Raju Shrestha Email & Phone Number

Bagmati Province, Nepal

Kathmandu, Bāgmatī, Nepal

Supporting APRACA to develop evidence from Nepal and Bhutan to prepare a detailed assessment of current digital rural finance ecosystem in the context of the Hand in Hand Initiative (HIHI) and the issues related to progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 1, 2 and 10 targets;• Prepare country assessment report inclusive of a detailed assessment of current digital finance ecosystem in Nepal and Bhutan.• Develop a concept note for an effective and inclusive rural digital finance service system which will be integrated with rural finance ecosystem in Nepal and Bhutan.

Kathmandu, Bāgmatī, Nepal

Providing technical assistance (TA) to ADB financed 'Nuts and Fruits in Hilly Areas' (NAFHA) project in Nepal in its bid to enhance the project farmers' access to agricultural finance;• Review and map out digital technology and its application in expanding rural finance.• Design and operationalize 'partial credit guarantee' setup in consultation with participating banks, MOAF, MOALD, NRB and other relevant stakeholders.• Undertake financial due diligence of the potential banks and prepare detailed due diligence reports.• Provide required TA to project management unit, provincial setups on areas relating rural and agricultural finance.• Organize workshops/meetings in support of ADB officers, ADB Nepal Resident Mission.

Kathmandu, Nepal

#Providing technical assistance to examine the direction of supports by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) on the access to agricultural finance in Nepal;• examination of the organizational structure, loan screening, credit management capacity and other aspects of financial situation, and also assess the demand for financing in the agricultural sector and the need for capacity building.

Bāgmatī, Nepal

Provided technical support to the Private sector Advisory and Implementation unit (PAI) of IFAD;# Provided technical support in private sector operations# Assisted PAI unit in processing of private sector non-sovereign operations (NSOs).# Contributed to NSOs pipeline development, financial and risk analysis of potential and ongoing NSOs, support in preparation of concept notes, & project appraisal reports# Supporting the design and development of relevant tools for NSOs (e.g., pricing guidelines, risk metrics, pre-screening tools etc.)# Assisting PAI in fundraising efforts including providing technical inputs for strategic papers for IFAD senior management meetings

Thimphu, Bhutan

# Designed rural finance component of the IFAD-WFP project “Building Resilient Commercial Smallholder Agriculture” (BRECSA) in Bhutan;# Provided technical support to estimate the demand for financial services in the project areas; identified the main obstacles and the bottlenecks in access to rural and agricultural finance in project Dzonkhags; assessed the capacity of potential rural finance partners for rural finance component; and finalized the design of the rural finance and credit interventions particularly for smallholder farmers, rural women, youth and SMEs with potential for high impact.

Kathmandu, Bāgmatī, Nepal

# Provided TA to design ‘rural and agricultural finance’ component of the upcoming agricultural project design# Conducted rapid diagnosis of rural finance and digital payment scenario in Nepal and identified potential areas for project interventions.# Coordinated with private and public sector banks to gauge supply side challenges in expanding finance to target project value chain actors and geographic clusters. # Assessed and identified key rural finance interventions including 'credit guarantee fund' that project could leverage to expand rural and digital finance for its farmers and rural MSMEs.

Kathmandu, Nepal

# Undertook a short-term technical assignment for SEDRA-II project funded by KFW to design technical assistance package to improve MSME lending approach of two partner financial institutions.# Conducted need assessment of the two FIs – a commercial bank and a development bank – to identify gaps and potential interventions in the areas of ‘organizational setup’, ‘product design’, ‘lending process’ and ‘system and IT’ of the FIs to improve their MSME lending approach and methodology.# Provided technical inputs to finalize TA plans customized to each banks’ needs and gaps.# Carried out a rapid assessment of regulatory and legal context to provide collateral free loans to MSMEs in Nepal.

Kathmandu, Bāgmatī, Nepal

# Led the SME Finance component of UKaid funded ‘Sakchyam Access to Finance’ project’ – conceptualized, and implemented multiple challenge fund interventions in partnership with banks, and private sector actors to enhance access to finance for a MSMEs, rural enterprises, smallholders and women entrepreneurs# Designed a ‘coop-bank’ linkage lending model which successfully enabled more than 1400 rural women entrepreneurs to access ‘bank loans’ without collateral. # Provided technical assistance to two large commercial banks in introducing ‘credit score’ based SME lending schemes with improved TAT.# Provided technical support to a commercial bank to establish and operationalize ‘agri-finance unit’ from the scratch – TA to design agri-focused products, streamline processes and strengthen its credit risk management approach.

Kathmandu

# Provided technical assistance and support to the local partner financial institution of ADB to setup ‘agribusiness financing’ mechanism.# Designed two new lending product concepts after reviewing FIs’ existing products, processes and existing gaps.# Drafted complete set of loan documents (credit manual, product papers, loan application assessment criteria etc.) for pilot testing the newly designed product concepts.

Kathmandu, Bāgmatī, Nepal

# Built and managed a lending portfolio in excess of NPR 3billion (USD 26m) composed of rural, agricultural and smallholder segments through both ‘wholesale lending’ and ‘direct lending’ models.# Extended the bank’s outreach to marginalized segments by establishing & leveraging ‘wholesale lending’ relationships with 50+ micro and local finance institutions including cooperatives.# Devised simplified ‘Coops/MFI assessment tools’ to identify viable wholesale lending partners.# Conceptualized and implemented a range of sustainable ‘access to finance’ projects in partnership with donor agencies/INGOs/projects to advance bank’s outreach and coverage in rural market segments.

Kathmandu - Nepal

# Contributed in expanding bank’s outreach to rural, un/under banked but viable market segments through partnerships; branch expansions and new product innovations.# Contributed in designing 'retail deposit marketing strategy' for the bank covering product concepts, ATL & BTL plans, local promotional campaigns etc. to grow and diversify the bank's retail deposit portfolio.# Designed a range of financial products (deposit, loans and mobile wallet schemes) targeting different market segments after conducting 'market research'.# Designed and implemented probably the first bank led 'financial literacy' modules benefitting 'youth and adolescents' from rural and marginalized communities of Nepal.# Represented the bank as the ‘project champion’ in a multi country and youth focused project ‘YouthSave’ funded by the Mastercard Foundation. Designed and implemented youth centric saving product/s, & implemented financial literacy campaigns that reached 10,000+ youth.# Carried out detail ‘feasibility analysis’ of rural market clusters to facilitate bank branch (as well as branchless banking agents) opening at strategic locations.

Pokhara, Gandakī, Nepal

Contributed as a faculty member on general management subjects i.e., Organizational Development, International Business, and International Finance to business graduate students.

Master Of Business Administration - Mba, Finance, First Division

- Completed Masters with Finance as major, with keen interest on statistics and economics. - Received merit-based scholarships..

Bachelor'S Degree, Finance