KATHMANDU, Sept 28: Rockstart Impact, a Kathmandu based startup accelerator, has opened application for its third accelerator program to prepare Nepali companies attract foreign impact investors.
After it was launched in 2014 by One to Watch – a Dutch asset management company – the accelerator program has been taking ten Nepali companies every year for a 100 day long boot camp to help them develop their businesses.
Let foreign investors come
This year, the program is taking applications from interested Nepali companies till November 1. Out of the total submissions, ten Nepali companies will be selected for the main program that is scheduled to begin from December 3. In the 100 day time period, the participants will work under national and international mentors who will guide them through various developmental phases. They will learn about networking, creating a clear business model, designing their product and business, and pitching ideas among other things. And the final phase will see the companies demonstrating and pitching their business ideas to rope in investors. For this, they will first showcase their business plan in an event in Kathmandu and then travel to Amsterdam to seek funding from European investors.
“We see capable entrepreneurs in Nepal looking for funding and at the same time, there are lots of impact investors in the West who would like to invest in Nepal. What we saw in Nepal is that there’s quite a difference between what a Western investor expects and what Nepali entrepreneurs can deliver,” said Simon Mathijssen, program director of Rockstart Impact. “That’s why we started Rockstart Impact to bridge the gap.”
Dibyesh Giri, an alumnus of Rockstart Impact, is the CEO of Smart Tech Solutions that specializes in developing civil engineering softwares. He notes that accelerator programs like Rockstart Impact help companies realize their true potential. “At first, our main intention to join the accelerator program was to raise fund for the company but we ended up learning much more. It put us in the shoes of our customers to have a better prospect to sell our products internationally,” he told Republica. Smart Tech has already found foreign investors while its Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) approval is in the final stage.
The application forms for Rockstart Impact is available at http://impact.rockstart.com/
