KATHMANDU: The Invest for Impact Nepal (IIN) platform is scaling up its program to promote investment and equitable economic growth to contribute to social and environmental impact in Nepal.

The scale-up program will run from November 2022 to August 2025 and builds on initial discovery phase activities such as assessing specific challenges and opportunities for foreign direct investments (FDI) in Nepal, IIN said issuing a press statement.

“The discovery phase also looked into investment opportunities through financial institutions (FIs), Private Equity and Venture Capital (PEVC) funds, and Financial Technology firms,” it said.

This group comprising of DFIs and development partners, will complement existing efforts to attract more investments and advance the development of the country, by channeling efforts to unlock the possibilities of investing patient, flexible capital to support private sector growth and innovation – helping to solve the biggest development challenges in Nepal, read the press statement.

The IIN’s scale-up program is to accelerate growth, create jobs, and develop a more sustainable economy in Nepal and this will be achieved by enabling FIs and PEVC funds to access resources from DFIs.

To support the small and medium-sized enterprises sector, the IIN will enable key investment ecosystem stakeholders including DFIs, DPs, FIs, PEVC Funds, private sector and regulators to participate in market information gathering and others including access to foreign direct investment.

Swiss Ambassador to Nepal Elisabeth von Capeller said in coordination with our partners, ensuring that Environmental, Social, and Governance factors are integrated into financial products and transactions remains our core focus.

Likewise Head of Asia at BII Srini Nagarajan said this platform’s focus on those intermediaries resonates well with BII’s own strategy in emerging markets to deploy patient and flexible capital to boost productive, inclusive and sustainable growth in Nepal.

The IIN platform is promoted by Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) of the UK- British International Investment (BII), the Netherlands – Dutch Entrepreneurial Development Bank (FMO) and Nepal’s development partner- the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).