When the dot-com boom hit in the late 1990s, Nepal simply wasn’t ready. We lacked not just knowledge and business readiness, but also the very fundamentals like electricity, internet and computing infrastructure. The internet only reached Nepal in 1994 through experimental projects using low-bandwidth satellite connections. While companies in the West were building e-commerce platforms and riding the wave of online innovation, Nepal was still at a stage where internet access was limited to a handful of institutions. By the early 2000s, when businesses in the US and Europe had already begun deploying enterprise solutions like Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), accounting and procurement systems, we barely knew such tools existed.

During that time, global ERP adoption was surging, and North America and Europe captured most of the ERP market, while the entire Asia region lagged far behind. For Nepal, structural barriers like poor infrastructure, immature organisational processes and lack of familiarity with digital systems meant we were nowhere near the starting line. The digital tide came and went, and we missed it.

Today, the story looks very different. Nepal’s digital adoption journey has been remarkable. The burst of smartphones and social media has created a digitally native generation. They are comfortable online, quick to adapt and deeply connected to global trends. The app era gave us more than convenience; it built capability. On the fintech side, platforms like eSewa, Fonepay and Nepal Clearing House Ltd (NCHL) did more than digitise payments and banking; they proved that Nepal could build and operate a critical online infrastructure at scale. Millions of daily users interact with these systems, and in doing so, a generation of developers, engineers and product managers learned how to design, scale and maintain technology that matters.

At the same time, Nepali developers proved their ability to create consumer-facing products that compete globally. Games like Ludo, which went viral during the pandemic, and studios like Yarsha reached international audiences. Productivity apps such as Hamro Patro and Nepali Patro became household names, consistently topping app charts while serving millions of users at home and abroad. These successes gave proof that Nepali companies could not only participate in but also lead digital innovation.

The online service outsourcing boom added another layer of readiness. Thousands of Nepali engineers, designers and analysts gained exposure to international work culture. Not too long ago, many of us would hesitate to even introduce ourselves in global client calls, worried about our accent or confidence. With the onset of the outsourcing wave, and later the pandemic, we were thrown headfirst into Zoom, Meet and Teams marathons. Suddenly, every conversation began with “Am I audible?” or “Is my screen visible?” Over time, that awkwardness turned into fluency.

Today, our project managers and developers don’t just join calls; they lead them, running cross-cultural teams and managing scaled projects with ease. In the process, we discovered that our talent was never meant to stay confined; it simply needed the right stage. This collective journey has significantly reduced the gap in skills, communication and execution capacity, making our workforce far more prepared to compete globally than in any previous technology cycle.

Of course, core AI infrastructure like large language models, cloud platforms and foundation systems remain dominated by tech giants like Google, OpenAI, Microsoft, Amazon and Meta. But that dependency is universal. Whether you are a startup in Silicon Valley or in Kathmandu, you’re building on the same platforms. The real opportunity lies in what you create on them. And this time, Nepal has the infrastructure, the talent and the mindset to be part of the story from the beginning, not to watch from the sidelines.

However, challenges persist. Nepal’s regulatory frameworks remain at an early stage. The government has approved its first National AI Policy, 2082 BS. The policy is backed by a detailed implementation roadmap, which outlines actions such as drafting a data protection law within two years, setting up a National AI Index, running reskilling and upskilling programmes, creating AI excellence centres in provinces and incubating startups with incentives. It also emphasises public-private partnerships to attract both foreign and domestic investment.

Alongside policy, Nepal faces hard infrastructure gaps. AI is a compute-hungry technology, yet our power supply remains unreliable, data centre capacity is limited, and the global supply of Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) is scarce and dominated by a few players. Recently, we have also seen GPU and AI computing become tools for geopolitical influence. Even global firms struggle with access. For Nepal, the challenge is even sharper. Without addressing the basics of energy reliability, high-performance computing infrastructure and access to compute resources, policy commitments may stall in practice.

Some positives are worth noting. Nepal’s energy development roadmap aims to generate 28,500 MW by 2035, of which about 13,000 MW would be for domestic consumption. If achieved, this could provide the power backbone needed for AI infrastructure, though much of it still appears speculative. The government has also relaxed restrictions to allow IT companies to invest or open companies outside the territorial jurisdiction of Nepal.

Still, our regulatory frameworks are underdeveloped, the business environment has friction and investment appetite remains very limited compared to other regions. But these conditions are changing rapidly. If we approach this moment not just as users of new tools but as creators, we can build solutions that matter locally and scale globally.

When the dot-com era came, Nepal wasn’t prepared. When ERP and enterprise systems transformed global businesses, we barely noticed. But the age of AI is different. This time, we have the tools, the people and the digital maturity to partake. If we embrace AI with focus and ambition, it could unlock opportunities for Nepal’s youth, investors and economy on a scale we have never seen before.