Nebab Youth Connect 2026 brought together more than 60 members of the Nepali community in Wommelgem, Belgium, on Sunday, 1 November 2026, in a programme designed to link the country's Nepali-origin youth with the wider community. The event was organised by the Nepali Business Association Belgium (Nebab) as part of its 20th anniversary year and was held under the slogan 'Our new generation, the strength of our society'. Participants included young people with expertise in a range of professions and businesses, according to a report by RatoPati.

Bringing the New Generation into the Community

The stated aim of Nebab Youth Connect 2026 was to connect Nepali-origin youth, many of whom are engaged in various professions and businesses, with the community around them. Held in Wommelgem, a municipality in the Antwerp province of Belgium, the gathering drew more than 60 attendees, among them young participants described as having expertise in different fields.

Organisers framed the programme as an opportunity for the younger generation to engage with the association and with each other. The slogan chosen for the event placed young people at the centre of the community's future, presenting them not simply as guests but as the strength on which Nepali society in Belgium will depend in the years ahead.

The Event at a Glance

  • Event name: Nebab Youth Connect 2026
  • Organiser: Nepali Business Association Belgium (Nebab)
  • Venue: Wommelgem, Belgium
  • Date: Sunday, 1 November 2026
  • Participants: More than 60, including youth with expertise in various fields
  • Slogan: 'Our new generation, the strength of our society'
  • Occasion: Nebab's 20th anniversary year

A Milestone Year for the Association

The timing of the gathering carried particular weight. The event was organised during Nebab's 20th anniversary year, marking two decades since the association began its work among the Nepali business community in Belgium. For any community organisation, a 20-year milestone is both a moment of celebration and a point of reflection on how the institution will carry its work forward.

The decision to dedicate an anniversary-year programme to young people points to where the association sees its future. Rather than reserving the commemoration of two decades for long-standing members alone, Nebab used the occasion to reach out to the generation that will eventually take over the community's businesses, institutions and social networks. The message embedded in the event was that the association's next chapter will be written with the new generation at the table.

Why Youth Engagement Matters

For diaspora communities across Europe, the question of how to keep younger generations connected is a familiar one. Young people who were born or raised abroad, or who arrived for study and work, often build professional lives that run parallel to, rather than inside, the community organisations their parents helped establish. Events of the kind Nebab staged in Wommelgem are one way associations try to close that distance.

By bringing together youth with expertise in various fields, the event created a setting where professional experience and community belonging could meet. For the young attendees, the programme offered a point of entry into an established network. For the association, it offered exposure to a generation whose skills and perspectives will shape what Nepali community life in Belgium looks like over the coming decades.

The slogan 'Our new generation, the strength of our society' captured this two-way logic. It acknowledged that the community's future strength rests on its youth, while also implying that young people themselves gain when they remain connected to the society and institutions around them.

A Pledge to Carry the Initiative Forward

Organisers did not present the gathering as a one-off. They pledged to continue the initiative in the coming days, signalling that Youth Connect is intended to grow into a recurring platform rather than remain a single anniversary-year programme.

That commitment matters for the more than 60 people who attended. A pledge of continuity turns a single day of connection in Wommelgem into the prospect of an ongoing channel between Nebab and the young professionals and businesspeople it hopes to serve. It also suggests that the association intends to build on the contacts and energy generated on Sunday, 1 November 2026.

For a business association marking 20 years, few anniversary commitments could be more fitting: an institution built over two decades formally investing in the generation that will one day inherit it. If organisers keep their pledge, Nebab Youth Connect 2026 will be remembered not only as an anniversary event but as the starting point of a sustained effort to make the new generation the strength of the society the programme was named for.