About us

Our story

Build up Nepal started with a dream of a safe, brick house. In 2015, a massive earthquake hit Nepal. More than 8,000 people lost their lives and hundreds of thousands of homes were destroyed. Our co-founders, Björn Söderberg and Bina Shrestha, travelled around the country to help affected families rebuild. Björn recalls, “It was just heartbreaking. We understood that many poor families in Nepal dream of living in safe, brick houses, but cannot afford it.” As Bina explains, “We wanted to find a long-term solution and housing was the problem. We found this interlocking brick solution that was used in housing as a disaster-resilient kind of building. It didn’t require any kind of infrastructure, it was eco-friendly, and it could be done with local supplies.” 

Nepal is one of the world’s most disaster-prone countries. There is an urgent need for affordable, safe homes, which are traditionally built with coal-fired bricks. The brick industry is a huge polluter, and linked to poor working conditions.

Build up Nepal is on a mission to make safe houses affordable, and to free the world of fired bricks. Our technology is greener, cheaper and safer than fired bricks. Our locally-led model trains entrepreneurs to produce Eco-bricks and build disaster-resilient homes in their communities. The result is financially sustainable enterprises, building safe houses and creating inclusive, local jobs.

We have supported hundreds of entrepreneurs to build more than 12,000 homes, create 1,900 jobs and remove 122,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions. But, there is more to be done. By 2030 we aim to build 50,000 houses, save half a million tonnes of CO2, and scale within South Asia.