National Youth Entrepreneurship Policy Dialogue, 2018 was held at Hotel Yellow Pagoda, Kathmandu on Tuesday.  The event was organized by the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies in collaboration with Daayitwa. The one-day event was split into two sessions: Discussion and Presentation. This brought together the passionate youth entrepreneurs, academics, bankers, financial co-operatives, and government and non-government actors under one roof.

 The program was conducted by the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, and Supplies with an aim of identifying possible solutions to the difficulties in various issues faced by young entrepreneurs in Nepal. Dr. Pukar Malla from Daayitwa stated that the event was a result of three months of continuous hard work so as to ensure an effective platform for the youth to voice their concerns regarding different social, political and economic constraints. 

“Government can play a vital role in building effective policies for the youth. It is very important to activate the youth but is difficult to do so. The Government should also involve the youth in policy-making processes”, he further added. The event was based on four different themes, namely, Access to finance, Education and skills, Access to information, and Business Ecosystem. Each participant chose to discuss anyone cluster they wanted to feature in. The second half of the event commenced with the presence of the Minister of MoICS, Matrika Prasad Yadav. The showdown comprised of four presentations followed by discussion segments where the presenters discussed on key policy issues, desired policy outcomes, and actions that were specific, relevant and time-bound. 

Yadav suggested that the young entrepreneurs learn from the ways of the world whilst staying grounded to our own realities. Likewise, the fellow participants and guests put forward queries and provided their feedback and suggestions.  Reynaud Meyer, Country Director, UNDP, Nepal interacted with the participants via his questions. 

“Our existing policies certainly require some amendments. It is time we built policies that can carry the demands of today’s youth. We should strictly ensure the participation of youth in policy-making at a local level” said Chandra Kumar Ghimire, the Secretary of MoICS while addressing the participants.