MA-Udhyami Campaign for Digitalising Women’s Business amidst Covid 19

Thulo.Com, an e-commerce platform in Nepal, launched MA-Udhyami (MahilaUdhyami) campaign on July 8 as part of the project ‘Revitalising Women’s Businesses amidst COVID19 Pandemic’ with the support of USAID’s Tayar Nepal. The project is being led by the Federation of Woman Entrepreneurs’ Associations of Nepal (FWEAN) in collaboration with EMERGE (Enterprise for Management, Economic Reform and Gender Equality) and Thulo.Com. Due to Covid 19 lockdown, the method of selling products physically has become almost non-existent which affected the supply chain of a majority of the local women-led micro and small scale businesses, as they got disconnected from their customers and had a hard time surviving due to lack of cash flow. The project is focused on overcoming difficulties in forward supply chain and cash flow management of women-owned and led businesses by linking them to the digital economy. Because Covid 19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of e-commerce in Nepal and introduced women entrepreneurs to the digital economy was a need of the hour, FWEAN partnered with Thulo.Com to promote and sell the products of local women and link them to the digital economy through its e-commerce platform. For this Thulo.com conceptualised the campaign MA-Udhyami, which means ‘Mahila Udhyami’ with the tagline ‘Digitalising Women’s Businesses’ to bring women entrepreneurs and technology together. Currently, the campaign is in its pilot phase, and there are 17 women led-businesses, mostly from marginalised groups, running micro and small scale production businesses, of Kathmandu and Lalitpur area, comprising both members and non-members of FWEAN. Currently, the products listed are essential food items like pickles, spices, honey, safety and hygiene products like eco sanitary pad, masks, body oil, sanitizers, etc.