Sensitizing Nepali businesses to open data

Partner: National Business Initiative

To sensitize business in Nepal to the potential benefits afforded to them by open data, the D4D Program worked with the National Business Initiative to hold a roundtable discussion on “Open Data for Business” with business leaders.

To date, very little detail is known about the demand, use and sharing of open data by Nepal’s private sector and there has been very little work conducted to support Nepal’s private sector to access, use and share open data and information. In order for Nepal’s economy to experience the benefits of open data being seen in other countries, support is required to build demand among the private sector for data, help meet private sector needs for data, and grow will among the private sector to openly share their own data.  

As  a first step in this process, the D4D Program with the National Business Initiative held a roundtable in June 2018 to sensitize a selected group of 20 business leaders to the concept and potential of open data.  This provided a forum for business leaders to learn about open data and its implications; share challenges in their access and use of government data; and discuss the potential for sharing of their own data. The roundtable included a keynote speech by Mr Allen Tuladhar, a panel discussion between leaders in diverse business sectors, and an open discussion of the issues.  

The D4D Program and the National Business Initiative shall further work together over the coming months to grow the discourse around open data for business and encourage the private sector towards harnessing the economic opportunities provided by open data.