The 8th International Women’s Trade Expo 2025, organized by the Federation of Women Entrepreneurs’ Associations of Nepal (FWEAN), commenced Thursday, March 27, at Heritage Garden, Lalitpur. The exhibition concluded on 31st March.
Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli inaugurated the event and marked the occasion by panting a part of a designed canvas.
On the occasion, he has said the efforts were on to forward the entire society ahead and spur national developments.
PM Oli also expressed commitment to forward developments in the country without getting entangled in obstruction. The Fair is organized by the Federation of Women Entrepreneurs’ Association of Nepal.
The expo was a platform for showcasing products from women entrepreneurs across the country. Federation President Shova Gyawali said that the event aims to economically and socially empower women while promoting their products in national and international markets. The fair features agricultural products, handicrafts, food items, and service-based goods produced by women entrepreneurs.
The expo honoured Anuradha Koirala, Prem Kumari Pun, and Rajendra Singh for their remarkable contributions to the society.
The five-day exhibition showcases products and innovations from women entrepreneurs representing FWEAN’s 72 district associations.
The expo includes six categories of stalls: eco-friendly, handicrafts, agriculture, trade and services, food, and international products. A total of 144 stalls have been set up, including two pavilions, with 82 stalls allocated to domestic and international women entrepreneurs. The federation anticipates around 60,000 visitors throughout the event.
FWEAN has been actively championing women’s entrepreneurship under the slogan “Eat Local, Wear Local, and Support Local Entrepreneurship.” It has been hosting this international expo for the past decade, fostering business opportunities and networking for women entrepreneurs.
Over the past 9 years, FWEAN has been successfully organizing the International Women’s Trade Expo organized in Kathmandu. Giving continuity to this trend, so as it organised the 8th International Women’s Trade Expo this year from 27th March to 31st March 2025 with an anticipated attendance of more than 50,000 visitors. FWEAN’s slogan, ‘Work Together, Win Together’, illustrates and calls for collective efforts from the local and global community. The trade expo has been expected to serve as a platform to bring together influential Nepalese and International businesswomen providing ample scope for product sales, networking, and knowledge sharing.
The expo had provided a networking forum for women-owned businesses to have constructive connections with other business cohorts and key stakeholders, including government institutions. Using its wide network, the Expo will be conducted in three phases: pre-event, main event, and post-event.
Also, the International Women’s Trade Expo itself served as a platform to promote the products owned by women entrepreneurs across Nepal and strengthen the coordination and collaboration between different actors within the women entrepreneurs and their buyers. The Trade Expo has been a strategic cross-learning mechanism and information-sharing zone. The event also included a symposium marking the learnings and recommendations from national and international participants. The symposium has been initiated since 2019 as the follow-up event where stakeholders, government, banks, and different personalities working with women entrepreneurs including digital marketing, online business owners, come together to discuss the issues, success stories, mitigating measures and provide recommendations based on different themes to champion women entrepreneurship in Nepal.
