Women’s Participation Key to Building a Resilient Economy, Panellists Say

Speakers at a panel discussion themed “Women Powering the Next Economy”, held during the NewBiz Business Women Summit & Awards 2026, said Nepal’s economy cannot become resilient without stronger women’s participation, policy reforms, improved access to finance and better market linkages.

Humakala Pandey, Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies, said the government has long sought to integrate women’s empowerment into national policy frameworks through periodic plans. She noted that the Tenth Five-Year Plan clearly recognised the need to bring women into the development mainstream.

“Women continue to lag behind in both economic and social indicators, while entrenched traditions and conservative social norms remain major obstacles,” Pandey said. She stressed the need for effective implementation of policies related to domestic violence control, public awareness and gender-responsive programmes. She added that although some policies are gender-sensitive, concrete implementation mechanisms are often lacking.

Pandey said that women in rural areas face constraints due to limited access to education and healthcare, while urban women face intense competition despite better opportunities. She added that the Industry Ministry has allocated Rs 1 billion to promote entrepreneurship at the local level and is preparing procedures to link women entrepreneurs with finance and markets.

Under the Industrial Enterprise Regulation, 2078, concessional loans ranging from Rs 500,000 to Rs 5 million are available, she said, with preparations underway to introduce integrated guidelines focused on women entrepreneurs. Citing official data, Pandey said women account for 46 percent of participation in the health sector, while 365,000 industries are registered in women’s names, indicating gradual progress in women’s economic standing.

Rima Lamichhane, Managing Director of Four R. Technologies, described infrastructure as the backbone of the economy. She said the construction sector has been hindered by policy complexities and delays in payments. High-interest bank loans and a shortage of skilled human resources have further compounded the challenges. Lamichhane said equitable economic growth is not possible unless women, who make up around 52 percent of the population, are equally empowered economically.

Sunita Ghimire Gautam, Chairperson of Novala Biotech, said converting research into entrepreneurship is difficult but holds significant potential. She said the Covid-19 pandemic exposed weaknesses in Nepal’s health infrastructure and renewed the focus on domestic production of health kits.

Gautam said the health and biotech sectors require high investment and offer delayed returns, making market access a major challenge. Although domestic products are up to 20 percent more expensive, she said policies prioritising local production have not been fully implemented. She added that reliance on foreign products and distrust of domestic goods must be addressed.

She called for tax concessions on raw material imports, government support for quality testing and a more innovation-friendly environment. She also stressed the importance of marketing, leadership development and export facilitation.

The discussion was moderated by CA Sandesh Paudel, founder of Aasha Ventures Fund. He said the national economy remains constrained when women, who make up more than half of the population, have limited economic participation. He noted that women’s presence in infrastructure development remains particularly low due to high entry barriers in the construction sector. He added that limited and inaccessible credit continues to restrict the growth of women-led enterprises.

Speakers unanimously linked women’s economic empowerment with national economic strength and called for concrete action in policy reform, financial access, infrastructure development and market expansion to build a more resilient economy.