“I have always seen investment as an impact”

Manish Thapa
Managing Director, Global Equity Fund

“I have always seen investment as an impact,” says Manish Thapa, Managing Director of Global Equity Fund. After completing doctoral and postdoctoral studies in International Relations focusing on Political Economy, Thapa worked as a professor for almost 15 years. His teaching career took him across various countries including Poland, Thailand, the United States, Japan, Canada and finally Costa Rica.

In 2018, Thapa decided to come back as he wanted to work in the financial sector in Nepal. He believes that for Nepal to gain economic height, the impact has to be created at the grassroots level. “When we talk about impact, let’s not only talk about donor-funded projects. Let’s also see how the private sector can work on creating impact businesses,” he states. 
With the determination to make an impact on the lives of people through finance and investment, Global Equity Fund was started in March 2019. It is supported by two corporate houses – Khetan Group and BLC Group, and two insurance companies – Himalayan Everest Insurance and Himalayan Life Insurance. “When we started, we wanted to create this as an investment company but the Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) came up with the licensing regulation. So, we were the first company in Nepal to apply for the private equity venture capital fund manager licence in April 2019,” recalls Thapa. However, due to political instability and the Covid 19 lockdown, the licence process was delayed for almost four years. But Thapa was not someone who would sit around and wait. In the meantime, before receiving the licence as the first fund manager company from SEBON, he helped create Nepal Infrastructure Investment Fund which was funded by Himalayan Everest Insurance and Himalayan Life Insurance Company.

“I have always wanted Global Equity Fund to be an impact fund so we decided to invest 30% of the Nepal Infrastructure Investment Fund in women-led businesses,” says Thapa, adding, “But our minimum ticket size of investment from the fund was Rs 5 crores and such businesses only required as low as Rs 50 lakhs. There was a mismatch in the ticket size.” 
“And there is a lot of time limitation for women to follow through all the compliance procedures and the requirements that the banking industry requires to get a loan equity from a private equity,” he says, adding, “We, thus, realised the need for a separate fund to focus on women-led businesses and that’s how the Nepal Women Growth Equity Fund came into the picture in 2023.” 

One of the unique aspects of Nepal Women Growth Equity Fund is that it is the only fund in the country that is dedicated to investing in female-led and owned businesses. To ease the process for female entrepreneurs, the fund provides both pre-and post-investment funds. Through the pre-investment funds, they assist with business plans, compliance, and due diligence. The post-investment funds build business capacity through blended finance mechanisms. “We are also collaborating with donor agencies and one of the earliest supporters of the fund is the USAID Trade and Competitiveness Project. They have helped us to structure the fund and have also committed to helping the portfolio companies in the pre-investment stage,” shares Thapa.

The Nepal Women Growth Equity Fund aims to create and support women entrepreneurs who have the potential to be role models in society. They have estimated their total fund to reach Rs 50 crores out of which 30% will be allocated to women entrepreneurs outside Kathmandu valley. Another distinct feature is that they only invest in growth-stage companies. “We aim to create such businesses that meet environmental, social and governmental standards,” says Thapa. After the fund’s launch on November 7, they have committed to support three businesses. “We have a portfolio pipeline of almost 15 businesses now and through this Rs 50-crore fund, we will be supporting about 15 to 20 businesses. Through this investment, we envision creating at least 10,000 indirect jobs, out of which 60% will be held by women,” he shares. 

However, Thapa is quick to point that it is a challenging process. “Changing the mindset of female entrepreneurs who resist growth and partnership is difficult. We are trying to make them understand that equity is not about us taking over their business,” he says, adding, “We want them to understand that we are supportive partners to help their business grow.” The second challenge that Thapa talks about is the funding dryness. “Due to recession, fundraising becomes difficult at times but partners like Basant Chaudhary and Rajendra Prasad Khetan have been supportive. We want more partners like them to create more female leaders to back businesses. And now we are also working with corporate businesses so let’s see how this goes,” he shares. 

Despite the challenges, Thapa believes in maintaining consistency. Having started with Nepal Investment Infrastructure Fund and recently launching Nepal Women Growth Equity Fund, he has plans for some more impact funds. “We are also working on startup and growth funds which will basically focus on startups which have the potential for growth, which we will probably launch in April next year. Another is a tech fund which we are planning to launch in the middle of next year. Through this we want to dedicate the entire fund to the growing tech industry and continue to create impact,” concludes Thapa.