Spotlight on Leading Women of Nepal – Bhawani Rana

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Entrepreneur, Business woman , Director of Hotel Sneha, Chairperson of Sneha Group, First elected Female Vice-President of FNCCI, Co-founder of FWEAN.

Educated at St. Mary’s School in Kathmandu, Bhawani Rana grew up in a supportive and politically aware family travelling around the country with her parents as her dad served as District Attorney in the government. Following school, she pursued Politics as a major for her Bachelor’s degree at Lucknow University in India. Bhawani rana, as she recollects, had entrepreneurial interest from early age. So, she decided that she wanted to run her own business following graduation and so chose fashion industry. Although her first venture in Garment Factory sunk in, she says optimism helped her recover from the loss and look for new opportunities.

As fate would have it, she met equally entrepreneurial and loving husband later in her life with whom she first set up 10 roomed Hotel Sneha circa 2050s in Nepalgunj. Under her leadership and guidance, her business has prospered and expanded into a 65 room  four star hotel today along with several exciting ventures in the pipeline like investment in eco-tourism, tourism entertainment and cable car transport expansion.

Although she is a successful entrepreneur and businesswoman, she remembers her struggles and failures in the past and credits support from her parents and in-laws in encouraging and supporting her all the time. She was the first elected female vice-president of Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry(FNCCI) since its inception in 1965 to which she credits support of her male colleagues from across local chambers.

Following her struggle in business environment in early days, she co-founded Federation of Woman Entrepreneurs Associations of Nepal(FWEAN) in 2003 along with several entrepreneurs and women professional of Nepal with a Vision to contribute to nation building through socio-economic empowerment of women and promote women entrepreneurship through advocacy, networking, information dissemination, capacity building and promotion of women entrepreneurs throughout the country.

She remains an advocate of women empowerment through financial independence and thus, assumes several roles to the effect. She acts as a general secretary of FWEAN, member of SAARC Chamber Women Entrepreneur Council and Vice-President of SAATHI. FNCCI: Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (http://www.fncci.org/) FWEAN: Federation of Women Entrepreneurs Associations of Nepal. (http://www.fwean.org.np/)

Spotlight on leading women of Nepal- Anuradha Koirala

How many innocent, unsuspecting girls have been victims of sex trafficking and have their lives turned upside down, never to be the same again? We have Anuradha Koirala to thank for, for helping such unfortunate girls/women be rescued and brought back to society to lead a normal life that they are entitled to.

She is the founder and director of Maiti Nepal- a non-profit organization in Nepal dedicated to helping victims of sex trafficking. After establishing Maiti Nepal, she plunged into the service of humanity. Her first work was setting up of a rehabilitation home so that she could provide a home to those who have nowhere else to turn to.

Now, Maiti Nepal has three prevention homes, nine transit homes, two hospices and a high school. More than one thousand children are getting direct services from Maiti Nepal everyday. She made it possible with her firm determination and unprecedented leadership. Maiti Nepal today conducts a wide range of activities. Conducting awareness campaigns, community Sensitization, rescue operations, apprehending Traffickers, providing legal support to the needy, women empowerment programs, providing anti retro viral therapy(ART) to children and women infected BY HIV are regular activities of Maiti Nepal.

Her commitment has been an inspiration to her largely volunteer staff. Most of the workers are rescued girls and young women who are healthy enough to work. “They need little incentive from me,” states Ms Koirala. “They are working to help their sisters and they know the horror of the victims.” She adds, “Society rejects me and my girls, but they are the most important thing in my life.” Her efforts and humaitarin works have been recognized not just by the government of Nepal but the entire world. She has been provided 30 national and international awards. She was declared as the CNN hero of the year 2010.