Kathmandu, July 31 -- When news of coronavirus first started appearing in early 2020, Sonam Dolkar Nepali, chief operating officer of Sonam Gears-a made-in-Nepal clothing brand, had no inkling that the disease would go on to negatively impact her business.

Her focus at that time was more on devising branding and promotion strategies for the brand's 2020 spring/summer collection. But in mid-March, just a few days after the first batch of the brand's spring/summer collection was dispatched from the warehouse to retail stores, Nepal went into lockdown, forcing her business to come to a complete stop.

"Even when the lockdown was first announced, we weren't very worried. We thought that it would be lifted in two weeks and things would go bac...