Nepal Rings the Bell to Transform Markets through Gender-Smart Finance for All Women and Girls

[Joint Press Release]

Lalitpur, Nepal — A bell rang out at the start of the morning in Nepal on 26th March 2026 to signal wide-ranging support by listed companies and others for improving women’s status and opportunities in the business world.

The Global Compact Nepal (GCN), International Finance Corporation (IFC), Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE), and UN Women, jointly hosted the event Ring the Bell for Gender Equality 2026 under the theme “Women. Leadership. Action. For Just and Prosperous Economies.”

In attendance were NEPSE-listed companies, government regulators, signatories of the business-centred Women’s Empowerment Principle established by UN Women and UN Global Compact, and representatives from the development and private sectors.

It was Nepal’s 6^th annual Ring the Bell for Gender Equality event — part of a global campaign in which more than 115 stock exchanges worldwide advocate for women’s empowerment in the workplace, marketplace and community.

Building on the momentum of Nepal’s 2025 Ring the Bell event—which spotlighted women’s financial inclusion and the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs)—the 2026 edition adopted a high-impact and action-oriented focus on Gender-Smart Finance. Anchored in the global theme “Rights. Justice. Action. For ALL Women and Girls”, the event highlighted how gender-smart finance is a concrete pathway to realizing women’s economic rights, addressing structural inequalities, and translating commitments into measurable market action

Opening the event, Ms. Lila Pieters Yahia, UN Resident Coordinator to Nepal, delivered her welcome remarks, where she focused on how the private sector is central to advancing gender equality and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. She said, “An important platform like ‘Ring the Bell’ must not remain a symbolic annual moment. It should catalyze a more structured and sustained platform that brings together government, the private sector, including financial and equity institutions and development partners, to advance women’s economic empowerment year-round. By institutionalizing this dialogue, we can better align policy, unlock gender-smart investments, and ensure that commitments translate into measurable progress for women across Nepal.”

Her remarks were followed by the Ring the Bell ceremony to signify commitment of the private sector to gender equality and financial inclusion, which is a symbolic pledge for just and prosperous economies.

Mr. Choodamani Chapagain, CEO, Nepal Stock Exchange, gave the opening remarks of the event. He gave a brief overview of women’s participation in the stock market of Nepal and highlighted how even though there was ample women participation, there was a huge gender imbalance in leadership, decision making and board composition. He said, “Inclusion is the engine of a stable market; when women lead, the nation prospers.“

After this, keynote remarks were delivered by Mr. Govind Ghimire, CEO of NMB Bank. In last year’s Ring the Bell Ceremony, NMB Bank had received the WEP award for their outstanding efforts in advancing gender inclusion. Mr. Ghimire highlighted how his bank had been making efforts to be more gender-inclusive, not just in theory but in practice. He called on other counterparts in the business world to collaborate in the WEP initiative, saying, “Let’s walk the talk; it is easy to talk about philosophy, but action is more important and harder.”

This was followed by a session on Leveraging WEPs to drive Gender Equality in the Private Sector. Ms. Patricia Fernandez Pacheco, Country Representative of UN Women Nepal set the context for the topic building on WEPs framework. She stressed on how when women are locked out of finance, the economy loses. “Closing the financing gap isn’t just equality, it’s smart economics. Let’s invest in gender-responsive financing,” she said.

In the session, representatives from two WEP signatories Ms. Aarju Joshi from F1Soft International Pvt Ltd and Dr. Manish Thapa from Global Equity Fund Nepal also presented their insights and experience of adopting WEPS in their company.

Ms. Pacheco also welcomed two new WEP signatories — U-turn Nepal, an event management company and Hotel Himalaya, which took their WEP pledges during the session.

At today’s event, representatives from public and private sectors hosted a panel discussion on “Unlocking Gender-Smart Capital: Blended Finance for Women-Led Businesses”. Panelists, Mr Manoj Poudel, Founder and Chair of Aadhyanta Fund Management Limited, Ms. Cecile Riviere, First Secretary and Programme Manager of Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), Ms. Sushma Sharma, Founder/CEO of Phool Prasad and Ms. Meena Pandey, Director of Nepal Rastra Bank discussed key opportunities and challenges to deliver gender smart finance to women.

Her Excellency Veronique Lorenzo, EU Ambassador to Nepal then concluded the event and said, “Women’s economic empowerment is not just the right thing to do, it is the right business decision to make for private businesses and financial institutions who want to grow and to contribute to the national agenda of jobs and growth.”

Mr. Samir Thapa, President, Global Compact Nepal, wrapped up the event and highlighted the need for stronger public-private partnerships as the next step.

The event concluded with the reinforcement of the key themes mentioned below:

• Closing the MSME financing gap and aligning policy, capital, and market incentives,
• Changing the mindset in every corporate structure to realize that including women and giving them equal opportunity is good business and not just a social good,
• Investing in women to get from participation to leadership while scaling up women’s access to finance,
• Creating a positive ecosystem that is supportive of women entrepreneurs.