited (UNL), said it is continuing to invest to create women entrepreneurs through its ‘Hamri Didi’ initiative aimed to empower underprivileged women as change agents within their communities by providing them with knowledge on health and sanitation and sustainable income generating opportunities.

Till date, 400 women in six districts in the Mid and Far Western Development Regions have been appointed as Hamri Didis, in partnership with RAP3 CONNECT.

Bottlers Nepal Limited (BNL) , the authorised bottler of the Coca-Cola Company, has joined the partnership to sell their products through this vibrant network of women micro-entrepreneurs. In addition, BNL has provided all 400 Hamri Didis with 5by20 training – the company’s global commitment to enable the economic empowerment of 5 million women entrepreneurs across the company's value chain by 2020.

Rajnish Sharma, the country commercial manager of Bottlers Nepal says, “We continue with our aim of providing hope and support to the female retailers in Nepal, that their businesses can be profitable, no matter the size. I am extremely pleased about our collaboration with IMC Worldwide, through which we have been able to support in building capability of 400 women from the ‘Hamri Didi’ network, who’s selling and merchandising skills have been enhanced to sell multiple products including ours. We are looking forward to being a part of the journey these independent women entrepreneurs are courageously commencing.”

Prabhu Bank Limited will provide loans to high performing Hamri Didis for scale-up capital and can offer efficiencies in the delivery and management of these loans due to their strong network of agents across the country.