From research to action: redefining inclusive entrepreneurship in Nepal
Born from the insights of the Towards Inclusive Access report, Impact Hub Kathmandu’s What’s Hub event under the global BEAM programme showed how storytelling and intentional space design can transform inclusion from an aspiration into a lived reality for women entrepreneurs with disabilities.
- Impact Hub Network
- Global team
Across Asia, women entrepreneurs with disabilities face systemic barriers that stifle their potential. The 2024 Towards Inclusive Access report, produced by Impact Hub and UN ESCAP, revealed how exclusion from finance, inaccessible infrastructure, and persistent stigma combine to limit opportunity. Many women start businesses out of necessity, yet remain locked out of the very ecosystems that could help them thrive.
But research is only as powerful as the action it inspires. In 2025, with support from the MetLife Foundation, Impact Hub Network launched BEAM: Building Entrepreneurial Access Models. Designed to put inclusive entrepreneurship into practice, BEAM is active in Kathmandu, Dhaka, and Shanghai. In Kathmandu, this commitment took shape through What’s Hub: Stories in Conversation, an event that gave 11 women entrepreneurs with disabilities not just a platform, but a space created for their voices, their businesses, and their realities.
In June 2025, Impact Hub Kathmandu was transformed into such a space. For many of the women, it was the first time they had shared both their enterprises and their lived experiences in an environment tailored to their physical, social, and emotional needs. The atmosphere was electric. The incubatees spoke candidly about the obstacles of bias and exclusion, as well as the creativity and resilience that fuel their businesses. Some of these women showcased their products publicly for the first time, turning the Hub into a marketplace of ideas, effort, and possibility. For attendees, from community members to ecosystem partners, it was a moment that challenged assumptions and demonstrated that when access is built in from the start, participation flows naturally.
The impact of the event was best captured in the journeys of the entrepreneurs themselves. Rupa Aryal had spent years being turned away by employers because of her mobility disability. Refusing to be defined by rejection, she launched Aamaa Chhori Achar, a pickle-making business she runs with her mother. Through BEAM, she has strengthened her financial skills, pitched her enterprise for the first time, and now plans to expand with improved packaging and future job opportunities for other people with disabilities. “Having a physical disability is not my choice,” she reflects, “but I consider it my strength.”
Rita Singh, who also has a mobility disability, recently opened Nawabi Biryani. Yet the restaurant’s location, accessible only by a flight of stairs, underlined the very barriers she seeks to overcome. With BEAM’s support, she plans to move to an accessible site, proving that entrepreneurship is not just about growth, but about reshaping systems so that everyone can participate.
These stories echoed the findings of Towards Inclusive Access while also advancing the narrative. They showed women not as subjects of research, but as protagonists of systemic change. What’s Hub: Stories in Conversation was more than an event. It was the bridge between analysis and action, between critique and lived experience. It showed that when ecosystems are intentionally designed for access, women entrepreneurs with disabilities move from the margins to the centre, leading businesses, shifting narratives, and inspiring systemic change.
For Nepal, the lesson is clear: inclusion must be designed, not assumed. For the global ecosystem, the message is equally urgent; research should not end in reports, but in spaces where those most affected take the stage. By turning insight into action, Impact Hub Kathmandu and the BEAM programme showed that inclusive entrepreneurship is not only possible, it is already happening.
Unleash your impact potential today
Join our free global membership for the latest news, resources, and inspiring stories of entrepreneurial impact. Sign up now and ignite your journey towards making a difference.
You also might like
5 inspiring initiatives committed to inclusivity in our Network
5 inspiring initiatives committed to inclusivity in our Network
Closing the coordination gap: A guide to systems change through ecosystem building
Closing the coordination gap: A guide to systems change through ecosystem building
