Buoyed by the overwhelming success of the Nepal Investment Summit, the government has planned to host Startup Summit 2017 with the aim of promoting entrepreneurship among the country’s youths. 

The two-day event slated to be held from June 7-8 will bring together around 300 youths from across the country.

Entrepreneurs from Nepal and abroad who have a strong track record in the field of entrepreneurship will participate in the summit as resource persons.

They will share their experiences and recommend the right ecosystem for fostering entrepreneurship in the country.

Likewise, different government agencies including the Industry Ministry, the organizer of the summit, will actively participate in the event.

The meeting will also showcase various components of the entrepreneurial ecosystem like incubation service providers, accelerators and venture capitalists, among others. 

“The summit will also work as a platform for aspiring entrepreneurs to look for various support services to start ventures,” said Narottam Aryal, coordinator of the Startup Committee, an advisory institution formed by the Industry Ministry.

“The main idea behind organizing this summit is to make Nepali youths more enterprising so that their number one career choice will be to start an enterprise instead of going out to look for a job,” said Industry Minister Nabindra Raj Joshi.

Addressing a press meet organised at the ministry on Sunday, he said, “If a large number of youths can be encouraged to start an enterprise, this will generate a massive amount of employment in the country, and our young people will not have to go abroad to seek employment.”     

Against a backdrop of the country’s immature start-up ecosystem, the summit could help the government shape policy to promote entrepreneurship.

The Industry Ministry, according to Joshi, is drafting a policy to promote startups, and it is trying to issue it before the summit.  

The ministry’s decision to promote entrepreneurship by organizing the event follows an allocation of Rs1 billion in this year’s budget for the Challenge Fund.

The fund will provide “seed capital to innovative and entrepreneurial youths with strategic vision”.

Joshi added, “We will ask the Finance Ministry to give continuity to the Challenge Fund, and we will develop a model to use it effectively.”