Everest Bank and Heifer International Nepal Sign MOU for Value Chain Financing for Women Entrepreneurs
February 17, 2020
Everest Bank Limited and Heifer International Nepal have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to initiate a partnership to provide value chain financing to women entrepreneurs engaged in goat, dairy, vegetable and local chicken value chains. The Deputy General Manager of Everest Bank, Mr. Girish Kohli, and Country Director of Heifer International Nepal, Dr. Shubh Narayan Mahato formally signed and exchanged MOUs.
Everest Bank which was founded in 1994 has been one of the leading bank of the country and currently caters to more than 10 lakh customers. The bank has 95 Branches, 123 ATM and 31 Revenue Collection Counters across the country making it a very efficient and accessible bank for its customers. Everest Bank has been awarded with Best Managed Commercial Bank, 2019.Similarly, Heifer International working in Nepal as a sustainable development non-profit leader in smallholder agriculture since 1997 has till date supported more than 254,000 poor and vulnerable families in 41 districts. Heifer has been working towards increasing access to finance for 227 women’s cooperatives in partnership with various banks and financial institutions in Nepal. Globally, Heifer International has served 125 countries since last 75 years.
With the signing of this MOU, both organizations will collectively work towards enhancing access to finance for women entrepreneurs that are engaged in these four value chains. This partnership will focus on assessing and developing the capacity of women entrepreneurs to expand their businesses while achieving the bank’s objective of increasing its direct lending for women entrepreneurs engaged in goat, dairy, vegetables and backyard poultry value chains with new and existing loan product(s). Everest Bank with its wide reach and branch network will make loans available conveniently to women entrepreneurs in the Heifer supported cooperatives. Similarly, Heifer along with Social Entrepreneurs Women Cooperatives (the “SEW Cooperatives”) will facilitate the identification and recommendation of entrepreneurs to link them with the Bank.