Kathmandu, June 22

CDC Group Plc, the UK’s impact investor for Africa and South Asia, has appointed Rabi Rayamajhi as its country representative for Nepal.

Rayamajhi will be based at CDC’s representative office here, where he will work closely with CDC teams across Asia. He will help accelerate CDC's commitment to invest more capital in Nepal, and support local businesses to advance their commercial success as they work to adopt internationally recognised environmental, social and governance standards.

He joins CDC at a time of uncertainty as the pandemic is challenging the lives of people, communities and businesses across Nepal. With a mandate that includes providing counter-cyclical financing during financial crises, CDC is playing a role in protecting jobs and businesses, as per a media release.

The firm’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic has three areas of focus: ‘preserve’, ‘strengthen’ and ‘rebuild’.

CDC’s goal is to support the economic stability that will improve the lives of millions of people in Africa and South Asia, read more on its response framework here.

Srini Nagarajan, head of Asia at CDC, said, “Rabi’s expertise in private sector development and extensive knowledge of investment environment in Nepal will boost CDC’s priority of providing increased long-term capital support to businesses and bolstering sector growth in the country. He will be instrumental in strengthening our partnership with businesses and broadening our presence in Nepal, as we work to enhance corporate governance, develop environmental and social strategies, promoting skills and job creation that power its economy.”

Lisa Honan, acting UK ambassador and country director for DFID, Nepal, said, “While the current COVID crisis has adversely affected Nepal’s economy, there are also opportunities for investments to help ensure Nepal’s recovery is resilient to future shocks and promotes green growth. I hope CDC and others like them will seize these opportunities.”

Meanwhile, Rayamajhi said that he is ‘keen to get to work on developing local partnerships that will continue to boost business growth and improve the lives of millions of people’.

Rayamajhi joins CDC from Department for International Development (DFID), Nepal, where he was a private sector development adviser for four years and led projects in the financial and SME sectors. Prior to his role at DFID, Rayamajhi provided advisory support to the Investment Board Nepal in promoting foreign investment and executing large-scale infrastructure projects in waste management, hydropower and cement sectors.

Rayamajhi started his career at Standard Chartered Bank and has an MBA qualification from Singapore Management University.

Over the last 18 months, the CDC Group has made longterm commitments to three businesses that will help economically support thousands of local people through jobs, products and services. It made a direct investment of a $15 million in NMB Bank, one of Nepal’s leading commercial banks. This was followed by a $12 million investment into Nepal’s leading internet provider WorldLink, and a subsequent $21.9 million investment into the Upper Trishuli-1 Hydroelectric Project, which will supply clean and reliable electricity to millions of Nepalis.

A version of this article appears in e-paper on June 23, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.