By: Trisagni Sakya, Kathmandu Guest House Executive Director & Founding Board Member of Impact Hub Kathmandu

I first heard about Impact Hub when I went to Jakarta for a Social Enterprise Conference in 2017. I met someone from Impact Hub Manila and he explained the Impact Hub to me as a collection of global hubs that work on creating a thriving ecosystem for entrepreneurs. Being from a business family and having a father who wrote a bestselling book inspiring many Nepalis to be entrepreneurs, I immediately saw the value of having an Impact Hub in Nepal. Upon more research, Impact Hub required a certain GDP per capita threshold that Nepal did not meet, and thought of opening an Impact Hub in Nepal in 2017 died there.

I was adamant about being part of the entrepreneurial ecosystem and hung around Nepal Communitere as it was the closest thing to Impact Hub I found in Kathmandu. A spot on the Board of Directors opened up and I jumped at the opportunity. Fast forward 4 years later, I was ecstatic about our transition to becoming Impact Hub Kathmandu. No one else on the Board had heard of Impact Hub and I was quick to show my interest and amplify it amongst the rest of our members.

It was not the easiest journey to be an advocate of transitioning. A lot of us, rightfully so, were attached to Communitere and its legacy. It took us months to make the decision which required multiple conversations weighing the pros and the cons of joining the Impact Hub Network. But slowly the amorphous entity that is Impact Hub became clearer and clearer and the team was on board. 

I am excited about Impact Hub because it is a network that doesn’t just care about economic growth and job creation but also social and environmental impact. Impact Hub has pivoted its own business model since I first heard of it in 2017. One of my favorite parts of the application process was hearing about the vision of the network: 

100+ Impact Hubs all over the world attempt to operate at the intersection of economic development, inclusive movements (feminism, antiracism, anti-caste) and the green transition. 

The entrepreneurial ecosystem currently in Nepal and the world focuses mostly on the economic contribution of enterprises. However, in the light of larger social movements such as #Metoo, George Floyd, and Greta Thunberg, the idea of existence beyond just monetary gain highlighted that caring only about financial growth is just not enough. Impact Hub Kathmandu is interested in supporting an ecosystem of enterprises that have inclusion and/or the green transition at the heart of their business model. This excites me: Co-creating a better world USING business and profit FOR people and planet!

Nepal Communitere has always been a place where everyone felt welcome to talk about their movements and it’s always been a place of solution making in Kathmandu. By being a part of the Impact Hub network, we are now part of a global movement of 15,500+ like-minded individuals, businesses, and hubs that are streamlining our focus on building a thriving entrepreneurial ecosystem in 100+ locations to enable inclusive and green innovation. We are hoping to leapfrog our borders to foster global partnerships to solve some of the world’s most pressing global issues that manifest in all local realities in the world. 

Come “Join the Journey” at Impact Hub Kathmandu to build positive transformation for our communities!

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