Participants of the Chitwan workshop held in December 2023

Nepal Federation of Savings & Credit Cooperative Unions. Ltd. (NEFSCUN) last month partnered with USAID Trade and Competitiveness to conduct the last of three workshops for SACCOs on the design and implementation a key digital service for business members.

NEFSCUN, World Council of Credit Unions’ direct member association in Nepal, welcomed nearly 100 representatives from 80 of its member SACCOs to a two-day December workshop in the western city of Chitwan that focused largely on the development and operation of digital business development service (BDS) desks.

Traditionally designed to virtually handle all requests for services or information, BDS desks would specifically be used by NEFSCUN-affiliated SACCOs to assist entrepreneurs and promote entrepreneurship through their financial cooperatives.

The SACCO representatives, which included many women, learned about the concept, as well as the infrastructure and human resource requirements of setting up and operating a successful BDS desk.

Gopal Prasad Gautam, a NEFSCUN Board Director, attended the workshop in Chitwan and asked participants to strongly consider the use of BDS desk technology and adopt it in an easy and accessible manner.  

Two earlier workshops conducted by NEFSCUN and USAID Trade and Competitiveness were held for in Bhairahawa for SACCOs in southern Nepal.

According to a USAID fact sheet, USAID Trade and Competitiveness is a five-year activity (2022-27) that supports broad-based, market-driven growth for Nepal’s economy. 

This blog post is based on an original version published on NEFSCUN's website.