We here at Nepal Communitere believe that the best results come from bringing diverse groups of people together for a common goal. We have always been dynamic and driven, and our new board of directors is just as amazing, coming from diverse backgrounds. They are young, majority of them women and they believe in our vision to change the narrative of Nepal so that it is seen as a place of possibility and opportunity.
Our board currently consists of four brilliant individuals: Shikhar Pandit, Associate Partner of law firm Gandhi and Associates; Kreeti Shakya, Owner at Kazi Studios; Stuti Basnet, Director of Strategic Partnerships & Innovation at Louis Berger; Trishagni Shakya, Executive Director of Kathmandu Guest House Foundation. They have a variety of different experiences between them, but they are brought together by their shared appreciation for what Nepal Communitere does. Shikhar, chairperson of the board, spoke of how his background and experience led him to join Nepal Communitere as a board member:
“I was trained as a professional corporate lawyer and had been involved in many commercial transactions where I learned a lot along the way. I realized that all these businesses, big and mostly small, needed a lot of guidance and support. When Communitere came along, I thought it was the perfect way for me to give back. Communitere is special because even though it’s all about business at the end of the day, it doesn’t feel concrete or corporate. It’s a fun, supportive place. If you’ve got a good idea, they’re very supportive and positive and will want to help you succeed. Everyone’s having fun: the staff, the investors, the entrepreneurs, all of them! I liked that culture very much.”
“I was trained as a professional corporate lawyer and had been involved in many commercial transactions where I learned a lot along the way. I realized that all these businesses, big and mostly small, needed a lot of guidance and support. When Communitere came along, I thought it was the perfect way for me to give back. Communitere is special because even though it’s all about business at the end of the day, it doesn’t feel concrete or corporate. It’s a fun, supportive place. If you’ve got a good idea, they’re very supportive and positive and will want to help you succeed. Everyone’s having fun: the staff, the investors, the entrepreneurs, all of them! I liked that culture very much.”Here at Nepal Communitere, we organize many networking events as part of Cargo Cafe’s Friday Happy Hours, where people can enjoy a few drinks and engage with one another. A lot of our Happy Hours are geared towards helping our I-Cube Business Incubation Program’s entrepreneurs. Board member Trishagni Shakya talks about how she was introduced to Nepal Communitere and our efforts in supporting early stage entrepreneurs in Nepal through I-Cube:
“I got a graduate degree in development economics in the US, where I studied social entrepreneurship, private equity, and how it fits into the larger economic growth of a country, and I wanted to see where my education fit in Nepal’s case. When I came back to Nepal a few years after graduate school, I worked in an impact investment fund and it took awhile for me to understand startups in Nepal because the scale of everything was so small. I was looking for companies to consult and help and I ended up attending a lot of Communitere’s Friday Happy Hour Networking events where I learned about all of the interesting things happening at Nepal Communitere, and I-Cube. I wanted to help these early stage startups and Nepal Communitere because there really weren’t any other organizations doing this sort of important work.”Our current board of directors are true ambassadors of Nepal Communitere, and we’re really excited about the experience, fresh ideas, and committed leadership they will bring to our organization.
