Nepal Entrepreneurship Forum II: A Journey from 2016 to 2025 into Sustainability

Entrepreneurship is one of the key indicators of economic growth and employment generation in any country. The future of economic growth depends on the direction the country's entrepreneurship has been directed towards. As countries progress towards promoting entrepreneurship, there has also been an evolution in different kinds of entrepreneurship. However, regardless of the form of entrepreneurship any country or region has been promoting, it impacts society's economic and social dimensions. Hence, realizing this potential of entrepreneurship, King's College has been organizing conferences since 2016.

## 1st International Conference on Social Entrepreneurship (ICSE 2016): Rebuilding Nepal Through Social Entrepreneurship

King's College organized the International Conference on Social Entrepreneurship in the aftermath of the 2015 earthquake. Held at the Hyatt Regency, this conference emphasized social entrepreneurship for the country's recovery. While it surfaced the role of community-based enterprises in post-disaster rebuilding, it also emphasized the policy frameworks to support grassroots innovation. The conference showcased 20+ social ventures across sectors like eco-tourism and handicrafts.

While this conference was successful in establishing the role of social enterprises in improving the community's triple bottom line and promoting the need for creating enterprises promoting sustainability, it also identified a definitional gap in defining those social enterprises.

## 16th International Entrepreneurship Forum (IEF 2017): Sustainable Entrepreneurship & Economic Development

In 2017, King's College organized the 16th International Entrepreneurship Forum, an international conference partnered with Essex Business School (UK). This conference tried linking entrepreneurship to the SDGs. This conference brought together scholars, practitioners, and academics to discuss entrepreneurial sustainability and factors that drive and impede its development, bridging the gap in conceptualization, empirical analysis, and reflective practice that impacts sustainable entrepreneurship and economic development.

The floor discussions and research mainly examined the challenges of sustainable startups and the role of universities in incubating sustainable ventures. They also discussed case studies on balancing profit and the planet. Though these discussions brought an optimistic view on sustainable ventures, the conference also identified a lack of clear roadmap for implementing sustainable business models and limited focus on climate adaptation in entrepreneurship. The conference also revealed the contemporary problem of big corporations being unable to solve all societal problems alone.

Hence, in conclusion, it was emphasized that small businesses, paying attention to the triple bottom line, should be the way ahead. Companies should work hand in hand, together rather than differently, for a sustainable future.

This conference leveled up the floor discussion, moving from the role and definitional clarity of social and sustainable entrepreneurship to the challenges and role of other ecosystem partners in promoting them. The conference emphasized that sustainable entrepreneurship thrives at the intersection of local context, collaborative policies, and innovative financing.

## Nepal Entrepreneurship Forum I (NEF 2018): Entrepreneurship in Federal Nepal

The first Nepal Entrepreneurship Forum was organized in 2018 to focus on Nepal's transition to federalism and local economic growth after enacting its new constitution through the constitutional assembly. This was one of the first international conferences outside Kathmandu Valley, in Dhangadhi Municipality. The discussions included provincial policies for SME growth, tech-driven solutions for rural economies (e.g., agri-tech), and tackling the brain drain.

The conference also brought forward weak coordination between federal and local entrepreneurship policies and missing links between traditional practices and modern sustainability.

All in all, this conference introduced the idea of sustainability in terms of how a country transitioning into a federal system from a centralized system could still adhere to sustainability by activating and becoming aware of its local levels.

## Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in Developing Economies 2023: Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in Developing Economies

Entrepreneurship does not function in silos and is dependent on an ecosystem. Hence, in 2023, a national conference was organized to examine Nepal's nascent entrepreneurial ecosystem.

This conference highlighted the current situation of student entrepreneurship, where only 12% of MBA students showed startup intent due to lack of support. The conference also revolved around returnee entrepreneurs, struggles with bureaucracy and skill mismatches, digital finance challenges, rural distrust of mobile banking, and ecosystem frameworks. Nepal was classified as an "embryonic ecosystem" with few startups and weak academia-industry ties.

On the other hand, this conference also discussed that there is no systemic approach to sustainability in entrepreneurship and minimal discussion on climate-resilient business models.

## Moving Forward: The Relevance of Sustainability from the Conferences

The conferences held until now have had several different focuses yet always come to a conclusion related to sustainability, which shows how this has become an important factor for business beyond a buzzword. Besides this, all the earlier conferences also ended up with a gap related to sustainability — earlier events discussed sustainability but lacked practical frameworks.

## Sustainability and Its Relevance to Nepal

Sustainability is non-negotiable for Nepal because it is a landlocked country with 60% of Nepal's imports (fuel, machinery, food) coming from India, and sustainable practices (e.g., renewable energy and organic farming) can reduce reliance. Likewise, the Himalayas and Terai face deforestation, glacial melt, and soil erosion, threatening livelihoods. So, Nepal needs sustainable farming and factories that could adopt sustainable practices, causing minimum environmental harm. Hence, considering sustainability is not an option but a necessary step for survival, given its vulnerability.

## Nepal Entrepreneurship Forum II (NEF II 2025): Towards Sustainable Entrepreneurship Ecosystem

This year, King's College is organizing the second version of its international conference, Nepal Entrepreneurship Forum II, with the theme 'Towards Sustainable Entrepreneurship Ecosystem.' This conference aims to serve as a platform to explore sustainable business practices, foster innovative solutions, and connect the entrepreneurial community with the vision of creating a more resilient, inclusive, and sustainable economic environment.

From post-earthquake recovery (2016) to federalism (2018) and ecosystem gaps (2023), Nepal's entrepreneurial journey has led us to this vital journey into sustainability and made us understand that sustainability isn't optional; it's survival. At NEF II, we're turning insights into action.

So this year, all researchers, startup founders, policy makers, academicians, students, investors, and experts, let's meet in June 2025 in Kathmandu, Nepal, to discuss the roadmap of our sustainability journey together.