Act 12 of 30: Supporting Small Businesses and Big Ambitions in Nepal 

For our latest 30 for 30 act, we’re taking Premier Community’s spirit of kindness a little further from home. 

This time, around 4,500 miles further. 

As part of our 30th anniversary celebrations, Premier Community is donating £250 to Pathways to Hope Nepal, specifically supporting its work to help people establish micro-businesses and create sustainable livelihoods for themselves and their families. 

While this act may be taking place on the other side of the world, the values behind it feel very close to home. 

Creating opportunity through enterprise 

Pathways to Hope Nepal works alongside communities in Nepal to create opportunities that can lead to greater stability, independence and hope. 

One part of that work focuses on supporting locally led micro-businesses, helping people develop the skills and resources they need to establish small enterprises capable of generating a sustainable income. 

For us, that idea really resonated. 

Our £250 donation will go directly towards this area of the charity’s work, helping provide opportunities for people to develop businesses that can support themselves, their families and potentially their wider communities. 

It isn’t simply about providing short-term help. 

It’s about investing in someone’s ideas, ability and ambition. 

Shared roots and shared values 

There is also a special connection between Pathways to Hope Nepal and Premier Community. 

Both organisations share a common founder in Gill Isterling, who founded Premier Community in 1996 and later helped establish Pathways to Hope Nepal alongside her husband Robin. 

Although the organisations operate in very different places and circumstances, there are values running through both stories that feel remarkably familiar. 

Care and compassion. 

Respect for people and communities. 

Creating opportunities. 

And, perhaps most importantly, helping people build greater independence. 

For 30 years, Premier Community has supported people across Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire to live more independently and enjoy greater choice in their lives. 

In Nepal, that same principle can take a very different form. 

It might begin with somebody having an idea for a small business and being given the opportunity, training or resources to turn that idea into something sustainable. 

Different communities. Different challenges. 

But a shared belief in what can happen when people are given the right support and opportunity. 

Small businesses, big ambitions 

A micro-business might sound small by definition, but its impact can be anything but. 

For an individual or family, establishing a reliable source of income can create greater stability, confidence and opportunity for the future. 

And that is why this particular part of Pathways to Hope Nepal’s work stood out to us. 

Our 30 for 30 campaign has already taken us into gardens, hospices, community projects and causes across our local area. 

For Act 12, we’re widening that community just a little further. 

Because while Premier Community will always be deeply rooted in the towns and communities around us, the values that have shaped our first 30 years don’t stop at a county border. 

Sometimes an act of kindness can travel a very long way. 

And somewhere in Nepal, we hope this one might help a small idea become a big opportunity. 🌍💙