Request for Proposal: Enterprise Ecosystem Assessment for Green Digital Pokhara Portfolio (Nepal)

Deadline: 01-Oct-2026

UNDP Nepal is seeking a legally registered consulting firm or organization in Nepal to conduct qualitative user research, service design, and an enterprise ecosystem assessment for the Green Digital Pokhara Portfolio. The assignment will generate evidence to guide entrepreneurship, digital governance, youth employment, gender inclusion, and ecological sustainability interventions in Pokhara Metropolitan City.

About the Consulting Opportunity

Pokhara Metropolitan City, in partnership with UNDP Nepal, is implementing the Green Digital Pokhara Portfolio as a systemic urban transformation initiative. The portfolio seeks to build an ecological, digitally enabled, and entrepreneurship-driven local economy. It addresses the interconnected challenges of: - Digital governance. - Youth employment. - Entrepreneurship development. - Business formalization. - Gender equality and social inclusion. - Ecological sustainability. - Access to digital technologies. - Integration of enterprises into tourism value chains. The selected consulting firm will examine how young entrepreneurs and digital nomads experience Pokhara’s enterprise and public-service ecosystem.

About the Green Digital Pokhara Portfolio

The Green Digital Pokhara Portfolio treats municipal development as a complex adaptive system. This means it examines how governance, employment, entrepreneurship, technology, tourism, finance, social inclusion, and environmental sustainability influence one another. Instead of addressing each challenge separately, the portfolio aims to identify coordinated interventions that can create wider systemic change. The initiative is expected to generate evidence that helps Pokhara Metropolitan City and UNDP Nepal design services and policies that are more accessible, inclusive, responsive, and sustainable. Purpose of the Assignment The assignment will combine enterprise ecosystem research with human-centred service design.

Its primary purpose is to understand:

- How young entrepreneurs navigate business registration and formalization. - What barriers MSMEs face when seeking finance. - How enterprises market their products and services. - How local businesses connect with Pokhara’s tourism economy. - How digital systems influence entrepreneurship and public-service access. - What digital nomads and remote workers need from the city. - How gender affects digital literacy and access to technology. - How institutions and service providers support or restrict entrepreneurship. The findings will inform future interventions under the Green Digital Pokhara Portfolio. Key Objectives The selected firm will be expected to: - Conduct a structured desk review of relevant policies, regulations, studies, and available data. - Assess Pokhara’s enterprise and entrepreneurship ecosystem. - Map institutions and services involved in business formalization. - Examine the policy, regulatory, financial, and value-chain environment. - Define respondent groups for qualitative research. - Conduct deep qualitative research with young entrepreneurs and remote workers. - Identify gender-specific barriers within the digital economy. - Develop evidence-based user personas. - Prepare user journey maps. - Create an As-Is service blueprint. - Identify gaps, pain points, and opportunities within existing services. - Facilitate a stakeholder co-design workshop. - Validate research findings with relevant stakeholders. - Recommend priority opportunity areas for future interventions. What Is an Enterprise Ecosystem Assessment? An enterprise ecosystem assessment examines the conditions that enable or restrict businesses and entrepreneurs.

The assessment may cover:

- Laws and regulations. - Business registration procedures. - Municipal services. - Licensing and compliance processes. - Access to finance. - Banking and financial services. - Business development support. - Digital infrastructure. - Skills and digital literacy. - Market access. - Product marketing. - Tourism value chains. - Networks and partnerships. - Gender and social inclusion. - Government and private-sector institutions. The assessment will help determine whether Pokhara’s enterprise ecosystem is accessible, coordinated, inclusive, and capable of supporting sustainable business growth. What Is Qualitative User Research? Qualitative user research explores people’s experiences, behaviors, motivations, needs, frustrations, and decision-making processes. Unlike research focused mainly on numerical data, qualitative research uses methods such as: - In-depth interviews. - Focus group discussions. - Observations. - Stakeholder consultations. - Contextual inquiries. - User journey exercises. - Participatory workshops. For this assignment, qualitative research will examine the lived experiences of young entrepreneurs, digital nomads, and remote workers in Pokhara. What Is Service Design? Service design is a human-centred approach to improving how people interact with services, institutions, systems, and processes. It examines both the user’s experience and the institutional processes operating behind the service. The consultant will use service design methods to identify: - Steps users follow when accessing a service. - Barriers and delays encountered during the process. - Institutions and people involved. - Digital and physical points of interaction. - Gaps between user needs and existing services. - Opportunities to simplify and improve service delivery. Priority Research Areas The assignment will examine several priority areas affecting entrepreneurs and remote workers in Pokhara. Business Registration and Formalization The research will explore how entrepreneurs understand and navigate registration, licensing, taxation, compliance, and other formal business requirements. It should identify administrative, informational, financial, technological, and social barriers that discourage enterprises from becoming formally registered. MSME Finance The assessment will examine