Mitrataa Foundation - Projects

"I'm defying gravity. I'm sick of accepting limits, 'cause someone says they're so." - Wicked, the Musical.

Our vision with this project is to inspire the entrepreneurial women of Nepal to dream big – to put forward their business ideas and give them the access to markets, skills and capital needed to make it happen.

To do this, Mitrataa will award scholarships to 8 lucky entrepreneurial Nepali women to establish their dream businesses. The scholarships will comprise skills training, business planning support, contacts in the relevant industry, seed money, and a mentor for the first 12 months. This is an amazing opportunity for many women in Nepal who have the ideas, the passion and the work ethic but just need that little step up to help them on their way.

Scholarships will be awarded in 4 main categories:

Tourism & Hospitality
Hand-made paper
Soap, oils, natural medicines & cosmetic items
Education & Training

Women wishing to apply for the scholarships will need to submit an application that outlines their business idea including basic estimates of start-up costs, projected running costs and earnings, expected environmental impact and strategy, marketing plan and an outline of the way in which their business will benefit Nepal. Finalists in each category will be chosen and the scholarships will be awarded at a special ceremony in Kathmandu. Highly commended entrants who do not receive a scholarship may also benefit from support based on the merits of their proposal.

Current Status

We have presented the project to a number of our partners in Nepal and they are presently seeking applications from interested women.
Once a number of appropriate applications have been received we will set the date for the announcement of the winners!

How YOU Can Help

We are looking for sponsors for individual scholarships. The amount will depend to some extent on the winning proposal but we expect most of them to be in the vicinity of AU$2,000.00. Scholarship sponsors will have the scholarship named after them, will be invited to attend the presentation ceremony in Nepal, and will receive regular updates on the progress of the winner.