Nepal Rastra Bank released the “Special Study on Startup Trends in Koshi Province 2081/82” on Monday. The report examines the nature of startup businesses, sectoral trends, resource access, and challenges faced by entrepreneurs, while also providing recommendations for improvement. The study collected data from 160 startups that had applied for startup loans at the Industrial Business Development Center and were shortlisted.
The participating startups are spread across five main sectors: agriculture and forestry (41.3%), manufacturing (18.1%), services (17.5%), tourism (13.8%), and information technology (9.4%). In terms of perceived business potential, respondents ranked agriculture and forestry highest at 43.1%, followed by tourism at 21.3%, manufacturing at 13.8%, services at 10%, IT at 8.1%, and energy and construction at 1.9%. Among these startups, 54% applied innovative ideas in products and services, 41% in production processes, and 5% in distribution processes.
Entrepreneur demographics show that 39.3% of business owners are aged 21–35, 44.4% are 36–50, and 16.2% are 50–70 years old. Male entrepreneurs account for 74.4%, while female entrepreneurs make up 25.6%. The main motivations for starting a business include self-reliance (37.1%), contributing to society (25.8%), exploring new opportunities (25.1%), addressing unemployment (7.9%), and other reasons (4.1%).
The total investment of these 160 startups is NPR 256 crore, with 38.7% funded through debt and 61.3% through equity. Government support reached 40.6% of startups, while 59.4% did not receive any grants or facilities. Regarding market access, 45% of startups target local markets, 46.9% operate nationally, and 8.1% export products or services internationally. In terms of technology adoption, 27.5% of startups use high-tech solutions, 65% use general technology, and 7.5% operate without technology. Startups employ multiple marketing channels, including friends and relatives (33.9%), social media (28.3%), websites (8.5%), online advertising (7.2%), fairs and events (6.1%), traditional media (4.5%), door-to-door (4.5%), and other methods (4.3%). These enterprises provide employment for 48.4% women and 51.6% men.
To promote startup growth, Nepal Rastra Bank recommends improving access to seed capital and co-investment models, expanding venture capital availability, offering tax incentives, simplifying legal processes, facilitating easier loan access, establishing incubation centers at federal, provincial, and local levels, and launching special incentive programs and financial literacy initiatives to support investment and market entry.
This article was originally published on https://bajarkochirfar.com. Translated with the help of AI and reviewed by our editorial team.
