Every year, OTW shares the impact generated by our portfolio companies in our annual impact booklet. 2020 has been a year that demanded a great deal of effort and creativity from our team and portfolio companies to survive and maintain the level of impact we have generated for employees, suppliers, and clients. Despite the uncertainties, our 12 investee companies were able to maintain over 440 jobs and serve over 38,000 clients. Here are some of our companies’ top achievements this year:

Climate action remains one of OTW’s main causes, and this year, Gham Power produced over 1,100 MWhr of solar energy and curbed 1,227 tons of CO2 emissions. The solar solution provider also rolled out a unique financing plan in collaboration with local commercial banks to help famers finance upfront installation costs. Some companies are also making a conscious decision to limit their environmental footprint; Bajra Bricks had the option to reduce its production costs by replacing some of its inputs with top soil but opted against doing so after considering the environmental impact.

Efforts to make Nepal’s agri-value chains more efficient will help the industry leapfrog in the coming decade. Nepal Thopa Sinchai’s effective drip irrigation systems are helping farmers reduce their water usage by up to 70%, thus saving water and costs. On the other hand, companies like Organic Mountain Flavor (OMF) are helping locally grown products reach export markets. This year, OMF trained over 1500 farmers in organic farming methods this year, helping Nepali ginger farmers access higher value export markets.

COIVD-19 also created opportunities for our companies to embrace technological changes. SmartTech was able to pivot its business model to provide its tech solutions via the software as a service (SaaS) model. The company’s solutions also helped its clients reduced costs by 75%, compared to software being sold by international companies. Likewise, Bloom School also adopted e-learning technologies to continue providing 60% of its students with online classes during the pandemic.

In the area of clean water and sanitation, 40,000 students across 100 Nepali public schools now have access to clean drinking water thanks to Smart Paani. The company is also cleaning 15,000 liters of greywater every day. Similarly, Waste Concern, is disposing 24 tons of waste every day and has trained over 500 individuals in waste management with support from local NGOs.

To learn more about their individual impact and COVID response, please refer to our 2020 Impact Report. We aim to unlock more impact capital to generate more impact in 2021 and we welcome like-minded partners to join our journey in supporting the next generation of entrepreneurs