Client Ambition

The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and the Swiss Embassy of Nepal aimed to design a flagship program – DIGI Nepal – to strengthen Nepal’s digital ecosystem beyond Kathmandu. The ambition was to identify systemic gaps that limit private sector innovation and understand how digital solutions could enhance access to affordable basic services, create employment opportunities for women and men, including those from marginalized groups, and promote equitable digital growth across the country.

Our Solution

We conducted a comprehensive landscape study to map Nepal’s digital ecosystem and identify enablers and barriers to innovation. Adopting an ecosystem lens, our research mapped stakeholders across key domains – government, international development agencies, regulatory institutions, private sector innovators, business associations, accelerators and incubators, and civil society. We facilitated consultations with 65 respondents across 40 organizations to gather perspectives on market readiness, policy gaps, and collaboration opportunities. Together with secondary data, these insights were synthesized to develop and structure insights which were further validated in a multi-stakeholder workshop in Kathmandu, attended by representatives from government, private sector, and international development partners.

Results

The insights and recommendations from the study including the state of digital ecosystem in Nepal, the state of digitally enabled basic services sectors, and emerging partnership opportunities with ecosystem partners – helped SDC take design and execution decisions around DIGI Nepal.