Social Business Challenge – 2017

AgroShelter bagged the first prize in Social Business Challenge– 2017 held on 23 June. Kuldeep Bandhu Aryal, co-founder of AgroShelter was awarded Rs 100,000 at a ceremony jointly hosted by Yunus Social Business Center, Nepal and King’s College, Kathmandu. AgroShelter is a collective community-driven processing and storage facility, which tries to increase the livelihood of small scale farmers by ensuring that most products remain unspoiled. It includes building an agricultural facility where farmers can have access to improved drying, hermetic packaging and regulated storage space. According to the judges, of the total 10 teams that made it to the final round, AgroShelter succeeded to claim the award for its innovative agricultural practices. The remaining finalists were Hamro Doctor, AgroMart, AI Paani, AgroTech, FARM, Swastha Manch, Avocados & More, Spring Sanitary Napkins and Rasbin Enterprises Ltd. At the beginning of the year, King’s College and Yunus Center had held workshops on Social Business in Kathmandu, Biratnagar, Chitwan, Birgunj, and Janakpur to give insights on social entrepreneurship and to call for the application for the competition. The first of its kind Social Business Challenge is going to be an annual event to acknowledge innovative social business ideas.