Every day, hundreds of Nepalese youths line up at Tribhuvan International Airport with heavy hearts and foreign visas. Nearly one million youths leave the country annually for foreign work and higher education. Most of these migrants are high school and university graduates who leave seeking better career opportunities abroad and end up settling there permanently. It has been over a year since the historic Gen Z uprising took to the streets in protest. A Gen Z-backed government has now been in power for more than six months. Yet, the airport departure terminals remain completely packed every single day. The core promise of stopping youth migration and calling back remains unfulfilled by the new political leadership.
Recent flash floods across the Bhotekoshi-Trishuli corridors will further worsen this domestic crisis. Severe natural damage has hit mountain valleys in northern districts like Rasuwa, Nuwakot, Dhading and Gorkha. Flash floods along the Bhotekoshi-Trishuli downstream destroyed local infrastructures, small businesses, and traditional mountain livelihoods. This physical destruction forces even more educated youths to abandon their hometowns and seek permanent overseas relocation. The state now faces a massive bauble burden of disaster reconstruction and economic retention. As Nobel Laureate Richard Thaler explains through his concept of ‘choice architecture,’ Nepal continues to use foreign labour migration as its default economic strategy. We treat our educated talent as a routine export commodity.
Technological capabilities
Remittances fuel our forex reserves, but they don’t create domestic industries and technological capabilities. Our human capitals being exported and we are importing expensive digital services. This article focuses directly on tackling these systemic failures through targeted technological solutions, policy reforms, and private sector initiative. Amidst this gloomy scenario, Artificial Intelligence (AI) offers Nepal a rare turn of fortune. Physical distance no longer limits active economic participation in the global market. In the past, joining the global technology wave meant moving physically to Silicon Valley or Western Europe. Today, a virtual brain gain is quietly taking place inside Nepal.
Overseas Diaspora Professionals are stepping into vital roles within the domestic tech-ecosystem. They work as technical leads, strategic mentors, and angel investors for Kathmandu startups. They re-link overseas talent back into our domestic economy without relocating physically back to Nepal. A lived example sits right next door. A neighbour of the author recently returned from the United States after completing higher studies. While working from home for an American cybersecurity firm, he mentors local tech companies in Nepal. Nepal is poised to become another ‘Himilayan Peak’ that is strategically located between technology superpowers like India and China.
The economic numbers show real promise for our nation’s future. Reports from the Institute for Integrated Development Studies (IIDS) bring encouraging news to policymakers. Nepal’s IT service exports have already crossed US$ 1 billion in annual revenue. We have reached a critical mass of entrepreneurial drive within the urban centers. Home-grown tech companies are leading this new digital wave. Fusemachines remains the only Nepalese-founded tech firm listed on the prestigious NASDAQ exchange. Other local technology communities such as Genesys and Nector Digit are growing their local operations footprint. Additionally, TechPana, and Code for Nepal have partnered to provide free AI and Data Science training programs, fellowships, and incubators such as the Data Fellowship 2026.
These programmes prove an important point for our national workforce. Even non-tech graduates and youth from disaster-affected areas can learn basic data labeling, AI support, and digital operations within a few months of intensive training to enter the global supply chain. Technology, however, alone cannot fix high-structured political governance, poor public services, or a severe lack of local venture capital. Nobel Laureate Daron Acemoglu famously argued that inclusive institutions matter most for long-term national prosperity. Currently, Nepal ranks 150th out of 193 nations which is very low on global government AI readiness indices. Local government authorities and policymakers cannot ignore trends which are fueling rapid change in the sector. The oncoming government has its primary responsibility which is to de-bureaucratize and digitize existing regulations.
Policymakers should fast-track the Data Protection Act to ensure privacy and speedy approval of stringent foreign direct investment (FDI) policies to woo venture capitals. They must liberalise financial system to make it easier for people to make digital transactions. Local freelancers and programmers should be paid international salaries without the hassle of payment procedures and large fees in their banks. The authorities need to create an enabling environment for investing in fibre broadband to enable faster internet access and fund AI training institutes in non-metropolitan regions such as a critical national security issue.
Shifting our national focus from physical departure to domestic digital retention offers profound long-term benefits for Nepali society. Economically, it diversifies our national income sources beyond vulnerable manual labour and low-skilled foreign work in the Gulf or East Asia. It elevates household earnings significantly across both urban cities and rural mountain areas. It expands the national tax base and keeps valuable talent working within our national borders.
Painful fragmentation
Socially, it stops the painful fragmentation of Nepali families caused by long-term overseas labour migration and climate-induced displacement. Professional youths can continue to contribute to the nation’s GDP growth while enjoying the comfort of their homes while being connected to the global tech-economy. Nepal is at a critical juncture, and the current crop of policymakers must answer to the demands of the youth while simultaneously addressing the challenges facing climate-critical districts. Nepal cannot continue to rely on manpower exports as the main stay of its economy as it is an unsustainable proposition in the long run while for the short run capital accumulation is good news if the nation can make it a productive.
Looking at AI as an idea to invest in would be a remarkable opportunity to fill the gap in brain drain for the nation. With the help of the state, private and foreign investors, Nepal would be able to make their Gen Z and Gen-Alpha have a chance to be part of the World’s technology industry.
