Forbes, an American business journal, with over 100 million online readerships worldwide, has published its annual series of highlighting stories of young innovators and entrepreneurs: 30 Under 30 Asia list. It appears as a proud moment for Nepalis with 3,500 nominations; Forbes has added at-least six entrepreneurs and change-makers from Nepal for its 30 Under 30 Asia list 2020 for social entrepreneurs, retail & e-commerce, and athlete.
Congratulations to everyone who made it to here! You, guys, are remarkable. 🙂
30 Under 30 – Asia – Social Entrepreneurs 2020
Rohit Tiwari, Foodmario
Cofounder, Foodmario
Foodmario is a Nepal-based digital platform that connects home chefs with customers to deliver home-cooked food. Founded by Rohit Tiwari, the platform enables anyone, from housewives to students, to earn an income by cooking and selling food from their home kitchens. To date, Foodmario says it delivered more than 100,000 meals while working with more than 100 home chefs.
Pad2Go
Cofounders, Pad2Go
Shubhangi Rana, an engineer, and Jesselina Rana, a human rights lawyer, started Pad2Go in Nepal in 2018 as a for-profit social enterprise to focus on menstrual health and remove the taboos around it. It has set up 80 vending machines for sanitary napkins in four of Nepal’s seven provinces. Each machine’ stationed across schools, hospitals, movie theaters, banks, offices? It can provide hygienic napkins for 200 women. It also conducts workshops to address taboos around menstruation and works with manufacturers of sanitary napkins to get them cheaply. Pad2Go won the first prize at the AGUASAN workshop in Switzerland and second prize in Singapore at the startup pitch contest for Asian women-led businesses organized by INSEAD and Facebook.
30 Under 30 – Asia – Retail & Ecommerce 2020
Urban Girl
Cofounders, Urban Girl
With an initial investment of $200, Nikita Acharya and Kiran Timsina cofounded Urban Girl in 2012, one of the earliest e-commerce startups in Nepal. The site started by selling fashion jewelry and customized products like tee-shirts and water bottles and expanded to a broader range of products such as makeup, home decor, and electronics. Today it employs more than 50 people and operates in two major cities, Kathmandu and Pokhara. In 2016, they expanded the business to add a bakery. UG Cakes to sell cakes online. UG Cakes trains and hires deaf women for the baking in collaboration with Nepal’s Gandaki Deaf Association.
30 Under 30 – Asia – Entertainment & Sports 2020
Pratima Sharma – Athlete, Golf
Pratima Sherpa, raised in a maintenance shed behind the third hole of the Royal Nepal Golf Course. Her first club, at age 11, was a wooden stick that her father made from a branch. Today she is Nepal’s first ranked amateur female golfer. Her parents still live in that shed. Sherpa is currently in her second year of college at Santa Barbara City College. Her dream is to be Nepal’s first-ever female golf pro and to represent her country internationally.
