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 marginalised families rebuild. Björn recalls, “It was just heartbreaking. We met three women who were living in deep poverty. Working with them, 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 safe homes, which traditionally were equated with the use of fired bricks in construction. Yet the fired brick industry is a big polluter, emitting significant CO2 emissions and linked to poor working conditions.

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

We have supported hundreds of entrepreneurs to build more than 11,000 homes, create 1,600 jobs and remove 111,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions. But, there is more to be done. By 2030 we aim to build 100,000 houses, save 1 million tonnes of CO2, and scale within South Asia.