Build up Nepal’s response to post-disaster reconstruction empowers rural entrepreneurs and communities to make attractive, high-quality bricks that are affordable and eco-friendly. Their social enterprise model creates sustainable economic engines in each village, builds safe houses, creates local jobs, and reduces carbon emissions. Build up Nepal engages the wider ecosystem by bringing together micro-entrepreneurs, masons, community members, and the local government to implement their scalable last-mile delivery model. 90% of jobs created in this enterprise are held by youth, women, and disadvantaged groups without stable income.

As of 2022, Build up Nepal has trained 306 micro-enterprises to build 8,120 houses, created 3,170 jobs, and saved 74,227 tons of CO2 emissions. Support of enterprises establishes an ongoing vehicle to create safe, affordable housing with a low carbon footprint. Each month, Build up Nepal supports an average of six to ten new enterprises, creating meaningful job growth in rural areas, which have traditionally seen the highest unemployment across the country. According to an impact evaluation study conducted by The Center for Research and Development (CERAD), over half of the entrepreneurs running the micro-enterprises belong to disadvantaged groups, including Dalit (lowest caste), Janajati (indigenous people), and Madhesis (indigenous people of Terai plains), and 23% of entrepreneurs were previously migrant workers returning home.

Build up Nepal is igniting a green shift in South Asia’s dirty brick industry by improving upon and specializing in an existing technology, the Compressed Stabilized Earth Bricks (CSEB), to make eco-friendly affordable bricks which produce 50-80% less CO2 emissions than fired bricks. Build up Nepal is innovative in how they combine the technology with their entrepreneur model, ensuring scalability through local ownership. They also engage with local regulatory bodies to implement more stringent safety standards that incorporate interlocking bricks. The sale of the CESB machine is the primary driver of Build up Nepal’s revenue, allowing them to grow independently, thus significantly reducing their reliance on grant-funding.

Build up Nepal is focused on training entrepreneurs and partnering with communities to develop a scalable last-mile model that is not dependent on continuous donated funds. From 2020-2022, despite the challenges of the pandemic, Build up Nepal scaled up across 71 of 77 districts in Nepal. Houses built year-over-year is growing quickly, with more than 2,100 houses built in the past year, and 95% of the affordable houses are paid for by low-income families themselves and built by enterprises owned and operated by local entrepreneurs and community groups. They hope to find, train, and transfer their knowledge and enterprise model to reliable partners with strong local presences in other countries.