Entrepreneurs are expected to face and overcome challenges. They talk about their successes and maybe nowadays successful entrepreneurs even share their early failures. What is more often than not left out is the effect of starting an enterprise on entrepreneurs' emotional well being - the missed dinners, late work nights and anxiety over interest payments.

The story is no different for Nepali entrepreneurs, It is not an easy task to open up about emotional wellbeing in Nepal where the best response you often get when you open up is a customary ‘estai ho’ [it is how it is].

We as Shapers and Young Entrepreneurs do not believe in this status quo. Our hope is to facilitate young entrepreneurs like ourselves to open up on emotional wellbeing challenges and together take a collective first step towards building resilience. This initiative was developed in the form of the Building Emotional Resilience in Entrepreneurship project.

The Shaping Mental Health team under Global Shapers Kathmandu Hub teamed up with Nepal Leadership Academy (NLA) to co-design and deliver a closed door session on emotional resilience for 30+ Young Entrepreneurs on 26^th May 2019. We then followed up with the cohort in a Coffee Conversation to check in on their progress. A formal MoU signed between Global Shapers Kathmandu Hub and NLA in January 2020 has paved the way for multiple sessions to be held across this year.

#shapingmentalhealth