Six Nepalis have been listed on Forbes’ 30 Under 30 List for Asia, among 300 young entrepreneurs who beat out thousands of other nominations.

Golfer Pratima Sherpa; co-founders of Urban Girl Nikita Acharya and Kiran Timsina; Pad2Go’s founders Shubhangi Rana and Jesselina Rana; and Foodmario co-founder Rohit Tiwari made the list this year.

Selected from 3,500 nominations, they were selected for their promise in their respective fields, and were dubbed change-makers and leaders by industry insiders for disrupting industries and inspiring change in various fields.

This is not the first time Pad2Go’s founders—one a human rights lawyer and the other an engineer—have been celebrated. Setting up vending machines for sanitary napkins for women, to remove menstrual taboo and raise awareness of menstrual health, the initiative started in 2018 as a not-for-profit. Now with 80 vending machines, and a suite of workshops to raise awareness and remove taboo, Pad2Go has also won first prize at the AGUASAN workshop in Switzerland in 2019. Rana said the business has plans to expand. 

"Both Shubhangi and I are really happy about the recognition," Rana told the Post. "I think the idea of social entrepreneurship is still budding in Nepal and hopefully, this global recognition of having Nepal on the list will encourage more Nepali youth."

Urban Girl, a successful e-commerce store that sells branded clothing, accessories, cosmetics, and runs UG Cakes, was named ‘Best Start-Up Company Award’ in the 4th Newbiz Business Conclave and Awards 2017. According to Forbes, the business was started by Acharya and Timsina with an investment of USD $200, and now employs more than 50 people in Kathmandu and Pokhara. UG Cakes employs and trains deaf women, as a business associated with the Gandaki Deaf Association.

Tiwari co-founded Foodmario two years ago, with an idea of selling home-cooked food for delivery, cooked by anyone from housewives to students. Having served more than 100,000 meals thus far, with approximately 34 employees, the business has been looking at expanding its offerings to cities like Butwal, Narayanghat, Chitwan, Pokhara, Biratnagar and Itahari.